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Death of a Bureaucrat

Original title: La muerte de un burócrata
  • 19661966
  • UnratedUnrated
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
  • Comedy
A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  • Writers
    • Alfredo L. Del Cueto
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea(story)
    • Ramón F. Suárez
  • Stars
    • Salvador Wood
    • Silvia Planas
    • Manuel Estanillo
Top credits
  • Director
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  • Writers
    • Alfredo L. Del Cueto
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea(story)
    • Ramón F. Suárez
  • Stars
    • Salvador Wood
    • Silvia Planas
    • Manuel Estanillo
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 7User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Photos13

    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
    La muerte de un burócrata (1966)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Salvador Wood
    • Nephewas Nephew
    Silvia Planas
    • Auntas Aunt
    Manuel Estanillo
    • Bureaucratas Bureaucrat
    Gaspar De Santelices
    • Nephew's bossas Nephew's boss
    Omar Alfonso
    • Cojimaras Cojimar
    Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera
    • Psychiatristas Psychiatrist
    Richard Suarez
    • Tarafaas Tarafa
    Luis Romay
    • El Zorroas El Zorro
    Elsa Montero
    • Saboras Sabor
    Tania Alvarado
    Pedro Pablo Astorga
    Laura Zerra
      Roberto Gacio
      Alicia Bustamante
      Rafael Díaz
      Carlos Gargallo
      Rolando de los Reyes
      Fausto Rodríguez
      • Director
        • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
      • Writers
        • Alfredo L. Del Cueto
        • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea(story)
        • Ramón F. Suárez
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
      • All cast & crew

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      Storyline

      Edit

      User reviews7

      Review
      Top review
      7/10
      THE DEATH OF A BUREAUCRAT (Tomas Gutierrez Alea, 1966) ***
      Although I have consciously kept my foreign film viewing to a minimum during this Christmas season, I couldn't resist purchasing this one (whose release on R2 DVD from Network came literally out of left field) and watching it instantly, given its opening dedication to many an exponent of cinema (more on this later). As far as I can recall, it also marks my introduction to Cuban cinema – which, as can be surmised by the title, deals with the country's social structure; considering the political situation of the time in which it was made, this is hardly a surprise…but, what is unexpected is the fact that it treats the subject matter as black comedy!

      The plot resolves itself in a succession of ironic developments with respect to the pension coming to the widowed wife of a veritable working-class hero (his sculpting endeavors and unfortunate demise are depicted via a stylized animation sequence): to get it, she needs her husband's union card – but his equally proletarian comrades had it buried with him as a symbolic gesture. Her milquetoast nephew, who's really the hero of the film, decides to have the body exhumed – but, officially, two years have to pass before this can be legitimately done; so, he hires two men to steal the body and then proposes to have it buried once more – but, since there's no record of it having been exhumed in the first place, technically, this isn't possible either. And so on and so forth, with numerous episodes involving legal red tape (which ought to bring a smile and a strong sense of empathy to anyone who has ever dealt with a government entity)…until the young man is literally driven to madness and murder! The film, then, ends with the funeral of this other bureaucrat…

      Going back to that dedication I mentioned earlier, the full text (typed on screen along with the film's full credits at the very beginning and signed by the director) reads thus: "The film is dedicated to Luis Bunuel, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Ingmar Bergman, Harold Lloyd, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Juan Carlos Tabio, Elia Kazan, Buster Keaton, Jean Vigo, Marilyn Monroe and all those who, in one way or another, have taken part in the film industry since the days of Lumiere." This is no faint praise, either, as THE DEATH OF A BUREAUCRAT features a handful of Bunuelian dream sequences and a general mockery of Christian burial services (one highly amusing little scene is when the nephew pilfers ice cubes for his drink from his aunt's supply – who is forever breaking ice in order to preserve her husband's body!); a delightful tit-for-tat routine of wanton destruction occurring, of all places, at the cemetery (and which even develops into a Laurel & Hardy-style custard pie fight!); and, at one point, we're also treated to some Harold Lloyd-type antics on a ledge when our hero finds himself locked inside an office building!

      Director Tomas Gutierrez Alea is himself generally considered to be the finest Cuban film-maker and among his other works worth mentioning are THE TWELVE CHAIRS (1962; which is also available on R2 DVD from Network and the 1970 Mel Brooks version of which, incidentally, I've just acquired), MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT (1968), THE LAST SUPPER (1976) and the Oscar nominated STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE (1994); the local DVD shop has the latter available for rental and, as a result of this positive experience with Cuban cinema, I will certainly be giving it a spin one of these days
      helpful•7
      1
      • Bunuel1976
      • Dec 16, 2007

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • July 24, 1966 (Cuba)
      • Country of origin
        • Cuba
      • Language
        • Spanish
      • Also known as
        • Der Tod eines Bürokraten
      • Production company
        • Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC)
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Box office

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      • Gross worldwide
        • $3,323
      See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

      Technical specs

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      • Runtime
        1 hour 25 minutes
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.66 : 1

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