Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968)

Director:

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

Writers:

Edmundo Desnoes (novel)
Edmundo Desnoes (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 May 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Sergio, a wealthy bourgeois aspiring writer, decides to stay in Cuba even though his wife and friends flee to Miami...

Plot Keywords:

Cuba | Cuban Missile Crisis | New Latin American Cinema | Fidel Castro | Havana Cuba

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Sergio Corrieri	...	Sergio Carmona Mendoyo
Daisy Granados	...	Elena
Eslinda Núñez	...	Noemi
Omar Valdés	...	Pablo
René de la Cruz	...	Elena's brother
Yolanda Farr
Ofelia González
Jose Gil Abad
Daniel Jordan
Luis López
Rafael Sosa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eduardo Casado Revuelta
René Depestre	...	Himself / Panelist
Edmundo Desnoes	...	Himself
Pello el Afrokán
Jack Gelber	...	Himself
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea	...	Himself
Gilda Hernández
Fausto Pinelo
Beatriz Ponchova
Gianni Toti	...	Himself / Panelist
Julio Vega
René Villarreal
David Viñas	...	Himself / Panelist

Also Known As:

Historias del subdesarrollo
Inconsolable Memories
Memories of Underdevelopment (USA)

Runtime:

97 min | West Germany:90 min (TV)

Country:

Cuba

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Havana, Cuba

Company:

Cuban State Film

Trivia:

Selected by the New York Times in 1974 as one of the ten best films of the year.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Memorias del desarrollo (2009)

Memoiras del subdesarrollo is a stunning look into post Revolutionary Cuba.

Memorias del subdesarrolo (memories of the underdeveloped) is a look into the life of a bourgeois young writer who decides to stay in his native Cuba following the Cuban revolution, and enters himself into a life of detachment, seclusion, and avoidance. Sergio (the writer) is juxtaposed with Elna (a young woman following the trends that are dictated to her) to show a clash in idealism, values, and moral that leads to dramatic court scene that ultimately puts in question the current state of Cuba opposed to the past. Alea's use of Sergio, Elena, Pablo (a petty bourgeois that flees to Miami), and the court shows Alea's insight into the great social change that followed the revolution. Through the course of the film you see the change in society that spurns it's, once, culturally elite to become detached from there surroundings and society, leaving only two options: flight, and seclusion. This film is a great look into a society, and a man trying to escape from it. .