Andy Garcia's Key Biscayne Dream Pad Featured in NY Times

Andy Garcia, Cuban American star and director of the movie The Lost City, lets the New York Times into his stunning Key Biscayne pad, and his past. The Lost City OPENS TODAY in theaters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/garden/27garcia.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Comments

[Cuban Scholar]

Andy Garcia is afflicted by a terrible and dangerous disease: chronic nostalgia. He says he "lives with Cuba everyday" No, he doesn't. He lives with his fantasy of a Cuba that hasn't existed for more than 50 years (and as is the case with this disease, his recollection of 1950s Cuba is VERY, VERY selective and shallow). OK, Mr. Garcia, enough already: all Cubans have memories and we all have losses (but not many of us can build dioramas to our inner psyche in Key Biscayne). The distance between nostalgia of the kind spoused by Mr. Garcia and totalitarian tendencies is very short (Mr. Garcia should read Ayn Rand, not in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER a communist sympathizer). Yesterday my partner and I went to Walgreen's to buy some medicines for our family in Cuba --the basics: Tylenol, Desitin for the new baby, bandaids and Vitamin C (cubans know the list well). Tomorrow we travel more than 2 hours to give the little "paquetito" to a friend of a friend who is traveling to Cuba next month. He is nervous about carrying too much and being penalized in Miami and in Cuba. So, tonite we are bundling the goods as discreetly as possible, taking everything out of their boxes, etc (cubans with families in Cuba know the ritual well). We are afraid the man will say the packet is too big (it isn't). We are sad we can't send more. We will return home tomorrow with that empty feeling in the pit of our stomach that has become so familiar. We will drive back home in silence; thinking of the family in Cuba and how many needs they have --and how difficult it is (more so under the Bush policies) to help them. And we will have our 15 minutes of Cuba-pain a day (it is now part of our folklore as well). No, Mr. Garcia; I don't have verandas in my house to soothe this pain.

[conductor]

WHy would you need to send medicine to Cuba? I thought that Cuba's healthcare system was top notch. I thought people went from everywhere in Latin America to get free treatment. They are even training Americans in their med schools. They have thousands of doctors overseas taking care of foreigners. Why would Cubans need medicines? Can't cuba buy them on a cash up fron basis from the US? The answer is yes they can. And they can buy them from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela or any other country. So what does the US have to do with the sad state of the Cuban economy? Nothing. We didn't install the centralized communist economy. Have you seen the film? How can you judge it without seeing it. Well I can guess exactly how you can judgee it. Because you're just another Castro apologist.

[a thought....]

Mr. Garcia has the means to do with his memories what he wants. I respect that he embraces his heritage and actively promotes it, be it with his movies or allowing the NY Times into his house. If that is how he chooses to remember Cuba, that is his privilege. I have never been to Cuba, so the Cuba I "remember" is through family photographs and stories. I think what Cuban scholar is upset about is that Mr. Garcia represents a different part of Cuban society that constantly gets sneered at because his family had money in Cuba. Some of us are lucky enough not to know "the list" because, gratefully, all our family members got out early. By 1960, my mother's family started leaving and by 1961, the whole family (aunts, uncles, parents, counsins) were in St. Pete. My dad's family came to Miami, although, like a lot of Cubans, they thought they were here temporarily. I feel for the people who still have family in Cuba because that is a position that I have never been in. My husband's family is a different story: my father-in-law rails against sending stuff and my mother-in-law is on the phone calling a lady to tell her that her next delivery is ready to send. Such is the Cuban paradox. If verandas soothe Mr. Garcia's pain, soothe away. Everyone has the right to remember in their own way, be it an amazing apartment on Key Biscayne or sitting down with a cafesito on Calle Ocho. Such are the freedoms that America grants.

[Lauren]

I saw this film yesterday and I believe that Andy Garcia's portrayl of 1950s Cuba is exactly how I imagine it to be based on the stories from my family, particularly my grandparents.
My grandparents were not wealthy per say, but like most Cubans from la Cuba de Hayer, they long to revisit Cuba in its days of glory, regardless of what they possessed while they were there. I believe the island was magical and spectacular, and that's why so many continue to give their lives for it...in spite of the ruins it has become...

And furthermore, Andy Garcia is an example for Cuban-Americans. Through his hard work and talent, he has become the accomplished individual he is today....and by far, a much better example of Cubans than most others seen by outsiders..AKA: Tony Montana.

I loved the film, and though I think that perhaps someone who does not know about the history won't understand the film as well, I definitely think that it prompts the viewer to want to learn about it...and that is what is key here....to educate people about what really happened...

I must say, what really made the movie so enjoyable for me was the older Cuban couple sitting behind me in the theatre. I would cringe when the actor portraying Che Guevara would appear on screen, but would laugh quickly after by the older gentleman behind me saying out loud, "Ese es un cabron que mato mas gente quel carajo"....or when one of the film's actresses decides to join Castro's revolution, the gentleman would again comment a voz alta, "Esa es una chivata!!"

I am very proud of Andy Garcia's efforts and I support him completely....and I'm not just saying that because he's handsome!

[Jose]

Of course, Mr. Garcia will suffer a severe bashing from all those Country Club Liberals. They have been pushing the same fake Cuban "cliche" during almost 50 years.
I visit Cuba, and I do believe that the movie will be very popular there in all "bancos de vídeo". The movie explained what happened, stripping all the fabrications.

[Maria Oramas]

Andy Congratulations!!! I think the moveie is excellent, I went to see it yesterday with my husband, a Veteran of the Bay of Pigs, and a friend. I found it touching, he went throught it all in a very completed way.
I am very proud of this man that came to Miami went he was just 4 and keep in his heart the love and the vision that we all share he did not have to make this film, he could live without even mentioning the Cuban problem, but he cares and he shows how much in this film. We are very proud of you Andy. God Bless you!!