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"Critics" — whoever they are, the stories don't say — apparently are harassing Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron over "East of Havana," a new documentary she produced about three aspiring Cuban rap singers.
The film, according to a story in The Guardian, includes interviews with poor Cubans struggling to survive under Castro-style communism, and describes how the three singers try to hold off the censors as they build their careers.
"However critics say the film's depiction of the natives' plight makes no mention of the effects the long-standing trade embargo has had on Cuba's people, instead hinting that the blame lies with Castro and a withdrawal of Russian aid following the collapse of the Soviet Union."
Well, that's because the film is a documentary, not the figment of some Hollywood leftist's imagination.
Of course, which means you might never hear of this film again.
Not to launch into a full explanation of the embargo, such as it is and isn't, but it is Fidel Castro and communism, not America, that is to blame for the suffering — political, economic, cultural and otherwise — of the Cuban people. If Castro truly cared about the Cuban people and wanted the embargo lifted, he could have done so decades ago by doing the things — like creating a society where aspiring rap singers wouldn't have to worry about government censors — that would make the embargo unneccessary.
As a native of South Africa, Theron knows apartheid when she sees it. Today, it is no more evident than it is in Cuba.
Apparently, her new film tells it exactly like it is.
Which means one day soon, you might be able to find it at Blockbuster, right next to "The Lost City."
UPDATED, 12:45 p.m. EDT
For more on "East of Havana," read here and here.
And for more pictures of Charlize Theron — because you can never see too many of those — go here.
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