FLICKS: Blame It On Fidel
But Julie Gavras turns the tables on our preconceptions in her witty portrait of childhood.

by Chris Dashiell- The Film Snob

It may not occur to some of us that there's something unfair about parents imposing their political views on their kids. Well, maybe if it's somebody else's kids. But Julie Gavras, daughter of the famed Greek director Costa-Gavras, turns the tables on our preconceptions in her witty and unexpectedly portrait of childhood, Blame it on Fidel.

Stefano Accorsi and Julie Depardieu play Fernando and Marie, a leftist couple living in Paris in the early 1970s. Julie is the daughter of a very well-off middle class family that we meet at a sister's wedding in the film's first scene. Fernando is an exile from Spain—plagued with guilt for having fled the country and his royalist family when Franco's fascist government started to crack down on progressives. They have a daughter, precocious nine-year-old Anna, played by Nina Kervel-Bay, and a six-year-old son named Francoise. The parents get increasingly involved in the Chilean socialist movement of Salvador Allende, moving from their comfortable bourgeois home into a smaller flat, and making do with less expensive clothes and dinner fare. Trouble is, little Anna was quite happy in their old lifestyle, enjoyed Bible class in her Catholic school, and understandably feels betrayed by her parents' insistence on her following their ideological line. In addition, their conservative Cuban nanny tells her that communism is evil, and that Fidel Castro is to blame for the changes in her parents' way of doing things. Anna is determined to maintain her own conservative viewpoint, in full rebellion from her mother and father's radical enthusiasm.

Gavras's treatment of this interesting story, which is based on an Italian novel, is compassionate and even-handed. The progressives in Fernando and Marie's social circle are well-intentioned and humane—fallible like anyone else. At the same time we totally understand Anna's point of view—we can see how unjust it is, for instance, for her father to call her selfish just because she likes the way life used to be. The point is that children do think for themselves, and that they have every right to do so. And this point is brought home by the truly marvelous performance of the child actress Nina Kervel-Bey, who plays Anna with a perfect balance of obstinate seriousness and touching vulnerability.

There's nothing unnatural about the film's tenderness and humor, and the gradual development of the story takes Anna and the audience to a place of compassion and acceptance. I don't believe the picture ever made it to a Tucson theater this year. Why? Because most of the screens have been devoted to stale superhero theatrics and juvenile comedies. Thankfully, however, Blame it on Fidel is now available on DVD. Check it out.

Chris (the Film Snob) produces the weekly mini-program "Flicks" exclusively for 91.3FM KXCI. Tune in Mondays at 8:00PM and Fridays at 10:00AM and 3:00PM. For more writings from the Film Snob visit www.cinecene.com To subscribe to the Podcast click here

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