critics consensus

As evocative as it is thought-provoking, Epicentro takes an affectionate look at a people and culture -- and delivers a quietly effective rejoinder to lingering Cold War resentment. Read critic reviews

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Epicentro Videos

Epicentro: Trailer 1

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Epicentro Photos

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Movie Info

Filmmaker Hubert Sauper explores the history of post-colonial Cuba and the extraordinary people of Havana.

Genre:

documentary
Original Language:

Spanish
Director:

Hubert Sauper
Producer:

Paolo Calamita, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, Daniel Marquet, Martin Marquet, Barbara Pichler
Writer:

Hubert Sauper
Release Date (Streaming):

Aug 28, 2020
Runtime:

1h 48m
Production Co:

Groupe Deux, Little Magnet Films, KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production
Aspect Ratio:

Flat (1.85:1)

Cast & Crew

Hubert Sauper
Director

Hubert Sauper
Writer

Paolo Calamita
Producer

Gabriele Kranzelbinder
Producer

Daniel Marquet
Producer

Martin Marquet
Producer

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Epicentro

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (2)

At once mesmerizing and self-questioning.

August 28, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Matt Fagerholm
RogerEbert.com
Whether Sauper's travels delivered a cohesive movie this time is debatable, but what he does find is always interesting.

August 27, 2020 | Full Review…

Ben Kenigsberg
New York Times
A hypnotic immersion into a country and culture embargoed by decades of our country's foreign policy, "Epicentro" combines the absurdist cinematic meditations of Werner Herzog with... John Gianvito's poetic investigations into American imperialism.

August 27, 2020 | Full Review…

Peter Keough
Boston Globe
It alternates political ponderings with a loose and discursive subtext in which Hubert Sauper explores the idea of Cuba as an island paradise.

August 25, 2020 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Chris Barsanti
Slant Magazine
Epicentro may not have an imperialist lens, but it still feels like a colonizing one.

March 2, 2020 | Full Review…

Monica Castillo
Remezcla
Despite the filmmaker's evident fondness for the people and nation, this impressionistic feature feels frustratingly obtuse, unfocused and unstructured.

February 6, 2020 | Full Review…

Dennis Harvey
Variety
This film is like an insider's view of Cuba, and it consists mainly of street scenes in and around Havana, loosely strung along a theme relating to the Cuban War of Independence and the Spanish-American War.

February 14, 2021 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
Acting as his own cinematographer in Havana, Sauper ventures off the tourist track with his camera.

January 22, 2021 | Full Review…

Gerald Peary
Arts Fuse
Epicentro is an intimate, fluid, ethereal film while still being sharp edged in condemnation of the globalization and colonial history. It's one of the truly great documentaries of 2020.

October 23, 2020 | Full Review…

Dustin Chang
ScreenAnarchy
If one can't find utopia on the sunny beaches of Cuba, one might not find it elsewhere.

October 21, 2020 | Full Review…

Pat Mullen
POV Magazine
As waves crash against the Malecón esplanade, Epicentro reminds us of the myths that we build our lives upon; some of us believe in the myth of building walls and some of us cry at the death of our mythical leaders.

September 18, 2020 | Full Review…

Bedatri D. Choudhury
Screen Slate
Sauper's Epicentro takes what feels like a last, nostalgic pulse-taking of Fidel's Havana-physically decaying but still full of cultural life-before what seems an inevitable eventual return to external capitalist exploitation.

September 15, 2020 | Full Review…

Dennis Harvey
48 Hills