As the first film from post-revolutionary Cuba to be released in the U.S., this had a widespread impact unequaled in the history of Latin American cinema. Set in the early 1960s, the film centers on a Europeanized Cuban intellectual, too idealistic to leave for Miami, but too decadent to fit into the new society. A critique of revolutionary society, and a remarkable demonstration that artistic subtlety, political commitment and entertainment are not incompatible.