Barrio Nuevo

This documentary by Cuban filmmaker Rigoberto Jimenez depicts the Cuban mountain village of "Barrio Nuevo," a project that never fully came to fruition. Several farmers and women from the area are interviewed. They describe their lives, the joys and challenges of living a rural life in the mountains of Cuba. Between each clip with a resident, sights and sounds of the area are beautifully depicted. This film is in Spanish with no subtitles.

00:00Copy video clip URL Opening credits among sights and sounds of nature.

00:45Copy video clip URL Walking down a dirt path among sounds of dogs, chickens.

01:30Copy video clip URL Text appears on the screen over image of a row of abandoned houses. It reads: “Barrio Nuevo, the second cooperative funded in Buey Arriba, is located in the region of La Maestra, 17 miles from Las Guasimas.”  This is followed by various images around Nuevo Barrio.

02:22Copy video clip URL A man explains that he has always lived in the mountains and that he has always worked in the fields, and enjoys working in the fields.

02:40Copy video clip URL Echoing sounds of a bustling community are overlaid on the images of the dilapidated, partially constructed houses in Barrio Nuevo.

03:45Copy video clip URL A man explains they said this would be a developed town, but even up to today, they haven’t done anything.

04:25Copy video clip URL Another man says that he likes living in the mountains because “here there is a possibility to live.” He goes on to explain that in the mountains you can plant crops and raise animals, and that he would not abandon his land because he would have work.

05:05Copy video clip URL Another farmer explains that the farmers want to stay there to cultivate the land and harvest palm trees.

07:00Copy video clip URL Another man speaks for the group, saying that they want to advance their lives, but that there is one barrier: that the land has received little attention. The man is shown opening his small, one room store. Text reads “Store of El Manguito, 9 km from Las Guasimas.”

08:09Copy video clip URL A woman says that up here in the mountains, life is hard for people, especially because the people depend on the city below, but services are not provided. She uses the example of the lack of transportation to illustrate that this affects the people’s lives in a major way.

08:50Copy video clip URL Another woman speaks, saying that since she arrived in Barrio Nuevo, there have been many problems that continue, and so many farmers have left.

10:22Copy video clip URL Text reads, “Las Guasimas, a farm community located 12 km from San Pablo de Yao, is a town in Buey Arriba in the province of Granma.”

11:00Copy video clip URL The man with the mustache continues, saying that his whole family lives here and that his work is here and that he feels good. He says that many people here don’t feel that way, though.

11:55Copy video clip URL Another farmer in a straw hat describes the challenge of farming here because the weather can either rain a lot or can be very dry. He goes on to explain that they appealed to the city to help them build a community center but they didn’t offer anything, but now it is there, he says, implying that the people found a way to build it themselves. He explains that they use it to watch television, or dance or hold other community events. Footage of the space follows.

14:15Copy video clip URL He continues by saying that what makes life hard in his community is the fact that when you need something, it is hard to get things. There’s no transportation to the other town 12 km away, and if they don’t have whatever item you need, you can’t get it.

15: He says the first thing about the mountain is that is the “world of the horse.” He talks about how it’s difficult because very few horses are bred in the mountains and it is very expensive to buy them elsewhere.

17:08Copy video clip URL He predicts that people will not continue to come here to live due to the difficulties of life there.

18:23Copy video clip URL He walks out to his field, shirtless, and in his sandals. He says that perhaps his children or his grandchildren will choose to stay here, but if life doesn’t improve for them, that they won’t.

19:45Copy video clip URL Closing credits.

20:17Copy video clip URL End of tape.

 

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