{"id":34994,"date":"2026-08-26T11:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/?p=34994"},"modified":"2026-09-02T20:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T03:52:15","slug":"revisiting-memories-of-underdevelopment-a-landmark-of-cuban-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/revisiting-memories-of-underdevelopment-a-landmark-of-cuban-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting “Memories of Under development,” a landmark of Cuban cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s selection for VLAFF\u2019s Classic Cinema section is director Tom\u00e1s Guti\u00e9rrez Alea\u2019s unwavering masterpiece, Memories of Underdevelopment<\/em> (1968), a vital film for understanding the early years of the Cuban Revolution through the eyes of a young intellectual, Sergio, who refuses to leave Havana as his parents and wife depart for Miami, amid the upheaval surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion. What would this character think of our current times? Sergio walks the streets of Havana delivering lines from an internal monologue that have become part of the collective imagination of Caribbean cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn an underdeveloped society, people need someone to think for them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the words of its director, Guti\u00e9rrez Alea, \u201cif the film has any merit, it is the fact that it tends to unsettle the viewer. When the film ends, that\u2019s when it begins to operate in people\u2019s minds; when you leave the cinema, you are faced with another reality that offers contradictions, unresolved questions.\u201d<\/em>
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHow do we escape underdevelopment? Every day I think it gets more difficult.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Released in 1968, Memories of Underdevelopment<\/em> is recognized as one of the best films in the history of Latin American cinema and is a milestone of Cuban cinema and stylistic innovation in its portrayal of an intellectual adapting to life after the revolution in a country in transition.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn underdevelopment, nothing has continuity; everything is forgotten. People are not consistent.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on novelist and screenwriter Edmundo Desnoes\u2019s autobiographical Inconsolable Memories<\/em>, Memories of Underdevelopment<\/em> became the first feature-length film from postrevolutionary Cuba to be released in the United States, to high acclaim.

Screening Sept 18 at 4pm, at Cineworks<\/strong> (1131 Howe St – back alley entrance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TICKETS TO MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s selection for VLAFF\u2019s Classic Cinema section is director Tom\u00e1s Guti\u00e9rrez Alea\u2019s unwavering masterpiece, Memories of Underdevelopment (1968), a vital film for understanding the early years of the Cuban […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[189,193,192,72,116,194],"class_list":["post-34994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vlaff-news","tag-189","tag-caribbean","tag-classics","tag-cuba","tag-latin-american","tag-tomas-gutierrez-alea"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34994"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35124,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34994\/revisions\/35124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vlaff.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}