Films A-Z
Under Cuban Skies
Under Cuban Skies
Carlos Montaner / USA / 2009 / 29 min.
You have to meet certain conditions before you can even think of getting a good job in Cuba. Besides having the qualifications and talent necessary for your chosen profession, it is important to be on good terms with the country's political regime, i.e. by joining or otherwise cooperating with the Communist Party. The government selects employees for foreign companies in the country and also pays them itself, just like its own civil servants. Most of the money, however, is swallowed up by the state treasury. Labour unions are controlled by the government; independent unions are illegal. Carlos Montaner's documentary offers valuable testimony from journalists, trade unionists and émigrés about the organisation of the labour market in Cuba. Their descriptions are underscored by accounts of the situation in free Spanish-speaking countries, where it is possible to be a member of a free trade union, to open your own business or to apply for work without being worried about political vetting. This film illustrates how the governing ideology in Cuba permeates all aspects of a person's everyday life.
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