Guantanamera (1995)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Juan Carlos Tabío

Writers:

Eliseo Alberto (writer)
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (writer)

Release Date:

4 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

It is a satire about life in Cuba. The members of a funeral procession and some truckdrivers who have...

Plot Keywords:

Cuba | Road | Funeral Procession | Satire | Hispanic

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Carlos Cruz	...	Adolfo
Mirta Ibarra	...	Georgina
Jorge Perugorría	...	Mariano
Raúl Eguren	...	Candido
Pedro Fernández	...	Ramon
Luis Alberto García	...	Tony
Conchita Brando	...	Yoyita
Suset Pérez Malberti	...	Iku
Assenech Rodriguez	...	Grieving Woman
Louisa Pérez Nieto	...	Marilis
Idalmis Del Risco	...	Hilda
Ikay Romay	...	Wina
Mercedes Arnáez	...	Vivian
José Antonio Espinosa	...	Justo (as Jose Antonio Espinosa)
Alfredo Ávila	...	Tirso

Also Known As:

Guantanamera (Spain)
Guantanamera - Eine Leiche auf Reisen (Germany)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Cuba | Spain | Germany

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Germany:6 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | Sweden:11

Company:

Alta Films

Quotes:

Adolfo: There are always problems. And there are always solutions.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Last Night (1998/I)

A Light-Drama Tropical Road Movie

Guantanamera, a Cuban light drama by accomplished director Tomas Gutierrez Alea (1928-1996), is a tropical road movie. The setting is the 1990s, following withdrawal of USSR support for its little-brother Communist regime. A woman dies, some distance removed from Havana, and the goal is to transport her to the capital for burial. A tiny entourage of family accompanies the hearse.

Some snippets, though not central to the plot: How do government-run funeral homes work exactly, in a Communist country? Well, first, there is a per-person quota of refreshments for the bereaved and acquaintances who are paying last respects. But doesn't this attract inauthentic freeloaders? Second, there is a scene involving a meeting of regional mortuary-manager bureaucrats. If travel expenses for hearse trips are allocated according to the relative mileage of the territories through which vehicles traipse, the funeral home functionary in a crossroads region takes more than her share of budgetary hits. Is that fair? Third, there is the question of why the burial in Havana in the first place. If everybody and everywhere in Cuba are socialistically equal, what's wrong with the deceased staying put where she was? Meanwhile, we also have organized hitchhiking. Officials have the power to commandeer vacant seats from those who have for those who need.

There is some Latino romance, and some lightly subversive free enterprise. All in all, a likable movie. Mirta Ibarra, who starred twelve years earlier in Alea's 1983 film, Up To a Certain Point, gets an encore. She plays the niece of the deceased, who is also the wife of the over-serious Daniel Ortega-looking official who's in charge of the expedition.