Original subtitles

THIS FILM OBTAINED THE FOLLOWING AWARDS

AT THE 1968 KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

EXAEQUO FIPRESCI AWARD FEDERATION OF FILM CRITICS

AWARDS FROM THE CINE CLUB FEDERATION AND THE ACTORS JURY

ICAIC PRESENTS

''MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT''

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: EDMUNDO DESNOES

DIRECTED BY:

HAVANA 1961. MANY PEOPLE ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY.

She'll have to work over there...

Well, at least until she finds some dumb guy who'll marry her.

To tell the truth, she's still something to look at.

She'll remember me while she goes through bad time sand then...

I've been really stupid.

Working to support her as if she'd been born

in New York or Paris,

and not in this underdeveloped island.

Excuse me.

ALL THOSE WHO LOVED ME AND

BUGGED ME UP UNTIL

THE LAST MINUTE

HAVE LEFT.

For years, I've been saying that, if l had time,

l would write a book and keep a diary.

Now I'll know if l really have something to say.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed here.

At first sight it looks like a set, a cardboard city.

The Bronze Titan.

Cuba: Free and lndependent, could you ever dreamed this?

No imperial eagle. And the dove Picasso was supposed to send?

lt's real easy to be a communist and a millionaire inParis.

''This mankind has said enough and has started to walk.''

Like my parents, like Laura. They won't stop till they reach Miami.

But everything seems so different today.

ls it l who has changed or is it the city?

lt's time to leave.

Oh, abandoned like piers at dawn.

All in you was a shipwreck.

-What are you doing? -Can't you see?

lmeant what are your eading.

A frivolous, decadent thing.

The best in the world or the best of everything, whatever.

-Yes, that film. -Yeah,that one.

-Let go of me. -Me?

l can't read with you looking at me as if l were a weirdo.

-Why don't we talk a little? -What's biting you?

These days you only talk about animals.

What can l do? All day long surrounded by biters,

rabble, filthy people. This country stymies you.

And you? What do youthink?

What? You've never been interested in what l think.

You're practicing your English very much lately.

-You're planning to leave. -What's? Let go ofme.

l like it when you get vulgar.

lt actually turns me on to see you

fight between flip-flopping and sophistication,

elegance and vulgarity.

I've been looking at you for a while and l find you funny.

l don't know, but you're acting strangely.

l haven't got Yardley brilliantine,

nor Colgate toothpaste nor an imperialist aftershave...

-You know that helps a lot. -Yes, it must be that.

But you're more captivating everyday.

Yes,you're more artificial.

l don't fancy natural beauty. l like women like you,

made up of good clothes, good food, make-up, massage...

A dazzling beauty and not common Cuban riff raff.

Are you serious or are you making fun of me?

-A little of both, darling. -Go laugh at your mommy, honey.

-Go to hell! -l like it! l really do!

Are you insane? Let go of me!

l can't stand you.l can't stand living here, or the heat...

You sweat too much, you get filthy.. .Let go of me!

You know I've recorded all this?

-What? -Every single word.

lt wil lbe very funny to listen to.

You're a monster, you're sick!

Careful. You're going to break it! Let go of it!

Women look at your eyes as if your gaze could touch them.

This happens nowhere else in the world.

Perhaps ltalians look a little.

After ''El Encanto'' burned down, Havana is a provincial town.

They used to call it ''The Caribbean Paris''.

At least tourists and whores did.

Now it rather is a ''Caribbean Tegucigalpa''.

Not that ''El Encanto'' was burned and there's nothing good to buy.

lt's the people too.

What's the sense of life for them? And for me?

What's its sense for me?

But I'm not like them.

They say they're making

the First SociaIist Revolution in America. So what?

They'll fall into barbarism, and starve like the Haitians.

They defeated NapoIeon, so what?

They used to have the first sugar industry in the worId.

Look at them now: barefoot and turned into zombies.

Times change.

Besides, Sergio, that is not our problem.

This is a problem between the Russians and the Americans.

That's none of our business.

Something is cIear: there'II be a huge hassIe in the future.

And you'II know who'II get hit first: us.

Know why? Because this is avery IittIe isIand, Sergio.

WeII, you'II be hit, because I won't be here, you hear?

We've been together al lthe time for five years.

Under Batista, things reached a state that they had to change.

Not me. I had nothing to do with poIitics.

My conscience is cIear.

I've done nothing but work like a mule all my life.

See Ana? So stunning and her beIIy is fuII of bIack beans.

I saw her eating in LaTerraza.

But they have aII the resources, Sergio,

the know-how to deveIop the countries economy.

FuII.

-The know-how? -Yes, the know-how.

Americans know how to do things,

They know how to make things work.

Three.

-Check the oiI. -There's no oiI.

But I'II check it anyhow.

No... what for?

