Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Encyclopedia
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, and political conditions of the country.
Gutiérrez's work is representative of a cinematic movement occurring in the 1960s and 1970s known collectively as the New Latin American Cinema. This collective movement, also referred to by various writers by specific names such as “Third Cinema
”, “Cine Libre”, and “Imperfect Cinema,” was concerned largely with the problems of neocolonialism
and cultural identity. The movement rejected both the commercial perfection of the Hollywood style, and the auteur-oriented European art cinema, for a cinema created as a tool for political and social change. Due not in a small part to the filmmakers’ lack of resources, aesthetic was of secondary importance to cinema’s social function. The movement's main goal was to create films in which the viewer became an active, self-aware participant in the discourse of the film. Viewers were presented with an analysis of a current problem within society that as of that time had no clear solution, hoping to make the audience aware of the problem and to leave the theater willing to become actors of social change.
in 1951, Gutiérrez studied cinema at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
in Rome, graduating in 1953. He was heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism
, and created his first films in Rome with future Cuban colleague Julio García Espinosa, with whom he co-directed the documentary film El Mégano (The Charcoal Worker).
Shortly after the success of the Cuban Revolution
led by Fidel Castro
in 1959, Gutiérrez, Espinosa, and several other young filmmakers founded the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográphicos (ICAIC). As ardent supporters of the Revolution, ICAIC was a filmmaker’s collective which believed film to be the most important modern art form and the best medium to distribute revolutionary thought to the masses. Gutiérrez's Esta Tierra Nuestra (This Land Of Ours), was the first documentary made after the revolutionary victory. ICAIC focused mostly on documentaries and newreels in its formative years, but eventually expanded into production of feature films, including Gutiérrez’s early Historias de la Revolución (Stories Of The Revolution) (1960), ICAIC's first fiction film, and Doce sillas (Twelve Chairs), (1962).
(Death of a Bureaucrat) (1966) introduces itself as a sort of homage to the history of cinematic comedy, and includes direct allusions to the work of Buster Keaton
, Laurel & Hardy, Luis Buñuel
, and many others. The story follows a young man’s confounding plight through bureaucratic offices to have his dead uncle exhumed and then reburied after the body is buried with his identification card.
His next film, Memorias del Subdesarrollo
(Memories of Underdevelopment) (1968) was the first Cuban film to be shown in the United States since the Revolution. Based on Edmundo Desnoes
’s novella "Inconsolable Memories," the film is the memoir of a morally ambiguous bourgeois intellectual living in Havana in the period between the Bay of Pigs Invasion
and the Cuban Missile Crisis
. The protagonist is unwilling to take a political stance one way or another, yet continues to despise the country around him for being backwards and underdeveloped. His life eventually fades into nothingness, becoming a personality which has no use in this new Cuba.
In a self-reflexive cameo appearance, Gutiérrez calls the film a “collage…with a little bit of everything”. Gutiérrez uses a dizzying array of materials and filmic styles in Memories, from documentary-style narrative sequences which use long unbroken shots taken from handheld cameras to agitational montage sequences reminiscent of the films of early Soviet filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein
. Memories makes use of various types of media including direct documentary footage shot, still photos, archive and newreel footage, clips of Hollywood films, and recorded speeches by Fidel Castro
and John F. Kennedy
, to create a seemingly disarticulated film language that is in direct contrast to the straightforward Hollywood style.
Although criticism of the Revolution and Cuban society was at the heart of not only Memories, but all of Gutiérrez’s works, Gutiérrez continued to be a dedicated supporter of Cuban Socialism. But his works could hardly be described as propaganda either. Gutiérrez described the motivation for his contradictory approach by saying: “…cinema provides an active and mobilizing element, which stimulates participation in the revolutionary process. Then, it is not sufficient to have a moralizing cinema based on harangue and exhortation. We need a cinema that promotes and develops a critical attitude. But how to criticize and at the same time strengthen the reality in which we are immersed?”
