La Primera Carga Al Machete (1969) translates to The First Charge of the Machete, a dramatic and fitting title for this jagged, impressionistic film. Journalistic realism, with all its stylistic trimmings - interviews, shaky handheld camera, close action - finds an early expression in this fictional rendering of the bloody 1868 Cuban rebellion against the Spanish colonials. It is a strange, surreal and jarring effect to have an imagined war reportage on a war that predates moving images, but the abrasive black and white imagery paired with delicate spanish guitar and brutal violence melds for a captivating onscreen alchemy in this politically fuelled retelling from director Manuel Octavio Gomez. - Two Thousand