José Martí: el ojo del canario
(2010)

Country: Cuba, Spain

Genre: Biography, Historical Drama

Synopsis

The story of the boyhood and youth of the writer, revolutionary and "Apostle of Cuban Independence" Jos? Mart?, narrated in four 'movements'. In the first two, we see nine-year-old Mart? (Dami?n Antonio Rodr?guez in a much-praised performance) being bullied in school by schoolmates and abused by his schoolmaster, whilst he learns notions of justice and oppression from his father. In the last two movements, Mart? (Daniel Romero Pilda?n), now an intense and taciturn adolescent, is a budding Romantic poet who becomes a militant for the liberation of Cuba from Spanish tyranny.

Notes

• Based on the early life of Cuban poet, essayist, journalist, professor, and political activist Jos? Mart? (1853-1895), who is considered a Cuban national hero as well as an important figure in Latin American literature, and who, through his writings and political activity, became a symbol of Cuba's bid for independence from Spain in the 19th century.
• Winner of the Silver Ariel award for Best Latin American Film at the 2011 Ariel Awards, Mexico; and winner of the 2013 Premio ACE award for Best Director (Fernando P?rez, who also wrote the screenplay)
• The title of the film is Spanish for "Jos? Mart?: the eye of the canary", and refers to one of Mart?'s poems, which reads "Yo pienso, cuando me alegro/Como un escolar sencillo,/En el canario amarillo,/?Que tiene el ojo tan negro!" ('Versos Sencillos', XXV. In Manuel A. Tellechea's English translation: "I am still taken aback/With a simple schoolboy's glee/By the yellow canary,/Whose eye is so very black!").
• This film is the first of 'la saga Libertadores' ('the Liberators Saga'), a collection of eight films produced for the commemorations of the bicentennial of Spanish-American independence and dedicated to its most prominent heroes.