In 1972 and 1976, respectively, Gutiérrez completed two historical feature films, Una pelea cubana contra los demonios (A Cuban Fight Against the Demons) and La última cena
(The Last Supper). Both set in Spanish colonial Cuba, the films study contradictions and hypocrisy in Cuba’s past of imperialism, religion, and slavery.
Hasta cierto punto (Up to a Certain Point) (ez’s wife, Mirta Ibarra.) The film underwent some censorship and remains to this day considered by Cuban critics one of his lesser works, though it is still highly regarded. The director himself said jokingly that the film was only successful "up to a certain point"
In the early 1990s, Gutiérrez fell into ill health, forcing him to co-direct his last two films with his friend Juan Carlos Tabío
. The first, Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) (1993) became the first Cuban film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The film’s story centers on the oft conflictory relationship between a committed Marxist student and a flamboyantly gay artist. Gutiérrez's final film, Guantanamera
, (1994) uses traditional elements such as an ensemble cast and romantic comedy to take a more subtle approach to Gutiérrez’s old targets: underdevelopment and bureaucracy. The film won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize
at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival
.
Titón, as he was known to his friends, died at age 68 on April 16, 1996. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana
.
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
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, and political conditions of the country.
Gutiérrez's work is representative of a cinematic movement occurring in the 1960s and 1970s known collectively as the New Latin American Cinema. This collective movement, also referred to by various writers by specific names such as “Third Cinema
Third Cinema
Third Cinema is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s-70s which decries neocolonialism, the capitalist system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money...
”, “Cine Libre”, and “Imperfect Cinema,” was concerned largely with the problems of neocolonialism
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
and cultural identity. The movement rejected both the commercial perfection of the Hollywood style, and the auteur-oriented European art cinema, for a cinema created as a tool for political and social change. Due not in a small part to the filmmakers’ lack of resources, aesthetic was of secondary importance to cinema’s social function. The movement's main goal was to create films in which the viewer became an active, self-aware participant in the discourse of the film. Viewers were presented with an analysis of a current problem within society that as of that time had no clear solution, hoping to make the audience aware of the problem and to leave the theater willing to become actors of social change.
Early life
Born in Havana on December 11, 1928, Gutiérrez was raised in an affluent, politically progressive family. After receiving his law degree from the University of HavanaUniversity of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
in 1951, Gutiérrez studied cinema at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film....
in Rome, graduating in 1953. He was heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
, and created his first films in Rome with future Cuban colleague Julio García Espinosa, with whom he co-directed the documentary film El Mégano (The Charcoal Worker).
Shortly after the success of the Cuban Revolution
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...
led by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in 1959, Gutiérrez, Espinosa, and several other young filmmakers founded the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográphicos (ICAIC). As ardent supporters of the Revolution, ICAIC was a filmmaker’s collective which believed film to be the most important modern art form and the best medium to distribute revolutionary thought to the masses. Gutiérrez's Esta Tierra Nuestra (This Land Of Ours), was the first documentary made after the revolutionary victory. ICAIC focused mostly on documentaries and newreels in its formative years, but eventually expanded into production of feature films, including Gutiérrez’s early Historias de la Revolución (Stories Of The Revolution) (1960), ICAIC's first fiction film, and Doce sillas (Twelve Chairs), (1962).
Most popular works
Gutiérrez’s first widely successful feature, Muerte de un burócrataMuerte de un burócrata
La muerte de un burócrata is a 1966 comedy film by Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea in which he pokes fun at the communist bureaucracy and red tape and how it affects the lives of the common people who have to waste time and overcome hurdles just to get on with their ordinary lives.The story...
(Death of a Bureaucrat) (1966) introduces itself as a sort of homage to the history of cinematic comedy, and includes direct allusions to the work of Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, Laurel & Hardy, Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
, and many others. The story follows a young man’s confounding plight through bureaucratic offices to have his dead uncle exhumed and then reburied after the body is buried with his identification card.
