The Puppeteer of Havana

Wolf Hermsen

Germany

Synopsis

A puppeteer from Havana dreams of being invited to Oslo. As his dream becomes an obsession, his family starts doubting his mental state.

REVIEW

Known in his native Germany as a documentarian and television producer with an interest in Latin American subjects, Hermsen has chosen a Cuban story for his first feature, casting two of the country's most popular actors in lead roles and shooting the film entirely on location in the title setting. Roberto (Ramero Ruiz Hernandez) is a master puppeteer who has given everything to his art, including the remains of his late wife, which he used in creating his best marionettes, to give them "spirit." Maria (Olga Lidia Alfonso), his current spouse, is a former ballerina. Robbed of her art by the years, she seeks satisfaction in more conventional pleasures. Roberto has pinned his hopes for worldly success on a contact he made years earlier with a Norwegian producer who travels the world scouting talent for European festivals and television programs. A wide range of elements-social reality and mysticism; folk art and telenovella; integrity and prostitution; vision and daydream-contend, resolve, separate, and recycle in this multi-layered narrative set among the 1950s Chevys, Fords, Oldsmobiles, and Hudsons that ply the streets of downtown Havana.

-David Marc