De Cierta Manera (film)
Encyclopedia
De Cierta Manera is a 1974
Cuban
romantic drama film. Directed by Sara Gómez
, the film mixes documentary-style
footage with a fictional story that looks at the poor neighborhoods of Havana
shortly after the Cuban Revolution of 1959
. The film illustrates the history before the background of the development process in Cuba. It demonstrates how tearing down slum
s and building modern settlements does not immediately change the culture of the inhabitants. Gómez completed filming with Mario Balmaseda and Yolanda Cuellar just before her death; technical work was finished by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
, Julio García-Espinosa y Rigoberto López before its posthumous release.
man, is confronted by Yolanda's instinct for emancipation. The two nonetheless become lovers. Their relationship portrays the idea that racism
, sexism
, and class
-based prejudices must be demolished in order to succeed.
modules and fiction, the conflicts in Cuban society
that remain unsolved today.
As De Cierta Manera reveals, Gómez was a revolutionary filmmaker with intersecting concerns: the Afro-Cuban
community, its cultural traditions (including Abakuá
and Santería
), women's issues, the treatment of marginalized sectors of society, and the role of family within the context of the revolution and workers' rights. For its time, the film was extremely radical both in form and content. Hence, Sara Gómez remains one of the most significant filmmakers from Latin America
.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
Cuban
Cinema of Cuba
Cinema arrived in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century. Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, about 80 full-length films were produced in Cuba. Most of these films were melodramas...
romantic drama film. Directed by Sara Gómez
Sara Gómez
-Filmography:*Plaza Vieja; El solar; Historia de la piratería; Solar habanero *Iré a Santiago *Excursión a Vueltabajo *Guanabacoa: Crónica de mi familia *.....
, the film mixes documentary-style
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
footage with a fictional story that looks at the poor neighborhoods of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
shortly after the Cuban Revolution of 1959
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
. The film illustrates the history before the background of the development process in Cuba. It demonstrates how tearing down slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s and building modern settlements does not immediately change the culture of the inhabitants. Gómez completed filming with Mario Balmaseda and Yolanda Cuellar just before her death; technical work was finished by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, which are known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba, and possess a delicate balance between dedication to the revolution and criticism of the social, economic,...
, Julio García-Espinosa y Rigoberto López before its posthumous release.
Plot
Yolanda, a female teacher, cannot find the best methods to teach the marginalized children of the slums because of their different origin. Mario, a worker in a bus factory and a typical machoMachismo
Machismo, or machoism, is a word of Spanish and Portuguese origin that describes prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism...
man, is confronted by Yolanda's instinct for emancipation. The two nonetheless become lovers. Their relationship portrays the idea that racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, and class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
-based prejudices must be demolished in order to succeed.
Reception
The film does not contain action in the traditional sense, but it portrays, through an unusual mixture of documentary-styleDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
modules and fiction, the conflicts in Cuban society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
that remain unsolved today.
As De Cierta Manera reveals, Gómez was a revolutionary filmmaker with intersecting concerns: the Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
community, its cultural traditions (including Abakuá
Abakuá
Abakua or Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban men's initiatory fraternity, or secret society, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon...
and Santería
Santería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
), women's issues, the treatment of marginalized sectors of society, and the role of family within the context of the revolution and workers' rights. For its time, the film was extremely radical both in form and content. Hence, Sara Gómez remains one of the most significant filmmakers from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.