“One Way Or Another”, a dialectic from the opening title to the final image, is the first and only work by Afro Cuban director Sara Gomez and introduces herself as “a movie about real and fictional characters”. doing. This is one way to explain this clever combination of cinema verite, ethnographic documentary, feminist social realism, and class-conscious revolutionary romance.
“One Way Or Another” will be held on Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a week. Restored from the original 16mm, the film looks great and feels as relevant today as it did in 1974, despite the nostalgia for the ideals of the Cuban Revolution.
“One Way Or Another” has never been officially released in the United States, but it is regularly released in movie series, including the BAM movie dedicated to the black women’s movie five years ago. (When reviewing this series, named “One Way Or Another,” New York Times critic Manora Dargis called it “an still exciting mixture of documentary and narrative fiction.”)
“One Way Or Another” is a love story involving two young photogenics, a macho worker Mario (professional actor Mario Balmaseda) and a school teacher Yolande (not Yolanda Curr). Can be explained as. But it’s more in my head.
Mario, a mulatto worker, grew up on an average street in the Miraflores district of Havana. White and educated middle class Yolanda is assigned to teach at Miraflores Elementary School. Both have workplace problems. Mario is involved in the cheating of her peers. She is repeatedly advised that Yolanda makes her more diplomatic in dealing with the poor parents of her students.
Given their background, lovers often misunderstand each other. Context is everything.Their most intimate conversation takes place in a small “neutral” realm Posada, Or hotels; their stories are studded with interludes about the history and heritage of slavery, such as the African religious Santeria and the all-male secret society Abakua.
Slum shots and slum removal provide a metaphor for the creation of new societies and new consciousness. The fact that the principles come together and fall apart in the constant interaction of destruction and construction suggests that, like the Cuban Revolution, those relationships are an ongoing and lasting task. The lesson is that “One Way Or Another” can be regarded as socialist realism, but if so, it is even a very original and critical variant. (Mode’s Axiom “Positive Hero” is an Afro Cuban musician and former boxer Guillermo Diaz who provides songs that clearly explain the role of traditional gender.)
Trained as a musician, Gomez produced a number of short documentaries. (She is also an assistant director of Agnès Varda’s 1963 documentary “Salutles Cubains” and can be seen dancing the movie Chacha. Conclusion.. ) “One Way Or Another” is full of her life and ideas, so when she learns that Gomez died at the age of only 31 while editing her, she is a serious complication of having a third child. Succumbed to an asthma attack.
Post-production was completed by her colleague and the film wasn’t shown until 1977. Since then, it has been recognized as a feminist, neo-realist, communist, Cuban, Latino, Third World, and simply World Cinema landmark.
one way or another
July 8-14 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn. bam.org..