THE PRINCE OF OLD HAVANA THE PRINCE OF OLD HAVANA is based on the true story about a man of incredible personal charisma, Alberto Yarini. It is a period piece that evokes the lusty, Latin world of Cuba’s capital in 1910. This is a humming world of Victorian values, but also a world of song, dance, bright colors, spicy food and hard drink. Life was to be lived! Whites, blacks and mulattoes (term used to refer to a person who is born from one white parent and one black parent) mingled in the streets. The air was clean, the water fresh, and the clip-clop of hooves on cobblestones could be heard daily. People worked hard and played harder, and Yarini’s girls were there at the end of the day, to dole out pleasure in unlimited quantities. Unlike other prostitutes, these girls came from France and elsewhere, and were willing to perform sexual feats never before experienced in Havana. The politicians took note of this, and were dutifully decorous during the day, but nefariously nasty at night. Yarini never gave anyone away; that’s why he was so valuable to the pols, and soon had great power in Havana. Dashing and handsome, he was a knight in demeanor; everyone loved him. He could marshal the populace to vote one way or the other, and easily get politicians to look the other way while he ran his bordello—especially since they were its main clients. This is a film that contrasts the two types of women allowed to exist in that era, the repressed Victorian housewife, whose only identity was through her powerful husband, and the working girl, the prostitute. Yarini flitted back and forth between these two types of women, between the worlds of love, power and influence and the worlds of submission, mysticism, powerlessness and lust. Someone, however, will betray Yarini. He will die young and become one for the ages. His story is a sensual one. It mixes charm and lust, power and pleasure, money and corruption, magic and realism. It is the story of Old Havana. It is also the oldest story in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Yarini