The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006) User Reviews

A lesson in sustainability for backwards oil dependent countries.

[jonathan_pollard · 9/10 · 3 March 2008]

This film is for you if you are already convinced of peak/oil and climate change and prefer practical solutions from real-life, large-scale examples.

This is simply the most inspiring film I have seen. It shows clearly how an oil dependent country can make the transition to life without oil. Cuba rediscovered living sustainably when the Soviet Union could no longer supply oil to it. Over three years Cubans lost a few pounds (most of them could afford to as the film points out!) as they couldn't transport food very far. Forced to grow organically (due to no petrochemical fertilisers) it took this three year period for their soil to recover from the hammering it had taken. But they emerged a resilient, self sufficient nation after this period of adjustment.

Cuba faced lack of oil early but is much the better for it. Every country will have to go through it someday and if the climate isn't going to get wrecked that day needs to be sooner rather than later. See this film, pass it on to your politician! This is a positive film and I found it utterly refreshing after the barrage of doom-laden messages about the state of the world today. It made me put extra time in to my allotment!

Well done documentary. Very inspiring

[VitalityPattern · 9/10 · 10 February 2007]

This documentary takes you through various aspects of life in Cuba - Economy, transportation, health-care, agriculture, education - and explores how they dealt with the dramatic reduction of fossil fuels to a mere fraction of their pre 1990 levels. It was nice to meet the people, see the sights, and hear the sounds. The overall feeling was that the Cubans had improved the quality of their life (after a difficult "Special Period"). Their health was better, greater sense of community, better food and healthier land. I was left with the question: Why should we wait until we run out of oil? Let's do it now. The part that I did not expect was how it challenged my understanding of the difference between a Communist country and Capitalism. Did you know that a greater percentage of Cubans own their own home than in America? More farmers now own their own land? Sort of turns the notion of what a "Free-Market" is on its head! Check it out.

Must watch

[briancham1994 · 8/10 · 10 August 2020]

This documentary is going to become very topical in the near future. It shows how Cuba already coped with peak oil and all the challenges of sudden resource collapse. This is a dry run for what is going to happen to the whole world in the next few decades and how we can adapt. This is a must-watch documentary.

A good but lacking effort.

[doctorsmoothlove · 3/10 · 10 March 2008]

Of the many documentaries that I've seen, this stands as one of the poorest executed. This was one of the few times when I was aware of a film's subject matter before viewing it. The film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil describes Cuba's reaction to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It particularly address Cuba's energy crisis. The film mentions important facts about Cuba before and after oil dependency. It talks about the inefficiency that farmers faced when depending on conventional methods. It even mentions how residents grew their own food anywhere land was available. The film gets three marks for at least providing some information on an interesting happening in Cuba.

Again, if you haven't grasped what I've already stated, this film has no problem with its portrayal of the history of Cuba's energy problem. The problem arises in its presentation. The director speaks to two different people for approximately 80% of the film. While these two people are erudite and helpful, just their two opinions was too linear to understand the various viewpoints of people who lived through the time. Also, the film took a fierce approach to its message. What I'm saying is that the film purported that it's ideals were correct while not entertaining other options. Various reviews of the film have stated that it doesn't offer a practical way to apply the Cuban solution to other places. I don't criticize the film in that way because I don't think that was the intent. If it was, it did a poor job. The people interviewed said that "the mind set must change" in order for a new green revolution to happen outside of Cuba. Unfortunately, they don't offer any insight into how this revolution will happen. Finally, this film paints the United States as a "bad guy" for not helping Cuba more. I'm not overly patriotic at all, but I found this inclusion to be silly. If the United States had intervened, then Cuba wouldn't have achieved its energy independence.

I cannot recommend this film, and there are many other better documentaries available. This is type of film that is best experienced by reading the IMDb entry. If you do that, you will avoid the tedium of seeing the same two people talk for most of the time but you'll still get the knowledge the film barely communicates. Watching this sophomoric film is similar to debating socialism on a facebook group. In both examples, we are presented with ideas and facts but no practical solution to the problem at hand.