“Wasp Network” – Movie Review

During the middle weekend of the 57th New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. premiere of “Wasp Network”, written and directed by Olivier Assayas. 

Synopsis

When Cuban refugees flee to Florida, will they work to free Cuba from Castro or do they have a secret mission to ensure he has a firmer grip on the country?

Story

In the early 1990’s, René (Édgar Ramírez) works as a pilot in Cuba making short trips on a small propeller plane.  His wife Olga (Penélope Cruz) works in a manufacturing plant while they both raise two children. One day, without telling Olga, René flies his airplane to Miami, Florida and turns himself over to authorities as a defector; he tells them he seeks refuge in the U.S. to escape the authoritarian rule of Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro.  René is then set up with a job as a flight instructor; he’s easily oriented into his new life since technically, he is a United States citizen, having been born in Illinois.

Meanwhile, back in Cuba, Olga is informed of René’s disappearance by government officials.  They interrogate her relentlessly about whether she knew of his plans and if he had shown signs of displeasure with Castro.  Olga is understandably upset for many reasons.  For one thing, René has abandoned his family. Additionally, when news of his defection comes out, René is branded as a traitor; his family is ostracized by much of society and Olga winds up being heavily scrutinized by the government.  Left to raise the children herself, Olga and René exchange letters; she informs him that they are over. 

René learns of a way he can make extra money:  he takes jobs flying over the Atlantic Ocean to drop off supplies to fellow refugees fleeing Cuba either by boat or raft.  All seems rather well-intentioned in the beginning, but soon, René is manipulated into making some other flights that are of the unsavory type:  he finds out that on some trips, he’s being hired to pick up drugs to be sold in the United States in order to fund a spy team in the U.S. whose mission is to fight anti-Castro terrorist groups in Cuba.  Once René finds out he’s caught up in illegal activity, what will he do?           

Review

“Wasp Network” has a compelling story to tell, but the way it’s told here, it’s so convoluted that it’s hard to follow.  Additionally, there are many characters whose stories turn intricate along with the main plot that various situations and events become twisted and tangled rather quickly.  By the time the film ends, you don’t feel you’ve had a satisfying conclusion because you weren’t sure what was happening previously. At the start of the picture, everything seems reasonably easy to comprehend but before you know it, there’s a clutter of information and you need a machete to get your way out.

This entanglement impacts how the viewer can experience not only the movie itself but also the performances.  When you’re caught up trying to process either what has just transpired or what is currently going on, that makes it difficult to focus on the actors, which is unfortunate.  One positive note about “Wasp Network”:  it looks great.  The locations in both Cuba and Florida provide a good deal of eye candy for the viewer, but that’s just the superficial dressing.  In some respects, this effort might have been better of as a travelogue; trying to cram too many historical facts into the story makes it messy. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Olivier Assayas and actors Edgar Ramírez and Wagner Moura.  While shooting “Wasp Network”, Assayas encountered various technical and political problems, especially while in Cuba.  That said, preparation was actually harder; because of many bureaucratic issues, he was not certain the film would actually happen.  Assayas felt like every day of shooting this movie was like going to war. Ramírez said the challenge for him was working on his accent to make it believable.  Moura said that as a Brazilian, he found this to be a test as well and needed to heavily rely on a coach to help him work on his accent. He supplemented learning the accent by talking to locals.