Life Is To Whistle
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B
As people go through life, the way they perceive sex can
have profound impacts on their lives, even when they do not realize it. Add a country like Cuba, which has a mix of
civil restrictions, a different take on openness and less opportunity than The
U.S., and you have got an alternate happening of how the sex factor plays out.
Life Is To Whistle (1998) is writer/director
Fernando Perez’s successful take on this situation through the lives of three
people. Julia (Coralia Veloz) is a
woman who has been haunted by her religious upbringing, which we see in an
unpleasant flashback. Now, the mere
mention of sex makes her literally faint, and she is obviously a lonely
woman. There is Mariana (Isabel
Santos), who loves men, and spends afternoon taking their clothes off… at least
with her eyes, as an amusing early scene demonstrates. This does not happen, though, when she meets
her co-star at the ballet, whom she becomes unexpectedly enamored with. Then there is Elpidio (Luis Alberto Garcia),
the pirate/musician who really is a thief, but also loves to be sexually
involved.
As the story progresses, changes in all three of their
lives that will force them into changes whether they like it or not, are
presented to them. Even sexually
active, they have all been playing it safe on some level, so can they overcome
the limits in their lives in order to survive and be happy? The screenplay Perez co-wrote with Humberto
Jiminez and Eduardo Del Llano is exceptionally well laid out. They know what they want and they get
it. This may not have a complex
narrative structure, but the character development more than makes up for
that. The three leads are exceptionally
written and performed, while we are taken to a raw side of Cuba that is
convincing and revealing.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks like an
analog PAL recycling, but the colors and definition are compromised in any
case. However, cinematography by Raul
Perez Ureta is exceptional in a way that transfer flaws are easier to
ignore. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
plays back well enough in Pro Logic, and was recoded for Dolby Theatrical, but
the type (Digital 5.1, SR, A) is not known since it is not even on Dolby’s
list. Music is the highlight
sound-wise. The only extras are a few
trailers for New Yorker DVDs including this one and a brief note from director
Perez in the paper fold out found in the DVD case.
This film deals with the sexual aspects of the story in a
real way without being exploitive, even knowingly and humorously. The loneliness issue is also handled
superiorly. Life is to Whistle
ultimately succeeds in the big statement it tries to convey, and shows its love
of Cuba.
- Nicholas Sheffo
