Exiles turn cold shoulder to Elián film
BY SANDRA MARQUEZ GARCIA
The Little Havana neighborhood that was home to Elián
González -- and a virtual village for reporters and
satellite trucks during five frenetic months -- was back
in the spotlight Sunday night, this time in a
made-for-television movie.
The Elián González Story, a two-hour special broadcast
at 8 p.m. on the Fox
Family Channel, was the first movie to dramatize the story of
the young Cuban
rafter boy plucked from the Atlantic Ocean off Fort Lauderdale
on Thanksgiving
Day after his mother and 10 others drowned at sea.
But on Little Havana's Northwest Second Street, where Elián's
life was recorded
in minute-by-minute detail -- frolicking with his pet puppy Delfin,
barreling down
the slide and playing in the former yard of his uncle Lázaro
González -- the movie
was largely ignored.
PORTRAYAL OF CASTRO
Cuban-American neighbors who for months showed their support for
Elián by
keeping vigil outside his Miami relatives' home said they didn't
care to watch the
movie because the previews -- and word on the street -- convinced
them that Fidel
Castro was portrayed as a kind leader.
In the movie, Castro takes Juan Miguel González aside and
asks him whether he
wants Elián to stay in Miami or come back to Cuba.
He vows to honor his decision.
``The movie doesn't interest us. It doesn't tell the truth,''
said Jorge Oquento, 58,
as he gathered with some 50 friends and relatives to celebrate
a baby's baptism
in the backyard next to where Elián once lived.
``That movie is made for an American audience,'' he said.
María del Carmen Cortez, 47, a seamstress from El Salvador,
shared the
sentiment.
But she said she hoped to catch part of the movie at home -- if
only to reinforce
her idea that it was distorted.
`GOOD UNCLE'
``They are trying to portray Castro as the good uncle of the show,'' she said.
``That boy was taken by force, and we all know it.''
The movie, directed by Christopher Leich, starts in Cuba a few
days before Elián,
his mother, Elisabeth Brotons, and 12 others set out in a rickety
boat for Florida.
It climaxes with the April 22 INS raid on the González home in Little Havana.
Among the beefs cited by several Cuban Americans: The raid --
set to the music
of the group Buena Vista Social Club -- does not reflect the
violent tactics of the
federal agents, including the use of pepper spray.
And script researcher D.J. Canava did not interview the Miami relatives.
`BIG LIE'
On Sunday evening, a heavy downpour and a thunderstorm battered
the
now-empty home where Elián had once played.
A handwritten sign that hung from the fence had this message:
``We want an explanation for the big lie in the false film about
Elián González. We
are waiting.''
Sam Ciancio, 42, the fisherman who together with his cousin Donato
Dalrymple
helped rescue Elián from off the coast, said he planned
to watch the movie --
between segments of the Dolphins' football game.
``I am a diehard Dolphins fan,'' said Ciancio, who is depicted
in the film as the
rightful savior of the rafter boy despite the boastful claims
of his cousin.
``I guess I will be looking to see if the truth of this story will be told,'' he said.
Although Ciancio said he was shunned by some Cuban Americans for
expressing
his opinion that Elián should be reunited with his father
-- he said Sunday that his
life has been blessed for his fateful encounter with the boy.
``First of all, I have changed my whole attitude about foreign
people coming to this
country. I respect those who come here for freedom,'' he said.
`NO MASOCHIST'
Among those who had no plans to watch the movie: Jose Basulto,
president of
Brothers to Rescue: ``I am not a masochist. . . . It's tragic
[that] what will remain
of Elián is this film.''
In Allapattah, Dorothy Futch, 62, said she had also decided against
watching the
movie.
``We saw too much of it when it was going on. It had nothing to
do with the
community,'' she said.
Futch, who raised eight children, said she never understood why
Elián's case
generated so much publicity.
``So many parents and kids have drowned coming over here. It wasn't
about this
child,'' she said.
``It was just a bunch of aggravation. That's all. Nothing changed,
especially with
race relations.''