Part documentary, part reggaeton drama, LA CALLE PURA is a portrait of contemporary Cuba seen through the dreams and daily struggles of an Afro-Cuban family fighting for its place, as a post-Socialist era dawns on the island.
This tale of patriarchal initiation revolves around 23-year-old Bryan, his father Toro and his uncle Mio, Toro’s twin brother. The three live between Havana and Alamar, the biggest housing project in Cuba, and provide for their extended family. As Bryan starts grappling with adulthood and responsibilities, he looks up to his two physically identical but opposite role models, in search of the man he wants to be. The twins, in turn, project their own ambitions and frustrations on him as they navigate their day-to-day lives with different views on family and entrepreneurship, offering a glimpse into the country’s past and its future.
The worst economic crisis in decades is the backdrop against which the three men are seen exploiting the lack of basic goods to buy and resell items, constantly crossing the line between the newly established private sector and the black market, and between legality, profit and survival. As the largest mass emigration in Cuba’s history unfolds, Bryan, Toro and Mio are the faces of the Cubans who are reimagining the island as a place they want to live in: they are those who stay.
LA CALLE PURA explores masculinity, love, and faith, in a place where the repetitive counting of precious plastic-wrapped goods is as mystical a ritual as a prayer to the Orisha spirits. The journey of the three men reflects the coming of age of a country at a crossroads. If no one seems to be the master of their own future, are we all doomed to repeat our fathers’ mistakes?