Balseros

One of the most heartbreaking documentaries I've ever seen. The flip side of Buena Vista Social Club and a must-see for all you pseudo-revolutionaries out there that need a little dose of reality to flesh out your one-dimensional rants.

Director Carles Bosch makes no judgments on the lives of the Cuban rafters he follows over seven years. You won't be able to help but come to some of your own judgements about your own life and what you take for granted.

One of the things that stood out in my mind was the looming shadow of the fall of Russia. Most would say the world is a better place because of it, the end of the "evil empire." I think that's that's the biased viewpoint of those who benefit from the spread of capitalism, aka the "new world order." Places like Cuba (not to mention the inner-cities and rural areas of the US) are the wreckage of that continuing spread.

There are days I absolutely hate this country and that hatred leaves me feeling helpless and hopeless. I hate the facade of the American Dream that lulls people into complacency and drives others to risk their lives to get here, only to find the grass is just a different shade of brown. I despise the compromises we accept because the sacrifices are too steep, the sense that nothing will ever change and we're stuck making the best way we can.

I wish I could believe it was as simple as getting Bush out of the White House but I know that he is only a symptom of a much larger ill and somedays I fear there's no cure.