Hello Hemingway
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''Hello Hemingway'' is a 1990 Cuban drama film directed by Fernando Pérez and starring Laura de la Uz. The plot, set in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
in 1956, near the end of
Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...
's dictatorship, follows a young girl whose aspirations to obtain a scholarship in America, against the odds, are paralleled with her reading of
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
's ''
The Old Man and the Sea ''The Old Man and the Sea'' is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. ...
''. The film was selected as the Cuban entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
64th Academy Awards The 64th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1991 in the United States and took place on March 30, 1992, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles begi ...
, but was not designated a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences


Plot

In 1956, sixteen-year-old Larita lives with her mother and her aunt's family in a ramshackle house outside
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
. From their garden they can see Ernest Hemingway's white mansion. At home, she adorns her walls with pictures of
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...
, while at school she excels in her
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
class. Larita is delighted when her teacher suggests that she enter a competition for a scholarship to attend university in the United States. Larita also happily dates a classmate, Victor, who is trying to establish a student association. On a visit to a bookshop, she is given a copy of Hemingway's ''
The Old Man and the Sea ''The Old Man and the Sea'' is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. ...
'', which she starts to read avidly, drawing parallels between the novel and her own life which she records in her diary. At home, her family tease her about her academic aspirations. They resent the fact that while they work hard she studies and contributes nothing to their meager existence. The issue of finances becomes more acute when Larita is sent home from school because she is not wearing the correct school uniform. However, she passes the first round of scholarship exams and is invited to a reception for the finalists. She makes herself as presentable as possible with the help of her relatives' sewing skills and the support of her grandmother, who pawns her treasured earrings to purchase fabric. She tells Victor that she is on the short list for the scholarship, which makes him angry because she has kept it a secret from him and is preparing to go abroad and abandon him for a year. That night Larita returns home to find that her uncle has been fired from his job as a policeman, which has been the family's principal means of support. At the scholarship interview, her chances appear to be hampered by the fact that she is illegitimate and does not have the right social connections to provide her with letters of recommendation. In desperation, Larita decides to visit Hemingway to see if he will write a reference for her, but she discovers he is away in Africa. Larita bitterly blames her mother for the fact that she is disadvantaged by poverty and illegitimacy. When she stays home from school pretending to be sick, her favorite teacher, Dr. Martinez, visits her and offers encouragement. To Larita's complaints about her poverty she says: "You're not exactly living under a bridge." Meanwhile, at school, the student protests climax, the student association tries to get students to boycott classes, and Victor is arrested. Later that year, Larita takes a job at a coffee bar. One evening near Easter the scholarship administrator walks by and recognizes her. They establish that they recognize one another, but nothing else is said except the simplest wish from the administrator that Larita enjoy the holiday.


Cast

*Laura de la Uz as Larita *Raúl Paz as Victor *José Antonio Rodríguez as Tomás *Herminia Sánchez as Josefa *Micheline Calvert as Miss Amalia *Marta del Rio as Doctor Martínez *
Wendy Guerra Wendy Guerra (born 11 December 1970), formally Wendy Guerra Torres, is a Cuban poet and novelist, based in Miami. After a brief career acting in Cuban film and television, she turned to writing and won recognition more readily abroad than within ...
as Estela


DVD release

The film was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in the USA in April 2002. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.


See also

*
List of submissions to the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of submissions to the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films p ...
*
List of Cuban submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Cuba has submitted films for consideration in the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars since 1978. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature- ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hello Hemingway 1990 films Cuban drama films 1990s Spanish-language films Films set in Cuba Films shot in Cuba Films about novels Works about Ernest Hemingway