Elián

2017

108 mins

Directed by Tim Golden, Ross McDonnell
100%
69%
Documentary

Doc exec-produced by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney detailing the remarkable aftermath of the rescue of a Cuban boy off the US... More

Doc exec-produced by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney detailing the remarkable aftermath of the rescue of a Cuban boy off the US coast in 1999.

"Elián was just five years old when a Florida fisherman found him floating in an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day, 1999, the only survivor of a shipwreck. His mother (who drowned in the incident) didn't tell her ex-husband that she planned to abscond to the USA in a homemade boat. Elián's Miami-based relatives take him in, all the while providing the media unfettered access to their tiny charge. His father wants him back in Cuba; his cousins want him to stay in the land of opportunity. The debate escalates - priests, lawyers and politicians (in a crucial election year) from Gore to Castro, all get involved. The now-adult Elián comments, "what happened to me wasn't a movie, it was a true story", clearly demonstrating that truth is stranger than fiction." (Sydney Film Festival)

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Elián | Ratings & Reviews

100_%15 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
69_%51 reviews
Audience score rating

"We see the resilience of the adult Elián when he takes a swim near a Cuban beach: After all he's endured, he's not afraid of the water."

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Village Voice

"It has the decency to recognise that only Elián González has the right to define his sense of truth for himself."

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Slant Magazine

"It's not exactly revelatory, in the manner of OJ: MIA. But it does effectively plunge the viewer back in those choppy seas for an object lesson in how politics can rapidly inflame a situation to dangerous levels."

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Screen Daily

"Your sympathy and judgment coexist, no matter how wince-inducing it gets with each turbulent turn. Context is everything here."

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Los Angeles Times

"For the most part the film chronicles the complex tale cogently and effectively, using extensive archival footage as well as contemporary interviews that help put the events in context."

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