DramaHistoryThriller

Wasp Network

- Traitors or heroes?

Havana, Cuba, 1990. René González, an airplane pilot, unexpectedly flees the country, leaving behind his wife Olga and his daughter Irma, and begins a new life in Miami, where he becomes a member of an anti-Castro organization.

Release Date : 2020-01-29

Language :EnglishItalianRussianSpanish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : CG CinémaNostromo PicturesRT FeaturesSCOPE PicturesFrance 2 CinémaOrange StudioMemento Films Production

Production Country : BelgiumBrazilFranceSpain

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Olga

Original Name : Penélope Cruz

Gender : Female

Character Name : René

Original Name : Edgar Ramírez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Viramontez

Original Name : Gael García Bernal

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ana Margarita

Original Name : Ana de Armas

Gender : Female

Character Name : Roque

Original Name : Wagner Moura

Gender : Male

Character Name : Basulto

Original Name : Leonardo Sbaraglia

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cruz León

Original Name : Nolan Guerra Fernández

Gender : Male

Character Name : Irma

Original Name : Osdeymi Pastrana Miranda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luis Posada Carriles

Original Name : Tony Plana

Gender : Male

Character Name : PUND's Pilot

Original Name : Julian Flynn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Viramontez's Wife

Original Name : Anel Perdomo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Roque's Cousin

Original Name : Julio Gabay

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tete

Original Name : Amada Morado

Gender : Male

Character Name : Panzón

Original Name : Leandro Cáceres

Gender : Male

Character Name : René's FBI Contact

Original Name : Ernesto Ruiz Faxas

Gender : Male

Character Name : CANF Activist #1

Original Name : Harlys Becerra

Gender : Male

Character Name : CANF Activist #2

Original Name : Gabriel Buenaventura

Gender : Male

Character Name : Irma (6 Years Old)

Original Name : Carolina Peraza Matamoros

Gender : Male

Character Name : Colonel Rabeiro

Original Name : Juan Carlos Roque Moreno

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer Caballero

Original Name : Edwin Fernández

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer Estrada

Original Name : Feliberto Beatón

Gender : Male

Character Name : State Security Agent with Olga

Original Name : Javier Guillarte Fernández

Gender : Male

Character Name : Immigration Agent with Olga

Original Name : Yura López

Gender : Male

Character Name : René's Brother

Original Name : Raúl Bravo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tannery Manager

Original Name : Elbert Álvarez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Inglés Ahora Boss

Original Name : Philip Stanton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jorge Mas Canosa

Original Name : Omar Ali

Gender : Male

Character Name : Castro's Envoy

Original Name : Juan Ángel Samper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bill Clinton's Advisor #1

Original Name : Chris Gillette

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bill Clinton's Advisor #2

Original Name : Stephen William Tenner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bill Clinton's Envoy to Cuba

Original Name : René Flinn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Judge

Original Name : Adria Perez

Gender : Female

Character Name : Narrator (voice)

Original Name : Carlos Leal

Gender : Male

Character Name : Raúl Labanino Salazar

Original Name : Saúl Rojas

Gender : Male

Character Name : Fernando González

Original Name : Noslen Sánchez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Antonio Guerrero

Original Name : Denys Ramos Antúnez

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joseph Santos

Original Name : Alberto González Corona

Gender : Male

Character Name : Amarylis Silveiro

Original Name : Dánae Hernández Reyes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Nilo Hernández

Original Name : Yasmani Guerrero

Gender : Male

Character Name : Linda Hernández

Original Name : Yaité Ruiz

Gender : Female

Character Name : Pilot Cessna #1

Original Name : Luis A. Batista

Gender : Male

Character Name : Co-pilot Cessna #1

Original Name : Miguel Ángel García

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pilot Cessna #2

Original Name : Daniel Romero Pildaín

Gender : Male

Character Name : Co-pilot Cessna #2

Original Name : Luis Miguel B.

Gender : Male

Character Name : Basulto's Co-pilot

Original Name : Abel López Cedre

Gender : Male

Character Name : Anti-Castroist Commando #1

Original Name : Teherán Aguilar

Gender : Male

Character Name : Anti-Castroist Commando #2

Original Name : Armando Palma

Gender : Male

Character Name : Anti-Castroist Commando #3

Original Name : Egor Viga

Gender : Male

Character Name : Guantánamo Base US Officer #1

Original Name : Thomas Michael Dubyna

Gender : Male

Character Name : Guantánamo Base US Officer #2

Original Name : Ruairi Rhodes

Gender : Male

Character Name : FBI Agent - Stakeout #1

Original Name : Brendan McNamee

Gender : Male

Character Name : FBI Agent - Stakeout #2

Original Name : Rob Harvie

Gender : Male

Character Name : FBI Agent - Stakeout #3

Original Name : Michael Strelow

Gender : Male

Character Name : US Coast Guard

Original Name : Brannon Cross

Gender : Male

Character Name : FBI Agent #1

Original Name : Adri Torrijos

Gender : Male

Character Name : FBI Agent #2

Original Name : Jhoey Carol

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cuban Airbase Controller

Original Name : Ilianki Vera Rivero

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cuban Airbase Officer

Original Name : Jorge Reinaldo Ramírez Fernández

Gender : Male

Character Name : Havana Airport Controller

Original Name : Armando Suávez Cobián

Gender : Male

Character Name : US Airbase Controller

Original Name : Steve Howard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Havana Airport Customs Agent