His next film, Memorias del Subdesarrollo
Memorias del Subdesarrollo
Memories of Underdevelopment is a seminal 1968 Latin American film from Cuba. Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, the story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes. It was Alea's fifth film, and probably his most famous worldwide...
(Memories of Underdevelopment) (1968) was the first Cuban film to be shown in the United States since the Revolution. Based on Edmundo Desnoes
Edmundo Desnoes
Edmundo Desnoes , is a renowned Cuban writer, author of the novel Memorias del subdesarrollo , a complex story depicting the alienation of a Cuban bourgeois struggling to adapt to the process of the Revolution. He originally called the work Inconsolable Memories in the first English edition...
’s novella "Inconsolable Memories," the film is the memoir of a morally ambiguous bourgeois intellectual living in Havana in the period between the Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
. The protagonist is unwilling to take a political stance one way or another, yet continues to despise the country around him for being backwards and underdeveloped. His life eventually fades into nothingness, becoming a personality which has no use in this new Cuba.
In a self-reflexive cameo appearance, Gutiérrez calls the film a “collage…with a little bit of everything”. Gutiérrez uses a dizzying array of materials and filmic styles in Memories, from documentary-style narrative sequences which use long unbroken shots taken from handheld cameras to agitational montage sequences reminiscent of the films of early Soviet filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
. Memories makes use of various types of media including direct documentary footage shot, still photos, archive and newreel footage, clips of Hollywood films, and recorded speeches by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, to create a seemingly disarticulated film language that is in direct contrast to the straightforward Hollywood style.
Although criticism of the Revolution and Cuban society was at the heart of not only Memories, but all of Gutiérrez’s works, Gutiérrez continued to be a dedicated supporter of Cuban Socialism. But his works could hardly be described as propaganda either. Gutiérrez described the motivation for his contradictory approach by saying: “…cinema provides an active and mobilizing element, which stimulates participation in the revolutionary process. Then, it is not sufficient to have a moralizing cinema based on harangue and exhortation. We need a cinema that promotes and develops a critical attitude. But how to criticize and at the same time strengthen the reality in which we are immersed?”
Late career
In the following decades, Gutiérrez divided his time between making his own films and mentoring promising young filmmakers through ICAIC.In 1972 and 1976, respectively, Gutiérrez completed two historical feature films, Una pelea cubana contra los demonios (A Cuban Fight Against the Demons) and La última cena
La última cena
La Última Cena is a 1976 Cuban historical film directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. The film tells the story of a pious plantation owner during Cuba's Spanish colonial period. The plantation owner decides to recreate the Biblical Last Supper using twelve of the slaves working in his sugarcane fields,...
(The Last Supper). Both set in Spanish colonial Cuba, the films study contradictions and hypocrisy in Cuba’s past of imperialism, religion, and slavery.
Hasta cierto punto (Up to a Certain Point) (ez’s wife, Mirta Ibarra.) The film underwent some censorship and remains to this day considered by Cuban critics one of his lesser works, though it is still highly regarded. The director himself said jokingly that the film was only successful "up to a certain point"
In the early 1990s, Gutiérrez fell into ill health, forcing him to co-direct his last two films with his friend Juan Carlos Tabío
Juan Carlos Tabío
Juan Carlos Tabío is a Cuban film director and screenwriter. His film Strawberry and Chocolate , which he co-directed with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, won a Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign...
. The first, Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) (1993) became the first Cuban film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The film’s story centers on the oft conflictory relationship between a committed Marxist student and a flamboyantly gay artist. Gutiérrez's final film, Guantanamera
Guantanamera (film)
Guantanamera is a 1995 comedy film from Cuba, directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, featuring an ensemble cast. Screenplay by Eliseo Alberto and others.-Synopsis:...
