-
7. One Way or Another
- University of Illinois Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Chapter 7 One Way or Another De Cierta Manera (One Way or Another, 1977), directed by Sara Gómez, extensively mixes a fictional narrative with documentary footage and the lives of real Cubans. The narrative, which develops at the beginning of the revolution , tells the story of Mario and Yolanda as they become romantically involved . Mario, a mulatto from Havana’s poor shantytown, faces challenges at work because of his relationship to Humberto (Mario Limonta), who has asked Mario to lie on his behalf so that he can justify a lengthy work absence . Humberto is having an affair with a woman who lives in another city. Mario is divided between his responsibilities as a friend and his civic duties. Yolanda, a middle-class schoolteacher, is also in a process of learning. She works at a school attended by poor and at times undisciplined children, and she must learn to deal with her students’ difficult lives if she is to become a good teacher, and she must also learn to take criticism if she is to become a good revolutionary teacher. Yolanda and Mario struggle with their values. Mario, supported by Yolanda, decides to act ethically and accuses Humberto of taking advantage of the system. Yolanda struggles more to change her values. The ending shows the couple conversing in the middle of a newly constructed housing project. The fictional narrative is mixed with documentary footage about Abakuá religion, an Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition exclusive for men; footage depicting the demolition of a shantytown in Havana; and interviews with a Cuban fighter who became a songwriter. One Way in Cuba One Way has the distinction of being the only feature fictional film directed by a woman in Cuba. This fact provides strong context to the film’s reception, 145 and its importance is illustrated by the actions the Cuban cultural workers took to highlight it. Most of the issue 52–53 of Cine Cubano, the main film journal in Cuba, was dedicated to One Way, and it featured reviews by three women critics: Elena Díaz, Camila Henríquez Ureña, and Gabriela Pogolotti. Echoing the struggles for transformation represented and narrativized by Lucia , Cine Cubano (and ICAIC) appears here as an institution in search of conciencia , struggling to move away from preconceived gender notions. Before I continue, it is necessary to draw a couple of points that illustrate ICAIC’s relationships to women as cultural workers. This will help contextualize how women, sex, and gender were affected by institutional practices, including the use of women, sex, and gender as objects of aesthetic reflection. Women have been involved in ICAIC since its creation in 1959, but their involvement has been stratified by gender expectations. This has meant that women occupied positions related to stereotypical gender roles or, when women held nontypical jobs, that their presence was seen as extraordinary. Carmelina García, for instance, in ICAIC since 1959, was in charge of the costume department, and, not surprisingly, her department employed mostly women (“El Cine las Decidió,” 1974). That this type of work was where many women could be found is not surprising. It fits neatly with social expectations of women and their labor. But even the conditions for this occupation were seen as too harsh for women. García herself defined the work in sexed and gendered terms. In an interview with Mujeres in 1974, she commented: “[The work] has a schedule difficult for women. The production work in costumes sometimes requires living outside the home for up to three months, and living in tents and in the outdoors. Besides tailoring, the woman has to enjoy cinema” (47). The first part of her comments is a statement to the reality that women in Cuba were (and still are) largely expected to take care of the family. But the last part of the commentary uses a language suggesting that women are incapable of enduring the same challenges as men (by living in tents) and that they are incapable of committing to the same schedules. The realities within ICAIC did not seem conducive to women’s work. Rebeca Valdéz, a laboratory technician who specialized in 35mm film, and who studied in Prague, was part of a group of technical personnel that, in 1963, included several women. By the end of the 1960s, the only woman who remained in that department was Valdéz. In reading about the way women were recruited by ICAIC, it is evident that sexism was common and was...