Blame It On Fidel

Amongst the many film offerings of this bountiful season, one small gem currently playing at the Renoir and ICA outshines nearly all. The feature debut of Julie Gavras, Blame It On Fidel. Set in the Paris of 1970-73 (from the death of de Gaulle to the murder of Chilean President Salvador Allende) it is ostensibly the coming-of-age story of nine-year old Anna, as her family transform themselves from privileged bourgeois professionals to radical leftists. Based on the novel Tutta colpa di Fidel by Domitilla Calamai and filtered through the childhood experiences of Gavras herself (daughter of noted political auteur Costa-Gavras), what sets the work apart is not just an astonishing central performance by Nina Kervel-Bey as the implacable Anna (defiant at the unwanted changes to her comfortable lifestyle), but the very human way in which political theory collides with personal reality. Shot entirely from Anna's perspective, the film subtly documents the clash between her own self-regarding catholic conservatism and the effects of her parents' new liberal passions for the Allende cause in Chile, the anti-Franco movement in Spain and the rise of feminism within France. At times comic, poignant and indignant, the film never mocks Anna's concerns, nor stoops to ridicule her parents as feckless individuals, but gently teases out their individual flaws and their individual longings as Anna grows towards a greater wisdom and knowledge of the world. The film's political heart is just as sure, negotiating the complexities of idealist Chilean revolutionaries with refugees from Castro's Cuba (from which of course the title derives). Beautifully photographed and with terrific period detail, this astute work deserves wide attention. Go see!