More on "Cane"

The following is an email from our filmaker friend Quincy Perkins, with his thoughts on Cane:

Val- As I am a filmmaker and have always been consumed with the IMAGE I felt a deep urge to write to you some thoughts recently, especially in response to the moron LechonAsao who tells you to take it easy. Little does he know the effects of what he is viewing.

There have been in this past week THREE distinct types of images or photographs (if you will) that have been discussed. The photo (video) of Fidel that was recently? turned up. The photo (print) of a man with USA tattooed against his forehead. And finally the photo (film) of the new CBS drama Cane.

Each of these images (each in different forms) has begun a new view of Cuba in my opinion. All at once these images have invoked a sense of nostalgia, extremism, the unknown, and romanticism. Before I go any further I want to give you a quote from Susan Sontag's "On Photography" essay that was first published in late 1973... I want you to not take photography as just still in this case but also the entire range of the word image.

"Photography implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. But this is the opposite of understanding, an approach which starts from not accepting the world as it looks. All possibility of understanding is rooted in the ability to say NO. Strictly speaking, it is doubtful that a photograph can help us understand anything.The simple fact of "rendering" a reality doesn't tell us much about that reality...the "reality" of the world is not in its images, but in its function."

I am trying to write this as concisely as possible and please give me just another moment.

What we see in the photography of Fidel is in fact NOT REALITY. To the man who says that if he just snaps a picture or simply "just" shoots some video, that he/she is capturing reality, I say say shame on them. Every piece of the Fidel image is constructed, invented, stretched, outfitted,etc. Before photography it can be stated without fault that every man and woman in Cuba (and around the world) would think Fidel to be dead and in a coffin by now. The image whether it turns up today or post-death of Fidel matters little to the actual REALITY of the situation. What matters is the "reality" of the world in its function. Fidel as he has stated before is simply an idea, not a man. And that IDEA has died.

The image of the USA tattooed against a man's forehead, is unfortunately not a REALITY either. It is no doubt shocking, but in fact I wonder how many of your readers thought about what may lie just outside the frame of this image. I can tell you, without a doubt in my mind, that what is more shocking is outside, is the context, is the environment in which this man exists. So the photo is a culmination no doubt of a man who has been flung against oppression but can not be taken as REALITY.

The "image" or film (35mm) of CANE is in fact the furthest removed from REALITY. The furthest removed from an actual UNDERSTANDING of the reality in Cuba. To say that having a Puerto Rican playing a Cuban is not a mistake, I say, again shame on you. The point of these shows may be entertainment but that would be completely missing the point of responsibility, which unfortunately so much of Hollywood lacks. The saying in Hollywood is "It's just a movie". And in fact it is, and it isn't. It IS just a movie in the fact that it is just an IMAGE and should not be taken as anymore seriously than that. A finely slice piece of film that has been developed. At the same time it is NOT just a film, in that it carries with it a serious sense of reposibility to INFORM and to EDUCATE. That is why we all watch TV shows. It is not simply for enjoyment, it is to INFORM ourselves of the world we live in.

The photograph, like the written word, falls short in describing the amount of pain in a situation, the amount of anger. LIke all ART we must recognize it for what it is and be reasonable enough to take away from it only that which informs us responsibly.

With tons of support and all the best,

Quincy

Posted by Val Prieto at September 26, 2007 07:49 AM

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Posted by: George L. Moneo at September 26, 2007 08:01 AM

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