Juan, this is the real Cuban, the Cuban that makes people happy and tearful

Eriberto 2022-04-14 08:01:01

When I saw the premiere of this film at the YARA theater in Havana, I only felt that it was hilarious except for the hilarious elements, and there was nothing worthy of my tears. But then when I seriously savored every scene and every line, I was suddenly moved.
I don’t know why some people always look for some YS forms and doctrines in this film, and compare them with them. As a person who has lived with Cubans for many years in Cuba, I feel this film is very moving. The audience's place is that it uses countless metaphors to perfectly express the history of Cuba under the GCD. In the film, the protagonist and his party are slashing zombies like venting along the way. This is not exactly the need for the fighting elements of action films, but also Not to criticize the Cuban government, but to show the world the helplessness of Castro's beautiful ideals, and to portray the authentic Cubans of today who face the blockade and sanctions, but are not conservative and ignorant. Facing countless difficulties and contradictions, they deeply love their country.


Juan's background:
At the end of the film, Juan says to his daughter and friends: "I am a survivor, I have managed to survive in Mariel, Angola, special times and later catastrophe. This line is actually A high-level summary of several difficulties and challenges encountered after the Cuban Revolution. In Cuba, there are special words to describe these four periods.

Mariel is a port in Cuba, a large number of Cuban criminals in 1980, mentally ill The patients smuggled to Miami from here at one time. During the smuggling process, some people did not have boats, they took homemade rafts, sheepskin rafts, and even swam 100 kilometers to the other side with buckets. Many people unfortunately died on the way.
Juan did not smuggle in. , either to express that he chose a position at that time, that is to stay in Cuba, or to say that he may have served the ZF at that time. At the
beginning of the film, Juan and his friend Lazaro are sitting in a wooden stick, tire Fishing on rafts woven with
nets. There are many small wooden boats in the port of Havana. Why do you use rafts for fishing? This type of rafts was originally used by stowaways. Sheepskin, inflated and tied into a pocket and bundled together. It can be seen that these rafts are very weak.
On the raft, Lazaro asked Juan, "Have you ever thought about rowing to America?" Juan's answer was that I didn't want to work there. This sentence sums up the characteristics of Cubans very brilliantly - lazy, casual, no pressure, sunbathing every day, drinking and listening to music, nothing more. But this characteristic is not innate, but a kind of sudden openness and calm indifference after experiencing many things.

Why do you say that? Next look at Angola.
During the period of the African country Angola NZ, South Africa sent troops to support "UNITA" in December 1975, and the "People's Movement" called for help in socialist Cuba. With the support of the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro sent ground troops to this country. troops and air force. Juan has experienced this historical event and was very brave in his later battles with zombies. It shows that he is likely to be a soldier once and now, who has experienced the smoke and gunfire on the battlefield, and will often pass by the god of death.

In the 1990s, Eastern Europe underwent drastic changes and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Cuba announced in 1990 that it had entered a "special phase in peacetime" (referred to as "special period"). At this stage, Cuba lost the support of its big brother, and suffered severe political and economic blockades and sanctions from the United States. In this period all people face the problem of survival. Juan still did not leave.

As for the subsequent catastrophe, it may be a natural disaster.

Juan said with disdain that he had gone through everything and survived successfully. This is actually a word that all Cubans say now, that is, they have experienced catastrophe, but we are still alive!
In the theater, many Cubans burst into tears when they saw this scene.



What does the group of Juan represent? ordinary Cuban people. With the help of the background of zombie chaos, this movie actually provides these ordinary people with a platform to express their voices and desires. This film reflects the voice of ordinary Cuban people.

At night, a group of people gathered in front of a building to sing, after which a woman started to speak. Some people say that this is the mission of the church. In fact, the marking on the building wall tells us that this is the GM Defense Committee. The icon is a knight wearing a straw hat and wielding a saber. modeling. The song they sang was the Cuban national anthem, and the meeting was held after the singing. Today, many Cuban institutions, communities, and schools still operate in this way. That lady is a bit similar to the aunt of our neighborhood committee today. She talked about two things. One said that theft has become a common practice recently, so everyone should pay attention to the criminals. Ironically, Juan and his gang at the meeting were thieves. In Cuba, theft is commonplace, and national warehouses and canteens are often guarded and stolen by their own people. This does not mean that Cubans are of bad character, it is just that they are too poor, and Castro is not too serious about theft. Therefore, outside many cigar shops in Cuba, you will encounter many vendors selling cigars to you. Some of them are factory workers who sell the cigars they have received as wages, and some are the stolen goods. Taking it out and selling it is a major street feature in Cuba today, and countless people rely on this method to make a living. The aunt of the neighborhood committee also said another thing, saying that there is an epidemic of infectious diseases recently, so everyone should be more careful. Just after speaking, an infected zombie broke into the small building of the committee. The source of the disease and the problem, this is again. Great irony.

Juan and the others cycled past a white building that resembled the U.S. Capitol. An out-of-control helicopter crashed into the building, which collapsed. This is a great metaphor. The building is located in Old Havana. It is the parliament building built by the Batista regime supported by the United States during the American colonial period in Cuba. The brand of the out-of-control helicopter is the American Bell. Cuba does not have such a helicopter, but uses the Soviet MiG. This scene has no soundtrack, no lines, an American helicopter smashed the symbol of American colonialism in Cuba, the brand on Cuba's face, is to imply that people, Americans are self-inflicted, in the chaos, Cubans want to erase first The traces of America.

