Los Frikis se basa en hechos reales y cuenta una notable historia de la lucha que estos punkers cubanos hicieron por liberarse de la opresiva cultural socialista. Los directores Tyler Nilson y Michael Schwartz enrout a second feature – one that also offers quite unadulterated insights into the quest of those who are searching for personal freedom and common humanity. Los Frikis portrays pictures of unnecessary suffering and gradation but also moves the audience with the intoxicating power chords strumming the chord progressions of youth without restraint. The engaging characters of the film manage to hold attention until the narratively weakened third act.
An introductory card states that hitters after seizing power in Cuba in 1959, Castro banned rock music. Years later, during the ‘90s as Grunge music was making its way into America, we meet troublemaking youngsters who are huge fans of punk and play it in private shows defying all limits. We are brought into a wild scene where Paco (Héctor Medina) a rough tattooed guy with a mohawk is kicking his old guitar while screaming into a torn up mic. People are bouncing and dancing in an audience full of sweaty happiness while seeing Gustavo (Eros de la Puente), who is Paco’s younger brother, and his adoration. The happiness seems to be short lived as the police show up. Everyone honestly bolts for their lives.
The brothers sleep on a mattress on the floor in Uncle Mateo’s (Luis Alberto García) old and broken house. It is unfortunate to see the reality of their suffering and poverty. They haven’t taken any food for several days. There are no stocks on the store shelves. Paco and Gustavo drown the buckets for their family may out. Paco comes across an abandoned cat in a backstreet. Gustavo cannot find it in himself to strangle that. Pacing himself, Paco is more savage and hungry.
Paco’s band is sitting on the roof with a makeshift antennae and tuning a much sought after American radio station. There’s not enough cat to go round. Paco tells them about AIDS patients housed in jungle sanitariums. The state can feed and house them and even give them ice cream. Mateo and the family are going to attempt the dangerous raft trip to Floida only to return with great surprise. Trouble maker but, for now, Paco will be left behind. Like other members of the countercultural “Los Frikis” – contrarians – Paco regularly injects himself with HIV positive blood so as to be eligible for government Sponsorships of the Tamarind tree huts located in those areas providing complete seclusion.
Now appreciate that – let it sink in for the moment. Cuba was able to afford provide such materialistic eventualities in the so-called ‘Special Period.’ This is a period which is characterized by the extent of the poverty, the history of starvation during the Cubans So-called Special Period; which made these individuals commit acts that were unheard of during normal circumstances. An act that was done in what seems today as utter ignorance of the disease and its catastrophic consequences. Paco was of the mind that AIDS was simply a flu which one could expect to easily solve in 10 years. Los Frikis were in their prime, young, healthy, and had no limitations. And so surely he and the others would outlive the procedures to make their treatment effective. This was clearly not true yet the means taken did give room for a breathing space.
Paco, and soon Gustavo, discover somewhat a paradise in an interesting second act. The Coast Guards were cut off from the society. They supported the Cuban government’s intention to keep ‘tainted’ with different sexual preferences, different gender identities, and different undiplomatic people out of sight. What is sad is that this expulsion granted Los Frikis a better place to be themselves. People were only grateful for the remining few without realizing that the few were infected with AIDS too, a case of temporary bliss.
Nicolson and Schwartz pamper the audience with a good spirit on account of tragic loss who continues to sympathize to those in need. Gustavo falls in love with a gentle and stunning Maria (Adria Arjona), now that is some luck. She is one of those kind selfless people that did not avoid nor persecuted people with AIDS. The brothers are encouraged by Mario in pursuing their creativity in a constructive manner toward their musical aspirations. They find a new family that accepts them for who they are, but it is a family that is slowly losing its members. Every person within the sanitarium has the remains of death waiting for them, the end is certain. And the movie does not shy away from that.
It is also evident that Mateo made a difficult decision to leave all he knew and come with his wife and small children across a vast and dangerous ocean but decided to do it. To him, it was a last option and opportunity for a better future. For Paco and Gustavo, the view is similar regarding the Institute Sanatorio. He trampled any voices of opposition. Even if it is narrow, the sight of them in a field of sugarcane with slogans blaring in the background, and family scenes of forced labour is slightly soul disturbing. The risk is always better than the status quo and a situation that never changes. Daily life in Havana was simply unbearable during that time.
Francisco and Alfredo offer furious thrash-punk in a klezmer style which is just energetic. Paco, Gustavo, and their buddies associate mohawks with punk, but not like many great punk rockers, they are skilled musicians. They embody the spirit and mindset of glaring defiance, sans any actual ability. In this case, it is funny and obviously raspy. The moments where Gustavo struggles to capture a Nirvana cover are quite hilarious. However, every off-beat that is created makes him feel more free. That is the beauty of everything. Not everyone has to be Kurt Cobain or Eddie Van Halen to deliver a rocking performance.
It’s always a challenge to talk about the peak of the film without giving away any spoiler, but Los Frikis goes straight into a direction that quite disappoints as in doesn’t cover a crucial ending. In regard to this, Nilson and Schwartz might have tried to leave it intentionally vague about what happens to some characters, but this is injustice to the viewers who should get a response to unanswered questions. A great deal of time in Los Frikis has even gone into thorough setting up expository scenes. The piece it seeks to create had to finish on an acute rather than on a deep sound.
Watch Free Movies on Hurawatch