Until very recently, talking about race and racism in Cuba had been difficult, given that, officially, racism had been eradicated by the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Racism was thus a matter of history. And while race could come up as a topic in anthropology and culture, its role in politics and society was obliterated by the government’s stand. How to address a problem that “didn’t exist”?
But a few years ago, with the collapse of the economy and the resulting advent of foreign investors who brought their own racist attitudes with them, Fidel Castro himself acknowledged that the Revolution’s lofty goal had never been accomplished, that racism had always been there in spite of the efforts to eradicate it.
The result has been something of an awakening of racial pride and a cultural questioning among Cubans of African descent. Suddenly there are exhibitions by black artists, anthologies by black writers, a burgeoning grassroots hip-hop culture — and films, such as Gloria Rolando’s “Roots of My Heart.”
The wimpy title suggests something of a love story and, indeed, the director laces her narrative with the budding affair between Mercedes, a divorced mother of two, and Armando, who’s something of the perfect man. Mercifully, Armando stays in the wings for most of the film, letting Rolando focus on her real subject: the racial uprising of 1912, when the U.S.-backed Cuban military slaughtered more than 6,000 black Cubans.
Rolando’s film is best when it’s in documentary rather than feature mode, unveiling the history of the massacre and the incidents that led to it. Though the beginning is set up to comment on the current state of black Cuba, the film avoids that subject in the end: Mercedes is seen explaining the story of the uprising to her children, but the audience never hears what the implications might be for today’s Afrocubans.
That’s too bad, because the prolific Rolando is an inventive storyteller — she does wonders with a shoestring budget — and the viewer is left with the feeling that she has a lot more to say on the subject.
“Raices de mi Corazon” (“Roots of My Heart”) screens at 6 p.m. Friday at the School of the Art Institute Auditorium (the old Film Center), 280 S. Columbus Drive (corner of Jackson Boulevard and Columbus Drive); 312-345-3756. Running time: 50 minutes. No MPAA rating.