Memorias Del Subdesarrollo’s film adaptation.

Tomás Gutierrez Alea nicknamed “Titón” directed one of the most visionary and influential Cuban films to date. The movie made its début screening in 1968 during a time of political tension between East and West. Titón adapted Edmundo Desnoes novel Memorias del Subdesarrollo to the big screen, the story of a Cuban Aristocrat who after the triumph of the Cuban revolution decides to stay behind as he watches he close ones immigrate out of the island. Sergio, our protagonist is a man of culture, a “pessimist” as he watches on a series of politically driven events unfold. “Esta gran humanidad ha dicho basta y echado a andar… y no parará hasta llegar a Miami."

The story is narrated in part through Sergio’s perspective and his commentary on world affairs of the time and on the Cuban revolution. There are times where the story is narrated ever so briefly through the character of Pablo, Sergio’s close friend who predicts nothing but disasters in regards to the island. Also the character of Elena, a young female who sleeps with Sergio only to accuse him of taking advantage of her, in turn Elena’s family drags this argument all the way to the Cuban judicial system. Once more Sergio’s inner monolog takes is the main basis for the films narration, "yo he visto mucho para ser inocente". Lastly there is Noemí, a young girl Sergio employs to clean up his house. Noemí relationship with Sergio at times can be an intimate one though they appear to be just fantasies of Sergio and not a reality. Even so he treats her as more than a friend as they way the speak to each other is informal.

Memorias del Subdesarrollo, like Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-up is a psychedelic experience, the ending of the film being the best example. As Sergio approaches the camera until he is directly in front of the lens out of focus a voice over starts up, ¿quién eres tu Sergio? tu no eres nadie! Memorisas del Subdesarrollo also has a humorist approach to its social commentary on Cuban society and the revolution. I guess in a way you would have to be of Cuban decent to get these jokes but in the end the movie does a good job at depicting the story of a character who does not belong in the world he lives in. a character that is very much detached and who may not have ever been there.

Memorias Del Subdesarrollo.

“Memorias del subdesarrollo,” a  novel by Cuban author Edmundo Desnoes. The story narrates through a journal, or diary kept by an aristocrat at the triumph of the Cuban Revolution at the very end of 1959. Unlike the rest of his family our protagonist does not leave the island and watches the coming events ‘curios’ of what has happened or is going to happen. In 1966 Edmundo Desnoes published one of the well-known Cuban novels of all time and of his generation of the 1950’s. The focus on the Cuban revolution or the opposition from Miami Cubans was not what drove the story to success; in fact it was the complete opposite. Our protagonist, a Cuban aristocrat who watches in horror as his entire social class vanishes in an exodus and with much hurry. Sergio stays behind not just to feel free like as an individual, but because he senses something unique and irreproducible. This world created by Edmundo Desnoes is one of constant contradictions and questions. The most important aspect of the novel is the way that the novel tells you about the social changes that are happening in a spontaneous way: ‘dialecticamente’

One of the most entertaining events in the story is the event of the cane Sergio acquires. The cane with the head of a dog that he names “Fiddel”, pronounce “Fidel” who Sergio has a rather long conversation with, this event in the story is controversial to say the least and it is a push at censorship. It is here where we see the “subdesarrollo” of the novel, in other words the underdevelopment. The intellectual is done away with in the story, as censorship is the main reason why this is happening. The individual whose reality is based on books and literature is squashed by the revolution. Coincidently it is an independent Cuban director named Miguel Coyula that is currently directing “Memorias del Desarrollo.” I am not clear on the specifications or on the date of release but it is a presumed sequel to “Memorias del subdesarrollo” that takes place in New York instead of Habana Cuba. You can find out more on Miguel Coyula’s movie here www.myspace.com/memoriasdeldesarrollo