Cuba libre

Cuban Fury is a fun movie: a rom com with a salsa twist. There isn't much to tell that cannot be gathered from the trailer: guy with low self esteem falls for beautiful boss and seeks to woo her with his long forgotten salsa dancing talent. You can write the ending of course. It features all the usual ingredients: misunderstandings, happen chance meetings, coincidental back stories, admiring glances held on camera longer than you would hold them in real life and a smattering of slap-stick.

If this doesn't attract you enough, then go and see it for the gnarled face and brooding humour of Ian McShane, playing the salsa dance teacher who has seen it all and yet still believes. This is a film with passion, pathos and pirouettes.

Office romance is a central part of the narrative and therefore features several collegiate conversations and liaisons: several of which I am pretty sure would not pass company HR policies these days! The relationship between Nick Frost and his manager, Chris O'Dowd borders on the abusive.  You know what, it does more than just border on it..!

And as always poor management just serves to highlight what good leadership and management should all be about. Nobody abuses their staff like Chris O'Dowd does in the film, in real life... do they?

But how does one know? Do bullies know that they are bullies? Are they consciously or unconsciously mean and abusive? 

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This is the seventeenth of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.