De Cierta Manera (1974)

Original title

De cierta manera

Directed by

Sara Gómez, Julio García Espinosa, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

Genre

documentary film, drama film, romance film

Country

Cuba

Runtime

1h 19m

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 31 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A fictional romance is woven into documentary footage about poor neighborhoods in Havana after the 1959 revolution. It looks at how building new housing does not instantly change the old ways of the people who live there.

observationalreflectivegroundedthoughtfulunderstatedearthyslow-pacedslice-of-life

What happens

One Way or Another (De cierta manera) is a 1977 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 slums and building modern settlements does not immediately change the culture of the inhabitants. Gómez completed filming with leading actors Mario Balmaseda and Yolanda Cuellar just before her death in June 1974 during the film's post-production. Final work was initially credited to Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Julio García-Espinosa before its posthumous release in 1977. Later, in 2021, however, editor Iván Arocha said he and cinematographer Luis García concluded the film following her initial plan. It was digitally restored by Arsenal Filminstitut in 2021. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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