Los Ultimos Frikis

Los Ultimos Frikis tells the story of ZEUS, Cuba’s iconic heavy metal band, and their 30-year fight to be heard. When ZEUS formed in Havana in the 1980s, rock music was illegal and rockers were derisively called “los frikis”—the freaks. Fidel Castro’s communist government saw rock and roll as such a capitalist threat that concerts were broken up, vinyl records were destroyed, and long-haired “frikis” were thrown in jail. Lead singer Diony Arce spent six years in prison at the height of his career. Today, ZEUS is part of the Communist system, sponsored by the official Ministry of Culture’s Agency of Rock. The government that once silenced them now pays their salaries and promotes them around the country. These grey-haired rockers traded in their rebellion for the chance to perform openly to crowds across the island. But at what cost? For ZEUS’s 25th anniversary, the band is granted permission by the Agency of Rock to make their first national tour. It’s a dream come true for the band—a culmination and triumph after years struggling to create a space for themselves. But, as ZEUS embarks on the cross-country journey, the band discovers that their place in Cuban culture isn’t what they once believed. Bouncing across the island on their tour bus, ZEUS comes face to face with a changing country and a younger generation that is no longer interested in their rebellious music. Just as Cuba is optimistically opening its doors to what many hope will be a more comfortable and secure future, musical tastes have shifted to the newer, sexier rhythms of reggaeton. Once at the forefront of youth culture, ZEUS now risks fading into a quiet irrelevance. Returning to Havana after a heart-breaking tour, the band asks if they have become Los Ultimos Frikis—the last freaks in Havana?