image001                                                UNC-CH and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Video Collection/Outreach Office

                                                Contact Information: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

                                                3200 FedEx Global Education Center

                                                Phone: (919) 843-8888          Fax: (919) 962-0398

                                                Email: LA_films@unc.edu

 

 

DE CIERTA MANERA

(One Way or Another)

 

79 minutes

Directed by:  Sara Gómez

 

Overview:

A revolutionary love story combining elements of fiction and documentary, this film examines the roots of machismo and the changing relationships between women and men in early 1960s Cuba.  The main story deals with the growing relationship between Yolanda, a schoolteacher, and Mario, a bus factory worker.  The plot unfolds in the midst of the destruction of the old and the establishment of the new order of the Cuban Revolution (symbolized in the tearing down of a marginal neighborhood and the building of a new housing project).  The film illustrates the difficulties of changing the codes of conduct from a male-based philosophy to a “revolutionary”philosophy and the conflicts that arise when confronting the status quo with a new form of thinking.  It analyzes the successes and shortcomings of the revolution regarding racism, sexism, and class-based prejudices.  Sub-sections of the film provide documentary footage of the Abucua cult, poverty under Batista , the destruction of old Havana slums, etc.  Most of the footage was fimed in actual factories, schools, and neighborhoods, where workers, teachers, students, and ordinary people represented themselves.  The film’s ideological bent is clear; it gives the revolutionary philosophy in a strong moral fashion.  The director, Sara Gómez, died when the editing of the film was almost completed, and two other Cuban filmmakers, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Julio García Espinosa, finished the undertaking.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses: 

Gómez’s film is deservedly one of the most acclaimed Cuban films to look at the impact of the revolution on individuals and daily life.  Gómez is also of interest as the only Cuban woman director to make a feature film during the 1970s-80s.  The film’s experimental style, combining sociodrama and documentary footage, presents a woman’s perspective and documents the early years of the revolution.  The film appears, and is, in some ways dated, yet its core analysis of machismo is still valid, and the Brechtian mix of documentary and fiction is still intriguing.  Some students will find the film confusing because it mixes genres, but class discussion can clarify why such mixes were key to Cuban “imperfect cinema.”  Although the film can seem overly propagandistic , reviewers felt that for those who persist, the tape illustrates interesting points about the dilemmas involved in changing the philosophy of the Cuban people in the revolutionary process.

 

Introducing the Tape: 

A brief background on the history and cultural heritage of the population would be helpful.  Discussion should include Afro-Cuban religion, Santería, as well as references to the Abacua and other elements of West African culture.  An introduction to the conflicts of the Cuban government as it confronted changing from a “male” orientation to a “revolutionary” view would be useful.  It would be important to present both the U.S. and the Cuban perspectives in the study of twentieth-century Cuba.  Also some discussion of Cuban “imperfect cinema” would be appropriate.

 

How to Borrow this Video?

The videos owned by the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are housed in the Outreach Office of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  They are lent free of charge.  For information on films and reservations, please visit http://isa.unc.edu/film/films_main.asp.