MADRID, Spain.- In one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema, The Godfather II (1974), a moment in the history of Cuba is reflected and Havana is recreated. However, although it seems so due to the masterful staging and direction of Francis Ford Coppola, the scenes were not filmed in Havana, but in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
The sequences of the end of the year party, on December 31, 1958, in the Presidential Palace of Havana, where Fulgencio Batista leaves power, were filmed in the Salón de Las Cariátides of the Dominican National Palace.
These scenes, fundamental in the plot of the feature film, show the mobsters of the time on the Island, as well as the arrival of the revolutionaries in the city.
During this party a key moment of the film also occurs: Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) discovers the betrayal of his brother Fredo Corleone (John Cazale).
The subsequent meeting between the two brothers, in which Frodo opens up and tells all his resentment, occurs in a supposed park in Havana. This scene, where Frodo orders a banana daiquirí and the “Guantanamera” is heard in the background, was filmed in the Parque Independencia in Santo Domingo.
The same occurs with the street scenes recreating the Havana atmosphere, including the arrival of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the Cuban capital to settle business with members of the mafia, which were filmed in a colonial Dominican neighborhood.
While another classic sequence, Michael Corleone’s meeting with Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) and other businessmen, during Roth’s birthday, supposedly occurred on the terrace of the Hotel Capri, was filmed in the penthouse of the Hotel El Embajador, in Santo Domingo. .
The fact that the film was not filmed in Havana, despite being an essential setting for the plot, was due to the fact that the United States Department of the Treasury did not authorize an American film production company to invest in the existing regime on the island.
The Godfather IIbased on the novel The Godfatherby American writer Mario Puzo, was the first sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
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