Excellently served by impeccable actors, “Cuban Network” tells the authentic story of a network of Cuban spies set up in the 90s responsible for informing Havana of the activities of exiles in the United States. Watch on Netflix.
From the beginning of the 1960s, organizations of Cuban exiles, mainly based in Florida, historic home of the Spanish-speaking community, carried out attacks or committed attacks on Cuban soil.
To combat these groups, the Cuban government regularly sends spies to Florida to infiltrate these organizations. At the beginning of the 1990s, nearly thirty agents formed the Wasp Network (the Red Avispa in Spanish, the “wasp network”), which is responsible for informing Havana of the activities of Cuban exiles…
Cuban Network is taken from the book by journalist and politician Fernando Morais, The Last Soldiers of the Cold War (“The Last Soldiers of the Cold War”). A work built thanks to around forty interviews conducted by the person concerned, who also had access to official documents from the American and Cuban governments.
It is from this solid matter that Olivier Assayas tells in Cuban Network, filmed in Cuba itself, behind the scenes of this top secret project, including the workings of politics and history in the face of this underground war.
Released at the beginning of 2020, and now available on Netflix, the film is carried at arm’s length by a titanium cast.
A spy film with women at the heart
The formidable Edgar Ramirez, already, whom the director finds ten years after giving him the role of the terrorist Carlos. He is supported by Gael Garcia Bernal and Wagner Moura, well known to Netflix subscribers for having delivered a powerful composition in the guise of Pablo Escobar in the series Narcos.
But Cuban Network is also a spy film with women at the heart. They are embodied by the luminous Penelope Cruz, “the emotional heart of the film” Assayas will even say; which lends its features to a woman discovering that her husband is a spy and goes from victim to decision-maker. And Ana de Armas, who “brings the grief of a betrayed woman, but also gives joy, energy, naivety to her character” explained the filmmaker.