Often a movie’s importance has less to do with its cinematic quality or its production values than what it tells us politically. This is certainly the case with Wasp Network, a film about Cuban spies which has made waves since it was released on Netflix this June. Its portrayal of Cuba has drawn sharp critiques from anti-communists as from hardened Castroites — who, depending on their particular views, take the movie either for “pro-regime propaganda,” or exactly the opposite.

But the fact that Wasp Network has been released on Netflix has a lot to do with its importance. Appearing on such a platform means it can shape the common-sense view of Cuba among a broad swath of Western audiences — influencing consumers of commercial cinema who would never watch a film on this theme produced by some overtly “politicized” outlet. On that basis alone, it seems like a goal scored for the Cuban Revolution. So, this is a film that defends the revolution without itself being revolutionary? Well, let’s see.

Based on Brazilian writer Fernando Morais’s book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, the film focuses on the Wasp Network, a spy unit of the Cuban secret services designed to infiltrate the main — and most violent — organizations of the Cuban diaspora in Miami.