Original Name : Lorenzo Rodríguez César

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cruz León's Taxi Driver

Original Name : Antulio Marín

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luis Posada Carriles' Interviewer #1

Original Name : Colin Laverty

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luis Posada Carriles' Interviewer #2

Original Name : Gregory Binowski

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luis Posada Carriles' Interviewer #3

Original Name : Yailene Sierra

Gender : Male

Character Name : Roque's Interviewer

Original Name : Patricia González Ciuffardi

Gender : Female

Character Name : René's Press Conference

Original Name : Juan Jacomino

Gender : Male

Character Name : René's Press Conference

Original Name : Alexander Meneghini

Gender : Male

Character Name : Basulto's Press Conference

Original Name : Michael Weissenstein

Gender : Male

Character Name : Basulto's Press Conference

Original Name : Patrick Perry Oppman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Basulto's Press Conference

Original Name : Will Grant

Gender : Male

Character Name : Newscaster at Wedding

Original Name : Johanna Sol

Gender : Male

Character Name : Italian Victim

Original Name : Giuseppe Scarfari

Gender : Male

Character Name : Italian Tourist #1

Original Name : Luisa Marcolina Ausenda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Italian Tourist #2

Original Name : Gabriele Filippone

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hotel Capri Concierge

Original Name : Yanelis Tejera

Gender : Male

Character Name : Nurse

Original Name : Casandra Lungu

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lady on Plane

Original Name : María del Carmen Muina

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gladys

Original Name : Pilar Varo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ivett (18 Months)

Original Name : Jade Kayla Lage Maynier

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby Yvett

Original Name : Leia Sarmiento

Gender : Female

Character Name : Baby Yvett

Original Name : Alma Shamira Parilla

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Bill Clinton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Roberto Robaina

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self (archive footage)

Original Name : Fidel Castro

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-03-27

Given the intriguing story and really good cast behind this, it ought to have been good. It isn't. It meanders all over the place with way too many plots, sub plots and storylines all ambling about devoid of a solid narrative. It could be a six-parter if it wanted to be, but as a single film it just doesn't really gel at all. Olivier Assayas clearly has some skin in the game as he sets out to interweave the political and personal stories of 5 Cubans who end up, by various means, in Florida in the 1990s. Tourist pilot Edgar Ramirez ("Rene") is one of then, who leaves home and stunningly gorgeous wife Penelope Cruz ("Olga") one day, pinches a plane and defects to the US where, together with "Juan Pablo" (Wagner Moura) he is soon part of a network that effectively tries to assist Cuban defectors to get to the USA. Their determination to destabilise the Castro administration starts to lead them into more complex, moral choices whilst we continue to see his wife struggling with day to day life back home with their daughter. That's just the first half hour... There are plenty more characters, and storylines; CIA involvement; the infamous hotel bombs of 1997 - all told in a rigidly episodic fashion. It is trying to cram way too much into two hours and as such the characterisations suffer. It's not that you don't like or sympathise with them, it's that you don't ever feel you really know or understand them - Gael García Bernal as the equivalent of "Control" somehow lacks any menace or sophistication too. There is some beautiful photography of the island of Cuba itself, and of the Canary Islands, and it looks great, the cast look great, but it needed much more focus and much tighter plot filtration.

tmdb28039023

@tmdb28039023

2022-09-03

Wasp Network (2019) is "based on a true story", but its makers may be looking at reality through 'beer goggles.' For example, there is a character played by Ana de Armas, who regardless of her talent – or lack thereof – reminds me of a young Tiffani Amber Thiessen. During the epilogue, however, we are shown a photo of the corresponding real person, and what we see is a thick, plump, buxom, etc., etc. woman, and there is nothing wrong with it just like there is nothing wrong with de Armas being slender; the problem lies in that the truth is manipulated to make it more attractive to the public. If director Olivier Assayas takes such liberty with a supporting character, how do we know what's real and what's a complete fabrication? In keeping with this pattern, the locations are authentic, but even if the events of the film were equally genuine, Assayas manages to needlessly complicate them. In principle, I have nothing against non-linear stories told non-sequentially, but this script would already be hard to follow, with its espionage and counter-espionage, moles, agents and double-agents, and above all its moral ambiguity and political contradictions. This material calls for simplification, not convolution. I mean, if your movie is a quote-unquote true story, wouldn't you want to push the truth all the way to the foreground? What's the use of knowing what really "happened" if we don't understand how and why it happened? Having said that, Wagner Moura is perfect for Wasp Network for the same reasons that made him a wrong choice for the title role in Sergio. In both movies he is snooty, arrogant, and shallow; unbecoming characteristics for a noble United Nations diplomat, but which fit his opportunistic character like a glove here – a character who also happens to have the best lines in the movie ([devouring a Big Mac] “after years of eating McCastro's, McDonald's is a delicacy;” or, when a Cuban journalist asks him, while his wife watches the interview from Miami, what he misses most about his life on American soil: [thinks for a moment] "My Jeep Cherokee”).