SXSW 2021 Review: Soy Cubana

Soy Cubana (2021) is a documentary film. It is the feature length adaptation of the documentary short film Soy Cubana (2016). It was written by Jeremy Ungar. It was directed by Ivaylo Getov and Jeremy Ungar.

Meet the Vocal Vidas, an (almost) a cappella vocal group from Santiago de Cuba. Koset, Maryoris, Ana, and Annia are the four women who make up the group. Soy Cubana tells the story of the band themselves, and of their American debut. Typically, the group performs for free at tourist attractions in their hometown. However, as our film opens, the Vocal Vidas have been invited to perform at a multicultural concert series in Los Angeles, CA. Unfortunately for the Vidas, traveling to LA from Cuba is easier said than done. As the film unfolds, we follow the band as they scramble to make their international debut become a reality.

At one point during the film, I turned to the people I saw it with and remarked that it was nice to see a documentary in which the adversity the protagonists have to face is not that severe. I don’t mean to suggest that there is no adversity, nor do I mean to trivialize whatever adversity they do face in the film. It’s just that I watch a lot of documentaries. Particularly if we are covering a film festival. Generally speaking, they are films that feature their subjects dealing with death, destruction, illness, evil, strife, general unfairness, etc. Soy Cubana has very little of that stuff.

Now, I know what you are saying. What kind of a documentary is it without major adversity? What’s the point? To this, I would agree. That for the most part, you would be right. The term documentary automatically arrives with baggage. Documentaries should be heavy, serious affairs, with any and all joy they might contain taking a backseat to suffering. This is something I understand, because so often, documentary films are intended to shed some light on something tragic, if not to outright fix it. Documentarians often turn their lenses on the oppressed, for they are the ones most in need of our attention and help.

However, they don’t always have to be so heavy handed. One of the joys of Soy Cubana was that, by not having a shitload of evil and strife to overcome, the film was able to focus more on the joy. The joy of music, the joy of performing, the joy of making connections, the joy of bringing people together, the joy of personal success. They almost should have called this film “Joy Cubana” because that’s what it felt like.

Music, in my opinion, is the only universal language. Music can, and always will transcend linguistic and/or cultural barriers, for it is a language we all speak. Everyone on the planet. Some speak it more fluently than others, but it speaks to us all. The Vocal Vidas, and their story here in Soy Cubana are living proof of this, and we, the audience, get to experience it with them. By the end of the film, despite there not being any major challenges, I felt good inside. It was so nice to see these amazingly talented ladies be given an opportunity to ply their trade with a foreign audience, and to be so successful at it.

As a result, the music rises above all, and is the focus of the film. There are some elements of hardship that the film does touch upon. To be as objective as possible, it is true that some money might have been left on the table when it comes to highlighting some of this stuff. Relations between the U.S. and Cuba for example. From what I know, relations between our two nations has been a bit of a sticky wicket for quite some time. Elements of this do find their way into the film. However, the film doesn’t spend a ton of time on this, nor how it impacts the Vidas, and indeed, all Cubans.

It also is a little one-sided in that it paints Cuba as a virtual utopia. Now I don’t really know enough about anything to pass judgment on this issue. All I know is, that if Cuba really was Utopian, then wouldn’t everyone be trying to move there? It really isn’t for me to say. What I do know is that a hard-hitting expose on whatever it is that is really going on between the U.S. and Cuba, this film is not.

What it is, is a joyful celebration of music, life, and connection. The film is chock-full of performance footage of the Vidas doing their thing, and they do it well. The amount of thought and care that go into their songs, and arrangements is impressive. They are artists in the purest sense of the term, and their art is their lifeblood. They have all dreamed throughout their careers of being able to perform in the United States. To ride shotgun with them as they realize their dreams is utterly satisfying. Even if their kind of music isn’t your kind of music, there are few people whose hearts will not be warmed by their story.

Soy Cubana was a feel-good documentary. There aren’t too many of those. While this might cause some to consider the film “light” or unworthy of serious consideration, I was not one of those people. For some, the lack of a sinister underbelly might cause their interest to wane. However, if you like documentaries, but find yourself becoming weary over how scary this world can be and how much evil it contains, you might want to give Soy Cubana a look. It is deep, thoughtful, and educational, but it is also quite effervescent for the majority of its runtime, even if it lacks a certain dramatic heft.