Screens at the BUEI Tradewinds Auditorium on March 19 at 4 p.m. As a children’s film, this fresh and lively piece of Cuban cinema — apparently the first from the communist country to use children as lead actors — is a whimsical tale of young love and an adventurous journey across their beautiful country.The young stars played their parts brilliantly, perfectly representing the rollercoaster of a young friendship at times of strife, arguing bitterly and then sharing many a tender moment during their eventful trek. There are plenty of clever touches to keep a young audience enraptured, with a good half-a-dozen cleverly placed pieces of animation that help tell the story and keep a magical feel to the mission aimed at keeping youngsters Jorgito and Malu together despite their parents desire to split them up. The weird and wonderful characters they meet on their stunningly-shot voyage across the nation to find Malu’s lighthouse keeper father are entertaining on every level and keep a fast-pace fluidity to the action.

Although this film is most certainly aimed at youngsters, in a similar way to American cartoon sensation The Simpsons, the epic Chronicles of Narnia and even A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, there is a more subtle level to the film that only adults will genuinely appreciate.

This is a modern Cuban Romeo and Juliet, exploring themes of class divide, child abuse and lost innocence all set against a backdrop of a regulated, Communist education.

The mothers of the lead characters — one an abused and trapped housewife, the other a divorcee with a foreign lover and delusions of grandeur — appear to be very different from the outset, yet appear to share at least one thing in common, a disregard for their children’s genuine friendship and, therefore, their welfare.

When the youngsters are on the run, the mothers are brought closer together yet, and in provides a perfect climax to the adventure, once found, the parents revert to type and are so caught up in their own arguments that the children can escape and be together once more.

Beauty that many would not have realised Cuba possesses is on show at every turn in this highly enjoyable yet moving tale which provides everything you expect from a foreign film, and even a little bit more. Makes you want to visit the country and, perhaps, spend more time listening to your offspring.