Wasp Network (2019) – Slow but stunning true story

Writer-Director:  Oliver Assayas

Cast: Penelope Cruz. Edgar Ramirez. Wagner Moura. Ana de Armas.

Genre: True Spy story

Platform: Netflix

Duration: 2 Hours 8 minutes

(All links in red are clickable links)

Cuba’s and America’s history has been a very tortured one. When the USA refused to recognise Castro and his genuinely popular Revolution that overthrew the earlier corrupt (and US-backed) Government, Castro sought Soviet aid and was given large amounts of it in both weapons and monetary support. From 1960 till the end of the Cold War, Cuba was more or less a Soviet client state. In the early 1980s, Cuba decided to expel a whole “bunch of trouble makers, criminals and anti-Cubans”. This resulted in a massive wave of semi-legal immigration mostly by sea. Since most of them departed from the North Cuban port of Mariel, these “boat people” were known generally as the Marielitos  (Tony Montana of Scarface – 1983 –  fame was one of them).

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba struggled for cash, and the economy floundered. At this time the anti-Cuban movements in Miami, just 100+ miles from Cuba, thought it had it good and decided to step up its activities.  This (oversimplified) historical background is not mentioned in the film. This will however give a better understanding of the somewhat complex film that is based on two real-life parallel stories that finally come together in the end. It showed how much the talk of “freedom and democracy” was just talk as the US government  – once again – supported some corrupt groups and their violent practices, including terrorist attacks inside Cuba.

In the early 1990s, pilot Rene Gonzalez (Edgar Ramirez) defected from Cuba with his plane, leaving behind his devoted wife Olga (Penelope Cruz). As a defector’s wife, she is naturally the butt of harassment by the Cuban Security Forces and her neighbours. Olga does multiple jobs to make ends meet while Rene soon joins an anti-Castro group based in Miami that believes in the violent overthrow of the Cuban Government. Due to the lack of Soviet economic support, they thought that the time was now ripe for the new revolution that would overthrow Castro and his Government.

At the same time, another officer Juan Roque (Wagner Mauro) swims to the US base in Guantanamo Bay (which is contiguous with mainland Cuba). He claims political asylum, is treated well by the military and then sent to the mainland USA. He meets Anna Martinez (Ana de Armas), marries her and starts a business. Her persistent enquiries about the money from his business, for his expensive tastes, usually draw vague answers. Meanwhile, Rene has met the leader of the Cuban American National Foundation, who wants to conduct not only leaflet raids over Cuba but also terrorist attacks on Cuban resorts to destabilise the fragile Cuban economy.

Olga’s persistent efforts to join her husband are finally rewarded with an exit visa. While granting her exit visa, she is told the truth – her husband is NOT a traitor but a hero, a double agent who voluntarily penetrated the anti-Cuban exile groups in Miami. She soon lands in the US and then faces the usual immigration experience of working small jobs to keep the family together. Meanwhile, Juan is also making more and more money, much to Anna’s increasing discomfort, and she is pretty sure that these are by illegal means only.

The rest of the film deals with how the anti-Cuban ring is penetrated by three more Cuban agents and how the FBI, gets into the act. Soon it’s a game of spy vs spy and round up of the ring by picking up the various strands that lead from one person to another. The end credits show what happened to the actual characters.

Since it is clear halfway through the film that both Rene and Juan’s motives are somewhat vague, and they sound like robots, parroting the cliches of freedom and justice, there is no big suspense. It is soon clear from their activities that these men are not what they seem. The suspense is broken when Olga’s “exit interview” clearly mentions that her husband is not a traitor.

In sum, the Cuban Intelligence DGSI ran rings around the “Cuban Exile” movement in Miami and penetrated it thoroughly. From that perspective, this is an absolutely absorbing movie. If real-world spy stories interest you and how they are presented on screen, then your two hours and eight minutes will be well worth it.

It’s clear from the film that Ana de Armas is an outstanding performer and has already shown her acting chops in Blade Runner 2049 (2017). But the Bond Wagon publicity and her brief humorous performance in No Time to Die (2021) meant that most people think the Bond film made her. Both the female leads have well-written roles, and both Penelope Cruz and Ana de Armas do an excellent job. Both male leads are reserved and subdued, as befitting cold-calculating double agents.

As always some of the real-world truths are either glossed over or not given importance. The real Anna apparently sued Netflix for wrong portrayal as a party girl.  I suppose that’s why most of the time filmmakers add the moniker “Based On” 🙂

This is how real-world spying looks and feels, and is far away from the mythical Bond and Hunt universe. It’s a slow but absorbing watch.

Real History – 4 out of 5

Special Effects – 4 out of 5

Script – 5 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 4.2 out of 5