De Cierta Manera (film)

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De Cierta Manera is a 1974 feature film from Cuba, in Spanish with English subtitles. Sara Gómez directed this cinematic mix of documentary and fiction that looks at the marginal neighborhoods of Havana shortly after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Gómez completed work on the film with Mario Balmaseda and Yolanda Cuellar just before her death.

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 change the thoughts and behavior of the inhabitants, even over time. 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 macho 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. The film does not contain action in the traditional sense--but it portrays, through an unusual mixture of documentary film 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 and the value of its cultural traditions, 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.

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