La muerte de un burócrata (1966)

A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.

Director:

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

Writers:

Alfredo L. Del Cueto, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (story),

Stars:

Salvador Wood, Silvia Planas, Manuel Estanillo

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Salvador Wood	...	Nephew
Silvia Planas	...	Aunt
Manuel Estanillo	...	Bureaucrat
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Omar Alfonso	...	Cojimar
Tania Alvarado
Pedro Pablo Astorga
Alicia Bustamante
Gaspar De Santelices	...	Nephew's boss
Rafael Díaz
Roberto Gacio
Carlos Gargallo
Elsa Montero	...	Sabor
Rolando de los Reyes
Fausto Rodríguez
Luis Romay	...	El Zorro

Storyline

A Cuban worker dies accidentally and is buried together with his union card. It soon turns out that the widow will absolutely need the card for claiming her pension. Young nephew starts his hilarious fight against the authorities in order to disinter and rebury his uncle and retrieve the precious document.

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Plot Keywords:

red tape | bureaucracy | nightmare | bureaucrat | cuba | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Cuba

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

24 July 1966 (Cuba)

Also Known As:

Death of a Bureaucrat

Company Credits

Production Co:

Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

A surprisingly critical and hilarious vision of Havana in '66

When lent this film by a Spanish professor, my expectations were not high -- I had no idea this film from the early years of revolutionary Cuba was by Gutierrez Alea, Tinton, the director of Strawberries and Chocalate. Now, having seen the film, I wonder how it is that such a wonderful, imaginative work is not better known. For a good laugh, this can hardly be beat.

"Death of a Bureaucrat"(Muerte de un burocrata) is the story of a body that just can't get in the ground, and the frustrations suffered by the deceased's family in trying to address this situation. With the themes of bureaucratic rigidity, death, burial and the challenges of (then) modern-day Cuban life, we see linkages to Tinton's last work, "Guantanamera". The director has played with a range of techniques borrowed from some of the greats -- we find Bunuel's dream sequences, Chaplin's battles with the machine, and Keaton's daring-do. Hopefully, with the success of Tinton's final works, some of his earlier works will come into vogue.