Reportage Cuba - A bolero for Hemingway

Marcelo Martinez Garcia, who people call “Marcelo king of the bolero” is a musician who in the fifties  used to spend his days with his friend Hemingway, playing boleros and enjoying the wonderful landscape in the Cojimar quarter, a breathtakingly beautiful place, situated in Havana del Este, a little bit out of the way with respect to Havana Vieja. Nowadays Marcelino plays in front of the monument erected to Hemingway with his Trio Hemingway (Neraida, Reinaldo, Marcelino) in the hope of receiving some money from tourists, fascinated by the cuban son and  Marcelino's stories.

WARNING: this is the beginning of a story that I'm writing about my Cuban experiences. I'm not going to continue because it would be too long, I just want to warn the spectator: not everything is as it seems to be!
Probably those who have never been to Cuba or those who have lived there with the shallowness that I described before, will only understand from this video the cuban stereotype: in the collective consciousness Cuba seems like a Carribean island, joyful and carefree, managed by political heroes that are fighting against the “global system”. However this isn't the truth: life is very hard and poor here and the cuban population has to invent ways to survive, frequently stooping to compromises.

CONCLUSION: Neraide has resigned from her job for health problems, now she is retired...without a pension, Reinaldo has difficulties with growing and supporting his wonderful daughter, Marcelino is a Cuban who   has been spending is whole life as a busker; he lives in a house very small that smells of pee because the pipages doesn't work properly. The shining of his eyes it's a sure sign that you have to be pleased with what you have..and that music is a strong treatment.

Translation and subtitles: Giulia Forlivesi