Memories of Underdevelopment (Memorias del subdesarrollo, Tomás Gutierrez Alea, 1968, Cuba)

Sergio, an intellectual playboy and a aspiring writer, decides to stay in Cuba when his wife his friends all flee to Miami. The year is 1961 shortly after the Bay of Pigs incident and follows Sergios lifestyle, his relationship with his girlfriends Elena and Hanna, and the everyday living in a undeveloped country.

The film is a character study and the effect of lifelyhood during the turmoil of social changes. It is told in a subjective point of view throught the fragmented memories of Sergio. Based on a book by Edmundo Desnoes, it mixes documentary, fantasy and fiction to place the viewer in the mind of a man caught between capitalist and revolutionary worlds. Shot in black and white with hand-held cameras it stages scenes and cuts to bring it to a realism and keeps the end open just as life is. It is a critique of the revolutionary society and also a critique of itself using a artistic subtlety.

It quickly became a international favorate after sweeping awards and prace at Havana Film Festival and is Gutierrez Alea´s best known film, others being Muerte de un burócrata, La,Última cena, La and more recently Fresa y chocolate and Guantanamera. Edmundos is working on the sequel and another movie to be released this year based on the book, called Memories of Development.