YULI

Spain/UK/Cuba, 2018, 115 minutes, Colour.
Carlos Acosta, Santiago Alfonso, De La Luz, Yerlin Perez.
Directed by Iciar Bollain.

Carlos Acosta was one of the most celebrated dancers of the 20th century. Fortunately, much of his dancing, competitive dancing as well as theatrical performance, was filmed – and, again fortunately, much of it incorporated into the narrative of this portrait of Acosta.

This is certainly a dance film, many sequences of performance, a great deal of rehearsal and what that costs, excerpts of classical ballets, and a long sequence is inserted of a more contemporary dance which seems to echo something of Carlos Acosta’s life, especially his relationship with his father.

His Cuban father, descended from indigenous Cubans, strongly affirming the fact that he was a black Cuban, named his son Carlos with the traditional name of Yuli, a descendant of the gods. A strong minded man, he saw a dancing talent in his son and, a parent who dominated his voices, forcing him, often unwillingly, into a dancing career. Santiago Alfonso as Yuli’s father gives a strong performance, a powerful presence throughout the film. We see Yuli’s mother, a sympathetic woman, descended from the late-coming Spanish, as well as two sisters.

While there are sequences of the contemporary dance inserted throughout the narrative, this is still a fairly straightforward account of Yuli’s life.

Young Carlos is a cheeky boy, playing football with his friends, admiring Pele, preferring kicking a ball to training to be a dancer. He resists his father, who punishes him at times with a strap, reluctantly goes to some performances, is a recalcitrant truant, even sent away to boarding school. It is only the visit of a dancer who mesmerises Carlos during the performance that changes his mind.

The young actor makes an impression on us the audience, which enables other actors, Carlos as an adolescent, Carlos as young adult, to continue to make an impression.

Carlos is a superb dancer as the films from the past indicate, especially his winning an international competition, the family watching on television. He does achieve international success, especially in London. However, despite his father’s insistent exhortations, he is still devoted to Cuba, getting the opportunity to return home when he suffers an accident during rehearsal in London. And the question is, of course, will he return to dancing?

Even when he was little, he has the support of one of the teachers who enables him finally to go to boarding school, who trains him, helps him to enrolled in the international competition, continue to support him in his career, even when she runs a risk of being condemned by the isolationist regime.

The rest is Carlos’s history, the little Cuban boy, of black inheritance, Yuli, conquering the world – symbolised in the film by his performance in Romeo and Juliet, his father delighting that this is the first black Romeo in the British national company.

And, today? Carlos Acosta has acted in some films and is a strong presence in this film, a contemporary director and ballet teacher, devoted to Cuba and building up its dance heritage.

It is interesting to note that the film was written and directed by partners, Iciar Bollain and Paul Laverty (who had worked on the striking drama about Latin America, present and past, Even the Rain). There is a strong social comment running throughout the film, especially about the history of Cuba, its socialist experiment, the consequences for the Cubans, the post-Fidel change. Paul Laverty, in fact, has written the screenplays for all of Ken Loach’s film is since the mid-1990s.

1. A portrait of Carlos Acosta? His personal appearance in the film? Directing and dancing in the present? The actors taking his role as a boy, adolescent, young adult? The consistency of the performers, building up a credible portrait?

2. Carlos Acosta as Cuban? The Cuban settings, the vistas of Havana, the sea, the waterfront, significant buildings, the streets, poorer homes? The incomplete arts Centre? The schools, the rehearsals areas? The international settings? For rehearsals and performance? The London sequences, the city of London, the contrast with Havana, streets, flats, theatres?
3. The importance of the musical score, the background, the excerpts from the classical ballets? Contemporary dance?

4. The significance of Carlos and his background? Migrants to Cuba? Indigenous Cubans? Black Cubans? Slaves and their history? His father and his pride in this ancestry? The name of Yuli and the son of Ogun? The consciousness of this background throughout the film?

5. The framework of the film, Carlos Acosta and his success, the return to Cuba, teaching, setting up of the school? Seeing him and his direction of the contemporary dance (and much of it as a reflection on his own life and experience)? The screenplay returning to the sequences?

6. The director and the writer, Latin American sensibility, Scottish sensibility? Interpreting Carlos? And the significance of the social background of Cuba, of race, of poverty, of repression, of the drive to freedom?

7. Carlos as a little boy, playing with the kids, admiring Pele, not wanting to be a dancer? His father’s determination, the strong character of his father, even to violent behaviour? Is mother, his sisters, life at home? The reaction of the boys to his dancing, the language of fairies and fake it is, bullying?

8. The audition, his refusal, his father’s insistence, the teachers, admiring his talent, but his resistance, truancy, being called to account, his father’s demands? Punishment?

9. His going to the boarding school, going to the classes, yet his unwillingness? The visiting dancer, his being overwhelmed by the performance? His change of heart?

10. Growing up, his friends, life in Havana, dancing? The international competition, the use of the original footage, his success, happiness in the family? Yet the sad indications of Berta, walking along the water, schizophrenia, her ultimate drowning?

11. International opportunities? In Italy? Going to London? Carlos and his hesitations?

12. The importance of his teacher, from the beginning when he was a boy, her standing up for him, offering him last opportunities, training him, making demands? Success, pushing him internationally, the political risks at home?

13. England, the damp, yet his being at home, the rehearsals, the performances? His injury? Going back to Cuba, recovering, whiling away the time, his friends, confrontations with his father, talking about missing his childhood? His not wanting to dance? Yet underlying this?

14. The reaction of his father, mother, his sister? The teacher and the offer from Houston? His going back to dancing?

15. The symbolism of his dancing Romeo and Juliet, his father’s reaction to the first black Romeo in the English National Ballet?

16. The visit of his parents to London, the dinner, the discussions, the toast?

17. Carlos and his success? From dancing to teaching? Going back to Havana, the little boy and the dancing class – saying that he decided to dance because of Carlos?