El Super is a situation-irony (not exactly a comedy) about a community of Cuban exiles in New York. Its protagonist, Roberto (Raymundo Hidalgo-Gato) is a tenement super so demoralized by the urban environment that he rarely leaves his flat. As a portrait of Roberto and his family, the film touches on problems of most immigrant cultures in the U.S.: Roberto longs for his homeland (or at least for Miami, a poor but acceptable substitute); his wife grapples with the new moral standards their street-wise teenage daughter brings into the home. But El Super, based on an award-winning play by Ivan Acosta, reflects the particularly Cuban dilemma in this country, taking a socialist-libertarian, anti-Castro stance while it presents a neighborhood full of outspoken people with differing opinions. "El Super is not 'surprisingly unpolitical' as several critics have claimed. In fact, the situation in Cuba can be felt in every scene" (Village Voice).