Next they came to a woman's house, the woman said that a Spanish tourist had turned into a zombie upstairs, and then a group of naked men and women zombies came down the stairs, looking at their costumes, they were SM , Juan's expression was a deep disgust for these foreign tourists consuming his fellow women, so in the darkness that followed, SHA made a mess and killed the landlord woman who provided them with a room. In Cuba, there are many private rental houses, and many European and American tourists often come here to buy X services, which is extremely disgusting to the Cuban people. But face the reality, in order to survive, they also have a lot of helplessness. And through this zombie chaos, they vented again, and wiped out the riders, the riders, and the people who facilitated them.

In the evening, Juan received the last service call. In this scene, Juan didn't speak for a few seconds, just asked in surprise: "Who?", and immediately replied: "No no no, this is your own business". Why introduce this pointless shot in the eyes of the audience, there is actually a high-end black buried here. It can be speculated that the power of the little KA called and entrusted Juan's company to kill the old KA. Juan didn't want to get involved in POLITIC, so he immediately refused. He said that it was your own business, but he was actually saying that it was your own family. , between brothers. This shows that some Cuban people are struggling to make a living, but they don't really care about the power games at the top.

When the sun went down, Juan and Lazaro enjoyed the sunset on the deck chairs on the roof, saying that it was a pity that a tall building on the opposite side blocked the sun, and the building collapsed while they were talking. The fan-shaped green building was also built by American entrepreneurs during the American colonial period, and it was called the Folksa Hotel. Occupying the best section of Seaside Boulevard, there is a square restaurant on the topmost floor of the building called TORRE. Only foreign tourists, wealthy people can spend there and enjoy the sunset on Havana's seafront boulevard. After the building collapsed, Juan and Lazaro put on sunglasses comfortably, as if they had found the evening and beautiful sunset that should belong to ordinary DIAO silk.

A lot of zombies gathered in a square, and Juan and the others were surrounded. This square is called GM Square, which is also one of the landmarks of Havana. People often have the opportunity to hold major events here, and Castro often gives speeches here. There is a building in the back with a neon sign in the shape of Che Guevana, which is the Cuban Ministry of Interior. A wooden pillar surrounded by zombies is a support for the broadcast. A group of zombies surrounding the radio speakers, another metaphor. At this time, an American Christian drove a modified American jeep and shot an arrow. The rope pulled from the tail of the arrow cut off the heads of all the zombies in a fan-shaped section? Why cut the head? The answer is: what is the point of a zombie without a mind? However, Hu An and his party, who knew how to bend over, were safe and sound. CHINA, who finally turned into a zombie, caught Juan and was beaten by Juan. This is not a nonsensical plot, nor a violent catharsis, but an expression of Juan's despising and never softening attitude towards people without brains. Later, the American believer said that he had a plan, and Lazaro accidentally killed him with a spear gun before he finished speaking. This is actually expressing that the Cuban people do not need Christians to save them. There is another detail, the American Christian is driving a car he found in Cuba. Save you with your resources, boil your oil with your bones, that's the nature of some colonial churches.


American Christians speak English, Cubans speak Spanish. In the dialogue between Juan and American Christians, there is a very comic scene, that is, Juan can only say a few basic greetings, that is HELLO, HOW DO YOU DO , FINE, TANHK YOU, AND YOU. In fact, most Cubans can only speak these few words of English, but they have to advertise that they know English. Then Juan said in English, do you want sister paper, hotel, rental, cigar? This is also a Cuban characteristic. Every year, many foreign tourists come to Cuba for consumption. The more diligent Cubans will learn a few spoken English, lead them on the way, and earn some tips. Now with the opening of Cuba, more and more such people are on the streets of Cuba, and they can also speak Chinese and Japanese.

The part where Juan and his brother are waiting for the sunrise on the rooftop is actually the first tear of the film. The screenwriter cleverly used the bloody JI to cover up Juan's sadness that he was about to lose this brother. It also shows that Lazaro did not forget TIAO's love before he was about to die. When faced with helplessness, Cubans are like this. They feel uncomfortable inside, but they are very out of tune on the surface. Having suffered various disasters all the year round, Cubans have become accustomed to it. Facing life, they are not submissive, but optimistic ridicule. The place where they were sitting was the rooftop of the Havana Liberty Hotel, which used to be the Hilton Hotel built by American capitalists. When the two brothers looked up, the huge neon lights behind them flashed—HABANA LIBRE: Free Cuba!

In the last scene, we return to the levee of Ocean Drive. There is a sculpture on the left side of the picture, two erected pillars, and cannons placed horizontally next to them. This is the monument to the Maine. On the eve of the Spanish-American War, the United States sank the battleship Maine docked in the port of Havana, taking the opportunity to blame the Spanish authorities who colonized Cuba at that time and launched a war.

If you are interested, you will find that at the end of the cartoon part of the film, Lazaro, Juan's daughter, and her boyfriend all returned to the shore and fought with Juan, but they did not leave. remain in Cuba. This is the Cuban people today, they don't want the redemption of Christ, they don't want the temptation of Americans, they want their own Cuba, their beloved Cuba.




Somos cubanos, somos populares

Zombie Juan, should not only be enjoyed as a horror, action, or comedy movie. Ordinary Cubans, because they love their homeland, are eternal and great here.

















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Extended Reading
  • Destin 2022-04-18 09:01:20

    Revolution or death!

  • Alan 2022-04-14 09:01:07

    Zombies appear on the streets of socialist countries - this setting haha.

Juan of the Dead quotes

  • Juan: [answering phone] Juan of the dead, we kill your beloved ones, how can I help you?