Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment)
Posted by martinteller on September 3, 2009
The Cuban revolution from the point of view of a bourgeois writer, who stays in Havana almost out of spite. The film’s style is kind of a New Wave/semi-documentary hybrid… seemingly quite influenced by Godard, particularly Breathless and Contempt. Like Godard, it gets rather wordy at times, and not having any knowledge of the Cuban revolution (or very much political theory) I was a bit lost at times. I wasn’t quite sure where Alea’s sympathies lay: was I supposed to like Sergio or not? I couldn’t tell, but perhaps this adds to the film’s complexity. Interesting and well-done, but as someone who generally likes to keep politics out of his movies (or at least on more of a subtext level) it wasn’t really my bag. Rating: 7
