Paraiso

"Paraíso" is not about the European cliché of Cuba. It is not about romantic old cars and Buena Vista Social Club. It is about a group of young men. Around singer Yasel they have formed the band Madera Limpia. They live in Guantánamo, where there is nothing really going on. A couple of old plastic bottles and a few pieces of driftwood are enough for them. They create instruments and music – powerful, vibrating, explosive; the rhythm of young Cuba. They play the music of the street. Rapid, hot and aggressive. The pulsating Changüi mixed with rap and hip hop. “Our music,” says Puro, the man at the trés-guitar "you have to dance, to feel – in order to hear it." In personal confessions to the camera, the musicians explain what they think about life: love, infidelity, sex, money and success. Mixing black-and-white images from music videos with the colour of everyday life, this film is an amazingly authentic close-up of Cuban reality, capturing both the 'vida loca' and the boredom and frustration on the island.