MEMORIAS DES SUBDESAROLLO (MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT)

Cuba, 1968, 98 minutes, Black and white.
Sergio Corrieri, Daisy Granados.
Directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea.

Memories of Underdevelopment is considered one of the classics of the 1960s and one of the classics of Cuban cinema. It is based on a novel by Edmundo Des Noes who wrote the screenplay (and appears in the sequence where there is a discussion about round tables and democracy in Cuba). It was directed by veteran Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea who began directing films in 1947 and was to continue for almost fifty years, until Guantanamo in 1995. Other classics which received worldwide attention include his Lucia and his Strawberries and Chocolate (1991), a film about gay themes, a strange film to emerge from Castro’s Cuba.

The film is poetic in style, reminiscent of a lot of the French New Wave films of the late 50s and early 1960s including Hiroshima Mon Amour.

Sergio Corrieri presents a man nearing forty who has lived in Cuba, survived the revolution but whose wife and parents are leaving for Miami. It is 1961. He decides to stay, and intellectual who has managed his father’s firm but now has income from renting apartments. We meet his friends, have connections with the film industry (including some provocative sex scenes which have been cut from films censored during the Battista era). We also see the young man in his relationships, with a young would-be actress who is mentally unstable and actually accuses him of harassment and rape. We see his wife in flashback, his relationship with a European woman and his failure to follow her to New York.

The film focuses on various themes of the revolution, the contrast with pre-revolutionary times, the new sense of freedom and yet the totalitarian atmosphere of the country. The film also moves towards the court case which is dismissed. However, the end of the drama is October 1962 and the Missiles of October, Castro’s speeches, the confrontation with the US – and the film ends with the central character pondering the future for himself and his country.

The film was released in 1968, won the international critics’ award at Karlovy Vary that year. It was not released in the United States until 1973.

1.A film of 1968, the significant year of revolutions? Released in the 70s in the United States? Its status as a film classic?

2.Cuban cinema, in the 60s, the impact of the revolution, the anticipation of a future? The film seen in retrospect of the Castro era? The work of Tomas Gutierrez Alea?

3.The black and white photography, Sergio’s narrative, the archival footage, the visual style, poetic? The musical score?

4.The adaptation of the novel, the role of the novelist, his appearance in the film? His perspective from the United States on Cuba? On the role of intellectuals? The pre-revolutionary era, the freedom in the post-revolution?

5.The situation of 1961, Fidel Castro and the impact in the 1960s after the revolution? His 1962 speech in the film? The appeal to the revolution? Watching the film with the hindsight on the Castro era?

6.The references to the Battista era, the memories, changes, freedoms? The significance of the film clips censored in the more permissive era?

7.The titles, the intellectual and his attitude towards development and underdevelopment, the cultural references? Ordinary Cubans? Intellectual Cubans? The Cubans who fled the country? Sergio’s stances, a superior stance, an elitist touch?

8.His parents leaving, 1961, the airport, the crowds of refugees, people saying goodbye, stamping the boarding passes? Laura and her sullen leaving of Sergio? His farewell to his parents? The background of their property, the shop, his working there for two years, taking over, the government taking the shop? The apartments and the rentals? The documentation that he had to fill in about his status? The letters from his mother? Memories of Laura, regrets? The marriage, the relationships and the divorce? The difficulties in his leaving the country?

9.Sergio, reading, wanting to be a writer, Pablo, his friendship, shared interests, going to the film people?

10.Elena and his encountering her, sexuality? His confession about going to prostitutes since thirteen, his relationships with women, his marriage to Laura, his love for Hannah and the joy with her, his decision not to go to America? His hopes? Elena, the meeting, the film director, audition, her singing, going to the apartment, her caution, the sexual relationship? The Pygmalion attitude, taking her to galleries, her straightening his tie rather than looking at the art? Her being a cultural lost cause?

11.Sergio and his being idle, going to bookshops, the film and the cuts by the censor? Wandering the city, observing?

12.Elena’s brother, the attack, Sergio and his reaction, his fears, willing to marry Elena? The parents and their anger and physical attacks on him? Elena’s lies?

13.The hearing, audience sympathy for Sergio, the testimony, Elena and her mental condition, the judgment of the court? The truth? The reading out of the decision?

14.Sergio free, but his age, prospects?

15.The October sequences, the missiles, the Soviet link, the confrontation with the US? Castro and his stances? The sudden ending – and the prospect for Cubans in the aftermath of the missiles crisis and during the Castro regime?