, (1994) uses traditional elements such as an ensemble cast and romantic comedy to take a more subtle approach to Gutiérrez’s old targets: underdevelopment and bureaucracy. The film won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize
Jury Grand Prix
The Jury Grand Prix is a Silver Bear award given by the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival to one of the feature films in competition...
at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival
44th Berlin International Film Festival
The 44th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 10 to 21, 1994.-Jury:* Jeremy Thomas * Chinghiz Aitmatov* María Luisa Bemberg* Hsu Feng* Morgan Freeman* Francis Girod* Corinna Harfouch* Carlo Lizzani...
.
Titón, as he was known to his friends, died at age 68 on April 16, 1996. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana
Colon Cemetery, Havana
The Colon Cemetery or more fully in the Spanish language Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón was founded in 1876 in the Vedado neighbourhood of Havana, Cuba on top of Espada Cemetery. Named for Christopher Columbus, the 140 acre cemetery is noted for its many elaborately sculpted memorials...
.
Filmography
- La caperucita roja (1947) - Short film
- El fakir (1947) - Short film
- Una confusión cotidiana (1950) - Short film, based upon "A Common Confusion" by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
- Il sogno de Giovanni Bassain (1953)
- El Mégano (1955) - Documentary film, in collaboration with Julio García Espinosa, Alfredo Guevara, José Massip
- La toma de La Habana por los ingleses (1958) - Documentary film
- Esta tierra nuestra (1959) - Documentary film
- Stories of the Revolution (Historias de la revolución) (1960) - Fiction, 81 minutes
- General Assembly (Asamblea general) (1960) - Documentary film, 14 minutes
- Death to the Invader (Muerte al invasor) (1961) - Documentary film, 16 minutes
- Twelve Chairs (Las doce sillas) (1962) - Fiction, 97 minutes
- Cumbite (1964) - Fiction, 82 minutes
- Death of a Bureaucrat (Muerte de un burócrataMuerte de un burócrataLa muerte de un burócrata is a 1966 comedy film by Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea in which he pokes fun at the communist bureaucracy and red tape and how it affects the lives of the common people who have to waste time and overcome hurdles just to get on with their ordinary lives.The story...
) (1966) - Fiction, 85 minutes - Memories of Underdevelopment (Memorias del SubdesarrolloMemorias del SubdesarrolloMemories of Underdevelopment is a seminal 1968 Latin American film from Cuba. Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, the story is based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes. It was Alea's fifth film, and probably his most famous worldwide...
) (1968) - Fiction, 97 minutes - Cuban Fight Against Demons (Una pelea cubana contra los demonios) (1971) - Fiction, 130 minutes
- El arte del tabaco (1974) - Documentary film, 7 minutes
- The Last SupperThe Last Supper (1976 film)The Last Supper is a 1976 Cuban film directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and starring Nelson Villagra as the Count.-Synopsis:...
(La última cena) (1976) - Fiction, 120 minutes - One Way or Another (De cierta manera) (1977)
- The SurvivorsThe Survivors (1979 film)The Survivors is a 1979 Cuban drama film directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. It was entered into the 1979 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Enrique Santiesteban - Sebastián Orozco* Juanita Caldevilla - Doña Lola* Germán Pinelli - Pascual Orozco...
(Los sobrevivientes) (1979) - Fiction, 130 minutes - Up to a Certain Point (Hasta cierto punto) (1983) - Fiction, 88 minutes
- Letters from the Park (Cartas del parque) (1988) - Fiction, 88 minutes
- Far Apart (Contigo en la distancia) (1991) - Fiction, 27 minutes
- Fresa y Chocolate (1993) - co-directed with Juan Carlos Tabío, Fiction, 110 minutes
- GuantanameraGuantanamera (film)Guantanamera is a 1995 comedy film from Cuba, directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, featuring an ensemble cast. Screenplay by Eliseo Alberto and others.-Synopsis:...
(1995) - co-directed with Juan Carlos Tabío, Fiction, 101 minutes