Andy Garcia finally realizes his dream project, a movie that tells the story of Cuba with a musical backdrop.
Garcia was born in Havana, Cuba and spent the first five and a half years of his life there before he immigrated to the United States. This project has been 16 years in the making and is his dream project.
He set out to tell the story of 1950s Cuba by setting the story against the backdrop of the music of Cuba. Garcia also sets this tale against the fortunes and misfortunes of the Fellove family. Don Frederico Fellove (Tomas Milian) is a prosperous professor at Havana University with three sons. Frederico’s brother, Don Donoso Fellove (Richard Bradford), is a successful tobacco plantation owner.
The eldest is Fico (Andy Garcia) who owns the El Tropico nightclub. He runs it rather successfully since Meyer Lansky (Dustin Hoffman) approaches Fico with a business proposition. All of the events of the El Tropico are watched over by The Writer (Bill Murray), a mysterious character with a sarcastic demeanor (said to represent author G. Cabrera Infante, who also wrote the screenplay). The other brothers are Luis (Nestor Carbonell) and Ricardo (Enrique Murciano). Each has their own way of dealing with the current government of Cuba.
Fico chooses to ignore it, Luis is part of a movement to overthrow the Batista administration, and Ricardo goes into the jungles to join Fidel and Che. Luis’ group attempts to storm the presidential palace of Batista (Juan Fernandez) and take over the country. Unfortunately, things do not turn out well for this group and he leaves behind a window, Aurora (Ines Sastre).
Before Luis went off to make the attempt, he made Fico promise to take care of Aurora if anything were to happen to him. Fico keeps his promise to Luis and falls in love with Aurora. On New Years Eve (1959), Batista flees the country and Castro takes over Cuba. Ricardo now returns, but is a changed man. Fico’s friend Captain Castel (Steven Bauer) is taken into custody and his pleas to Ricardo and Che Guevarra (Jsu Garcia) fall on deaf ears.
Fico Fellove
Ricardo is charged with the task of telling Donoso that his lands are being taken from him and given to the communist Castro government. Only when Donoso’s rage causes him to have a massive heart attack is Ricardo shown the errors of his ways and punishes himself very harshly. Aurora is named the “Widow of the Revolution” because of Luis’ death and she and Fico begin to grow apart. Fico decides to go into exile in New York and wants Aurora to come with him, but will she?
The Lost City is really a fine film and a labor of love for Andy Garcia. He has been working on getting this film to the screen for 16 years. The film has an epic feel to it and is very well acted and photographed.
I say epic because in some small way it reminded me of the Godfather, where we follow the trials and tribulations of a specific family. The music is also excellent and gives the viewer the insight into the passion of both Andy Garcia and the Cuban people.
I’ll admit to an ignorance of Cuban history, so I cannot comment on whether Garcia’s vision is true to it. I can imagine that since this is his personal project that it has the possibility of having his personal prejudices. I cannot say that I have a great love for the Castro government (much in the news lately since Fidel is ailing) and can imagine that Garcia does not either.
The Lost City is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a 46 second introduction by Andy Garcia and a commentary with director Andy Garcia, actor Nestor Carbonell, and production designer Waldermar Kalinowski.
There is also the 37 minute “Making of the Lost City.” It features a long interview with Andy Garcia on the fruition of his dream project. We also get to see behind the scenes glances at Bill Murray, Tomas Milian, Dustin Hoffman, and Ines Sastre. Next are 10 deleted scenes which you can watch separately or play all.
Bill Murray as The Writer
The DVD also includes an optional commentary on the deleted scenes by Andy Garcia. There’s also a behind the scenes photo gallery. Most interesting is the “Notes from the Cast and Crew” section in which those members were allowed to write notes about their experiences on the movie.
There is also an “Original Lost City Poster Art” which is a drawing by Garcia’s daughter. Finally there is a text description about the Fuente Family’s cigar plantation which doubled for the Fellove cigar plantation. This section includes a history of the Fuente Family’s cigar empire.
I felt the Lost City was a product of the passion that Andy Garcia has for his lost homeland of Cuba. I felt the film had and epic feel to it and thought that the performances were wonderful. The film is over two hours, as most epics are, but I think that if you give it a chance that you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
The Lost City is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story