Good story, good direction, great acting, great cinematography, but something's missing. The rendering of Cuba in the 50s and 60s is great: lights, clothes, people... Its description of the political situation, as far as I know, is accurate, both in the great expectations on the Revolution and the gradual conversion into a dictatorship. Bardem's performance is superb, as the talented rebel-poets who inflicts so many wounds on himself. He even conveys a good cuban accent (not an easy task for a spaniard). So, I must say, are Johnny Depp's cameos. All in all, a good, strong film. But somehow the circle does not come full. The film has great core, but is faulty at the sides (not only the beginning and the end).