As a burning tropical sun rises over Havana Bay, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) relaxes in bed with her newly wed, gang leader Dominique Toretto (Vin Diesel), and whispers: “This place makes you happy. It speaks to you.” Nested within a blockbuster action movie—Fast and Furious 8— chock-full of tension and danger, the relaxed couple are enjoying their honeymoon. They snuggle warmly, in natural harmony with their embracing Cuban surroundings.
For a full 15 minutes, the opening sequence of FF8 (aka Fate of the Furious) paints an alluring portrait of Havana: the city’s bright sunlight, color-drenched architecture, healthy-looking, exuberant youth—and its ethos of innovation and open-hearted generosity. All accompanied by a joyful soundtrack of Caribbean salsa and reggaeton, mixed with the genre’s compulsory high-octane grinding car engines, kinetic explosions and in this case a burning auto wreck catapulting over the famous Havana seawall (with the US Embassy building in the background).
The film’s hero praises the inventiveness of the Cuban people. Champion racecar driver Dom marvels at the ingenuity of Cubans who somehow manage to keep their vintage 1950s American-model cars on the road, in this case with an engine lifted from a boat. “This is the Cuban spirit,” Dom is told. “Don’t lose it,” a smiling Dom responds with a flash of genuine respect for someone else’s creativity.
Dom best sums up the defining premise of the Havana segment when he explains why he chose to honeymoon in Cuba: “The same things that bring everyone to Cuba: culture, people, beauty.” In a movie of very few words (and much action), this is a relatively long disputation. To drive the point home, a stunningly attractive woman with flowing black hair, a short-short skirt and high heels— the camera languishes both on her rear and front—initiates the big race by waving a red flag and shouting: “Are you ready for this, my family? THIS IS HAVANA!”
Boasting the biggest worldwide opening box office of all time, FF8 has already grossed over $1 billion globally. Altogether, the eight FF movies have earned a total worldwide box office approaching $5 billion, and FF8 will likely surpass the $1.5 billion in revenues garnered by FF7. That translates into many millions of eyeballs watching 15 minutes of good times in Havana. And not a single Communist in sight (just one quick frame of a fading Ché Guevara mural). The Cuban tourism bureau could not possibly pay for such awesome advertising.
In fact, the storyline of FF8 has little to do with Cuba. So why did the Fast and Furious franchise select exhilarating Havana, in contrast to its typically darker, more foreboding locations? One answer is obvious: a franchise built around the worship of cars and drivers lines the streets of Havana with gleaming vintage Plymouths and Chevrolets. The cityscape glows with multi-racial and scantily clad Cuban women. And the seaside promenade—the famous Malecón built by U.S. engineers during the occupation following the Spanish-American War of 1898—makes a spectacular venue for drag car racing. Another possible explanation: following the normalization of US – Cuban diplomatic relations two years ago, the Caribbean island is now very trendy, beaconing U.S. travelers and creative artists. Quick-on-their-feet FF executives rushed to complete the first major Hollywood release to be located in Cuba since the 1959 revolution. (Netflix is featuring the multi-episode “Four Seasons in Havana” based on the crime thrillers of Cuban author Leonardo Padura, largely filmed in Cuba’s capital city.)
There could be another, somewhat more subtle reason for the Cuban location. Cuba is a rainbow mix of Afro-Cuban, hybrid mulattos, and European-origin whites, with some Asian and indigenous blood added to the mix. Such is also the mixed race composition of the FF8 “family” (family being a major motif of the FF series) some of whose leading members boast Caribbean ancestry. FF8’s director, F. Gary Gray, previously directed Straight Outta Compton, with its sympathetic interpretation of rapper life.
The psychological impact of action-packed movies on the genre’s youthful demographic is highly contested. Certainly, in the FF product there is a lot of macho posturing, glorified gun battles and violent explosions. In FF films, however, the audience is frequently cued that the on-screen violence is mere entertainment, not to be confused with reality, and there is almost no gory bloodletting (preserving its PG13 rating). And while tough-guys Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson frequently flex their huge biceps, and buffed-up men are in the leadership roles, in FF8 the brilliant, tough-minded antagonist is most definitely female (Charlize Theron as Cipher).
Bronx-accented, bad-ass Michelle Rodriguez more than holds her own behind the wheel and in hand-to-hand combat. An Afro-sporting Nathalie Emmanuel is caste as Ramsey, who successfully matches her fearsome computer hacking skills against the infamous Cipher. So female viewers can enjoy the male eye candy as well as the empowered women. In a fun cameo, Helen Mirren—yes, the storied British actress!—plays the mother of two of the tough guys, and easily manipulates one of them toward her own ends.
In the Cuban sequence’s dramatic climax, Dom wins his hard-fought one-mile race (“a Cuban mile”) against a tough local competitor, by a nose. The loser is gracious: “You won my car and you earned my respect,” he admits to the FF hero. Dom’s response is equally magnanimous: “Keep your car, your respect is good enough for me.” In this instance, FF8 captures the essence of the relations between the United States and Cuba: it’s all about mutual respect.
The Cubans adored Barack Obama, who visited the island in March, 2016; in his personality and dialogue, Obama radiated respect. The current occupants of the White House would do well to consider the example set by the American heroes during their sojourn in Havana in Fast and Furious 8.
Cover Image: Author’ snapshot of the movie screen
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