The film takes as its title the name of the boat that carried the Cuban sports team to the 10th Central American and Caribbean Games, which in 1966 were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the United..
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The film takes as its title the name of the boat that carried the Cuban sports team to the 10th Central American and Caribbean Games, which in 1966 were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the United States attempted to prevent Cuban participation. By now, Alvarez has developed the principal characteristics of his style. The film is constructed in the form of a chronological visual narration of the sequence of events, with minimal verbal commentary, interspersed with sections using montage and captions to expound the political background to the central events. Music is used in place of commentary to narrate the film.
Though lesser known than Leni Riefenstahl's OLYMPIA or Kon Ichikawa's TOKYO OLYMPIAD, Santiago Alvarez's tribute to Cuba's sporting triumphs is no less breathtaking. A ship of athletes training on the rough seas becomes a symbol of Castro's Cuba, the games projected on the backdrop of political struggle: This is the story of a ship and of a sports delegation whom the ENEMY tried to stop from participating in the Tenth Central American and Caribbean Games. Alvarez's bristling montage may be put to didactic ends but there's a significant remainder of joy in his celebration of work. Rhetoric is inseparable from rhythm as Alvarez remains ever attentive to the specific manifestations of the body politic.