MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT

7+/10

Memorias del subdesarrollo aka Inconsolable Memories : Cuba 1968 : Tomas GUTIERREZ ALEA : 104 mins

Somewhat self-satisfied and self-consciously arty - but mostly successful - adaptation of novel by Edmundo Desnoes, who pops up briefly as himself and is (amusingly) ridiculed. Script by "Cuba's greatest director" Gutierrez Alea and Noes. Of historical/political importance as first film made in post-Revolutionary Cuba to be shown widely worldwide and obtain release in USA. But stands up on own merits four decades on, and remains largely accessible to those with little or no prior knowledge of the Revolution/aftermath/Castro.

Havana, 1961-2. Sergio (Sergio Corrieri) is 38. Affluent bourgeois intellectual. His family, his ex-wife and his (few) friends fled to Miami in the wake of Castro's coup. Sergio remained - largely due to inertia. Gets by on the proceeds of rented apartments. Spends his days smoking, ruminating, peering out at the city through a telescope from his high-rise flat, flirting with girls/women, recalling past 'conquests' (which we see glimpses of, in a style that sort-of-prefigures Annie Hall).

Film structured as a kind of loose diary/record of Sergio's mental processes. Interspersed with documentary footage of news events, etc. Ambitious attempt to simultaneously trace psychology of an individual while also providing socio-political snap-shot of a country in transition. Over-ambitious?

Sergio not the most engaging/sympathetic of characters - as someone says (and he agrees), he's "neither a revolutionary nor a counter-revolutionary." Bemused by being caught up in historical maelstrom. Detached, a bit snobbish. Looks from certain angles like a non-bald John Malkovich. Everything/everybody to him is "underdeveloped" - including Cuba itself. We see that Sergio's problem is that he's over­-developed. Misfit, outsider. Lethargy of a man who realises he's old before his time. Strong performance from Corrieri - necessary, as none of the other characters is 'developed' very satisfactorily. Film reflects egotistical hero's solipsistic worldview all too well.

We see Sergio reading highbrow books, visiting highbrow modern-art galleries and Ernest Hemingway's old house, listening to highbrow music... but, oddly, he doesn't seem to go to the cinema. If he did, presumably he'd be a fan of the nouvelle vague (presumably such films were shown in Castro's Cuba?) - Memories itself very much of that Godardian style: freeze-frames, repetitions, captions, agit-prop sections, experimentation. Some dazzling moments (the last shot is striking, surprising, enigmatic), some dead patches where it grinds to a bit of a halt. On the whole, much easier to admire than it is to like. Which was presumably the intention?

9th May, 2004
(seen same day : Side Cinema, Newcastle : one-off public show)

click here for A A Helminski's essay on Memories of Underdevelopment

by Neil Young

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