In my mind, apart from cigars and mojitos, cuba seems to have nothing to go global.
But in 2014, a Cuban film called "The Flying Childhood" was released in Norway.
Searching for the film director Ernesto from the Internet, I did not find any major achievements, nor did I make any other films.
But a film directed by a small director in such a small country won the Best Picture Award at the 15th Havana Film Festival in New York in 2014.
The film not only received an official trophy, but also received recognition from moviegoers from all over the world.
Although the number of people watching the film is not very large, and there are less than 10,000 people on the rating website of domestic films, the score has reached 8.4, more than most films of the same type.
Movie unpopularity is a matter of publicity, but high ratings are the embodiment of the quality and content of the movie itself.
Set against the backdrop of Cuban society, the film reflects on the educational problems of local children through stories between teachers and students.
Many people say that this movie is an educational version of "How to Be Home", because the two little protagonists have such a common point: in the face of a cruel life, the process is helpless but full of hope at the end.
But the fates of the two characters are still different, in "Why Home", Zane has no one to rely on, but in "Childhood That Can't Fly", the teacher becomes a ray of light in his dark life.
For a child, parents and family are certain from the moment they are born, whether they are the richest man in the world or born in a slum, these are things they cannot choose.
The protagonist of the film, Chala, was born into a poor family at the bottom of Cuban society.
The biological father had been out of the news long before Chala was born, and the mother was addicted to D and alcohol, and lived a decadent life.
The family is poor, the parents are negligent in their duties, and this is the life that Chala faces all day.
Under such conditions, going out to make money became the daily routine of the eleven-year-old Chala.
He joined the local dog fighting activities and helped the dog fighting boss train dog fighting as a way to earn money to support his family.
Perhaps because of Chala's premature contact with society, coupled with her mother's unreliable behavior, the status of Chala and her mother seems to be reversed in life.
There is a scene in the movie that says:
Chala took the money earned from training dog fighting and handed it to her mother to let her pay for living expenses, and after her mother took the money, Chala did not forget to tell her to "don't spend the money where you shouldn't spend it."
In ordinary people's homes, it is mothers who say this to their children, but in Chala's home, the situation is completely opposite.
The director uses such an ironic form to express the heartache and helplessness of these poor families.
And this situation is not only the Chala family, as long as the growth environment is not healthy, these children will more or less produce some "little adult" feelings.
These children take the place of their parents at a young age to support their families, and this life is almost a portrayal of all poor families.
Since the participants in the dogfighting event are all local bad boys, Chala seems to become more obedient and rebellious in this environment.
It was also because of this illegal activity that Chala was repeatedly warned by the police and social workers.
As a result, under the influence of birth conditions and living environment, Chala became a "problem teenager" in people's eyes.
Although this is not fair to Chala, fate cannot be changed, and all he can do is to die in the mire after confessing his fate.
Therefore, the children, including Chala, chose to ignore everyone's discipline and warnings, and they wasted their studies and lives in their own way.
Because Chala did not perform well in school, he was almost sent to the "re-education school" by the school many times.
"Re-education schools" are actually juvenile detention centers, where all children who have made mistakes are sent.
Since the children inside are "useless people" who have been abandoned by society, if Chala goes in and locks them up, it is more likely to be even more depraved.
Although Chala's mistake was enough to send him in several times, he was only "rescued" after only a few days in it.
The person who saved Chala from the "re-education school" was none other than his teacher, Carmela.
In fact, in the movie, although Chala is making trouble everywhere, her heart is not bad, because she has caused all the trouble in him because she has a good heart.
He illegally participated in dog fighting gambling activities because he wanted to support his family;
He got into a fight with his classmates because they abused his friends.
Even he resisted going to "re-education school" because he could not take care of his mother.
What Chala did was purely helpless, and the harshness of life forced him to arm himself.
In the eyes of others, Chala has long been an incurable little bastard, but his teacher Carmela has never given up on him.
Carmela has been a teacher for decades, and almost every student she has taught is grateful to her.
Because even if the students are difficult to discipline, they have never given up.
