Latin American cinema is no stranger to the subject of revolution. In particular, Cuban cinema, in all of its experimental and documentary glory, is accustomed to the assemblage of realism in the face of the Revolution of 1959. The quintessential film in this regard is Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s Memories of Underdevelopment, which narrates the story of a bourgeois intellectual writer, Sergio, who has stayed behind amidst the chaos of revolution. He stays in the country when his parents and his wife go to Miami, in his desire to observe the continuing developments in Cuba. The film is based on Edmundo Denoes’ novel, Inconsolable Memories, which is written as a semi-autobiography of his life as a Western-thinking writer in the midst of the revolution. Alea concerns himself with the theme of departure and flight from the chaos that is Cuba. Alea thus uses the documentary-style camera to portray the subjective perspective of his protagonist, and uses novel POV shots and jump cuts to emphasize this (Shaw 10).
One of the central thematic concerns of the film is the departure of the intellectual elite in the abandonment of Cuban society in favor of the American dream. Stylistically, Alea concerns himself with the documentary perspective, but distances himself from the socialist realism so distinctive of Cuban post-war cinema. Instead, he opts for poetic realism, where the objective perspective of the camera is used to investigate the psychological depths of his characters (Chanan 289). All of these are immediately apparent even in the opening scenes, where Sergio is first introduced and his relationship with his family is unraveled.
In the first scene, right after the opening credits, the image immediately depicts a pile of luggage in an airport. Intertitles are used to narrate the historical backdrop: Havana in 1961. The camera then lingers on the different scenes and faces in the airport. Successively, the film gazes upon the images of Cubans with frightened and worried looks upon their faces, eager to leave the chaos of Havana. A woman in a crowd weeps uncontrollably as she waves goodbye to a well-dressed man – probably her son or husband. Children are clueless and stare right at the camera, as if they do not know where they are to be taken. The camera is mobile, and tracks to the left as officers stamp the passports of those departing. A cut to an overhead perspective of one of the inspectors show a meticulous investigation of watches, as well as the successive papers that are signed for departure.
Eventually, we discover Sergio, with his wife and parents, making their farewells. The camera gazes into Sergio’s eyes as he separates himself from the parting embrace of his family – the look is one that is meant to distance himself from the family that has decided to leave their homeland. He does not stare with longing or affection, but with a distanced perspective, especially towards his wife. A POV shot of her looking back, dejected at his refusal to come with them, is emphasized. The final shot in the airport, that of Sergio’s back in the foreground and the departing airplane in the background eventually tracks to a close-up of his face, uncertain of his future and contemplating, perhaps, whether he did the right thing. He starts to whistle, before the camera cuts away.
This opening scene is meant to situate the psychological and emotional relationship of Sergio not only with his parents and wife, but also with the wider phenomenon of the Cuban exodus. The airport is shown jam-packed with people dejected and hopeless at the fate of Cuban society. The camera, by moving from an objective, documentary perspective into the subjective world of Sergio, becomes an instrument by which the Cuban intelligentsia gazes upon itself and ponders its own place within the new status quo.
Works Cited
Shaw, Deborah. “Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s Changing Images of the Revolution: From Memories of Underdevelopment to Strawberry and Chocolate”. Contemporary Cinema of Latin America: Ten Key Films. New York: A&C Black, 2003. Print.
Chanan, Michael. Cultural Studies of the Americas: Cuban Cinema. Minneapolis, USA: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. Print.
