Un traductor

Bringing to light a little-known piece of Cuban history, this moving and understated medical drama set in 1989 tells the story of a Russian teacher in Havana drafted to serve as a translator for children brought from Chernobyl for medical treatment. Though the professor at first resists the officially mandated transfer, the film beautifully delineates how a change of workplace causes a tectonic shift in one man’s emotional resources. Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro stars.

“Shot in Havana, with vivid contributions from production designers Zazu Myers and Juan Carlos Sánchez Lezcano, the film captures the distinctive time-capsule quality of an isolated country, where many aspects of the story’s 1989–90 setting bear the mark of earlier decades. The Barriusos’ film addresses a specific set of events, but as it unfolds at the intersection of socialist ideals, economic realities, and personal ambitions, it’s a timeless portrait of what it means to be a cog in the wheel of a single-party regime.”—Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter