Documentary: Havana Curveball

The curveball in the title is the metaphorically thrown to the documentary's protagonist, Mica, as this 16-year-old reflects on a three-year project to send baseball gear to Cuba. In the beginning, Mica's innocence is touching, and the hook to the story, sadly understated, of his grandfather's two-year asylum in Cuba while fleeing Nazi Germany in 1941 is compelling. Mica's parents, both journalists, film the documentary, and one begins to wonder at the level of preparation one would have to go through in order to take Mica's journey. Shot from Mica's perspective, we learn quickly that there is an embargo on Cuban trade, so the baseball gear he tries to send is impossible through the U.S. Postal Service. Finally having sent some on his own through Canada and later through an organization equipped to take equipment with it, he ventures to Cuba himself. Two key points of his understanding of how complicated it is to give away things to the "less fortunate" are worth mentioning. During his journey, he meets a group of players and realizes that after he makes a human connection, he doesn't want the condescending role of the "American Savior." The fact that something doesn't sit right with him is revealed later when he tries to give away, in true U.S. style, some of his gear to a group of kids playing in a field. The disillusion that happens next reminds me of the time I held out a bowl of candy to a group of kids at Halloween. When asked, "How many can we take?" I responded, "Whatever you think is reasonable." After a brief loss of faith in "humanity," my wife explained to me I got exactly the reaction I asked for. Mica got more than he asked for, and his documentary gives the viewer more than expected.