Just like the principal of a re-education school, it is Carmela's former student.
The reason why Chala was able to come out of the re-education school was also because of the principal's trust in Mr. Carmela.
Through carmela's observation of Chala at school, she discovers that he is actually a teenager who longs for love and wants to be loved.
It was because of seeing the shining points in Chala's body that Carmela took him back under great pressure from the school and the community.
After bringing him back, the teacher spent more thought on him, thinking about him in every detail.
Carmela sees that Chala will always be warned by the police for dog fighting gambling, so she specially visits the owner of the dog fighting activity and hopes that he can take good care of Chala.
Carmela would be furious when Chala and her classmates went swimming in the sea and almost lost their lives.
But in any case, Carmela does this with a student-oriented heart, so no matter what Carmela does, Chala can appreciate the teacher's good intentions.
It is also for this reason that when Chala heard the driver say that Carmela was his grandmother, he denied this sentence, but immediately expressed the hope that she was really his relative.
A teenager who never settled down, under the care and discipline of the teacher, experienced love for the first time.
So he will choose to express his dependence and love for the teacher in front of strangers, so he will sleep so sweetly in the teacher's home.
At the end of the film, Ms. Carmela decided to let the teacher retire because she repeatedly confronted the school and the community for the sake of the students, which was recognized by the community and the school as an act of transgression.
And Chala, who is no longer a "problem teenager" in people's eyes, comes to the principal, hoping to withdraw the decision to let the teacher retire in exchange for his own study in the "re-education school".
Although the principal did not agree due to institutional reasons, he expressed his affirmation of Chala, believing that Mr. Carmela did not misread the child.
Chala's step by step improvement is inseparable from the teacher's love and help for him.
Carmela treated him as her own relative and never gave up on him, even though he made many mistakes and confronted her many times.
It is precisely because of the teacher's insistence on him that he has given him the opportunity to change and let him change his direction from the wrong path.
When the teacher returned to the class after recovering from a serious illness, the poor teenagers who were always in trouble at home all rushed up and hugged the teacher.
The students' lives are indeed full of helplessness about the origin, society, and destiny that cannot be changed, but it is gratifying that the teacher has become a light in the children's lives.
There is also a teacher in the film, who once replaced the sick Carmela teacher as the teacher in the class.
But unlike Ms. Carmela, she only regards teaching as a profession, and even advises Hermara not to inject too much affection into her students.
Therefore, driven by her inner thoughts, she reported the little girl in the class who studied well but was a black household.
So much so that the little girl could no longer go to school.
Did the young teacher do it wrong?
No, she just did her job.
Did she do it right?
No, because she only did her job.
This is the biggest difference between this teacher and Teacher Carmela.
Carmela is not only busy teaching, but also busy with the development of students' personality.
So, when the young teacher once again wanted to send Chala to the juvenile detention center, Carmela said something to her:
If you want a juvenile offender, treat him like a juvenile offender.
At the beginning of the movie, Chala stands on the roof, clutching the claws of a pigeon in her hand, looking into the distance.
Although the pigeon in his hand flapped his wings vigorously, the boy still refused to let go.
Chala seemed to have become one with the pigeons, and they both wanted to fly, but had to give up.
The pigeons can't fly because of the restraints, so what is the reason why the little boy can't fly?
It is simply because the environment in which they live has long since cut off their flying wings.
Family, society, these have almost become the burden on these children.
And these, the children are powerless to change, can only go with the flow under the command of fate.
Meeting a good teacher became their only chance to change their destiny.
In reality, there will also be children who struggle with an unjust fate, and they will also meet teachers who help them rewrite their lives.
Just like Principal Zhang Guimei and Teacher Zhang Yujuan, they all gave up running to a better life, just to let more students get the opportunity to change their destiny through education.
Teachers are important educators for students after their parents, and what they do is enough to affect a student's life.
Although moral kidnapping cannot be used to demand that teachers dedicate themselves, people still hope that more and more teachers will follow these examples.
Because for the children in the valley, a light is enough to illuminate their future life path.