I feeI Iike smashing down everything, shit!

And I have to hand things over as they were.

-Why? -There's an inventory, man.

If I don't, they won't Iet me out.

I can't get you a sealed unit.

You'II have to find it yourseIf.

Things are not the way they used to be.

Yes, that I know.

And the painting wiII not be as the oId one.

If we can't find wood aIcohoI,

we'II have to use synthetic painting, and it's not the same.

We'II have to paint that part at Ieast, so it Iooks good.

I know. And this dent over here?

Some say the only thing Cubans can't stand is goin ghungry.

Yet there's been much hunger here since the Spaniards came.

ln Latin America, 4 children die per minute

because of diseases caused by malnutrition.

lt is 20 million children in 10y ears.

The same number of deaths in the Second World War.

It is decadence itseIf!

I feeI better this way. I don't have to fix it.

-WeII, if you Iike to waIk. -No, but I'm more reIaxed.

I don't want probIems.

They say that the Iatest American cars are fabuIous.

I saw a magazine JuIio Gomez Ient me.

SeaIed engines, two sparks. Two years guarantee.

If it breaks, they bring you a new one. Nothing to fix.

With the mechanics we have, that wouId be the soIution.

People seem more stupid every day.

PabIo was right: the French stink.

They are naturaIIy fiIthy pigs. Laura!

I don't care if they take aII.

It won't Iast for Iong anyway.

But now it wiII be different, brother!

I won't stay home with my arms foIded again,

as I did under Batista.

I never thought these peopIe wouId overthrow him.

But now I know that, if I don't do something,

I won't be abIe to function when this faIIs down.

-That's what they say? -Who?

The PIaya Giron prisoners.

-Hey! -Oh Sergio!

THE TRUTH OF THE GROUP IS IN THE MURDERER

The military organization of the invading brigades has

a hierarchy of social functions summarizing

the bourgeoisie' smoral and social work division:

a priest, a free tradee ntrepreneur,

a dilettante official, a torturer,

a philosopher, a politician

and many children of well-to-do families.

Each of them carried out their specific actions,

but it was all of them, the group,

that gave sense to their individual attitudes.

As an individual, Calvino is a criminal for whom

the bourgeoisie feel horror.

The dress I wore... there stiII is bIood in it.

He kicked my abdomen, and I had a bIeeding.

But this was not enough. I fought them,

and they broke two of my vertebrae. Do you remember?

You hit himthe first time.

He fell to his knees, and you kicked him onthe liver.

Then he fell to the floor. Do you remember?

So, after you murdered him, you defiled him too?

You're a despicable murderer.

-Right before you? -Before me.

You shot him to death and laughed while he died.

-Excuse me a... -ln Avellaneda, No106,

at 7 PM on October6.

-Listen, lady... -Say it's not true...

Tell me it's not true that, after nine days after you killed

Morua, you came and told me how you had done it.

-Tell me, Calvino... -l cannot answer.

ln every capitalist society, the bourgeoisie has this

kind of men at its disposal. They are entrustedt hese unique tasks.

But, int he moral division of work, recruited murderers allow for

the existence of those who are not in direct contact with death

and, as individuals, may preserve their souls clean.

l speak for my self and for those who share my ideas.

We may be in minority.

l don't speak for Ventura, nor for Ventura's drivers

nor for a lot of vile people you have named.

l didn't know Calvino at the time.

l was only interested in leading my own life.

They all appear as dislocated elements

from a global sense that no one assumes completely.

Ultimately, l cannot actually answer for the rest.

Each person must answer for himself.

You seem to be trying to incriminate me

as if l were to blame for the invasion and all the rest.

l insist that my mission is purely spiritual.

l have not touched a weapon, before or after.

Being involved in a plot doesn't mean you're a plotter.

At the beginning, l said

that l had been a totally apolitical person all my life.

l have never had anything to do with a politica lparty.

Secondly, individual responsibility

is saved through personal behavior.

Each person refers to his own individuality and

leaves behind the poverty of others polluting him

or sinks into the group trying to hide his responsibility,

those unashamedly polluting the others.

Well, now there is a group. Now it is not only l...

This responsibility, rejected by the group as a whole,

is returned andv indicated by one of its members.

You're speaking of a charge that is not mine.

lt is the group's.

The torturer, the killer, an extreme in this labor division,

resorts to the group to claim his moral guiltlessness.

Listen, I'm telling you l have no direct crime.

The meeting is over.

Nowhere in the legal reasons was there any vindication of

the actual individual-group dialectic relationship.

Those who came with Calvino in the invasion

don't recognize themselves in his acts.

ln the accounts of Freyre, the landowner,

in the extreme unctions by Lugo,the priest,

in the refined reasons of Andreu, the philosopher,

the layoffs and the book by Rivero, the dilettante

Varona's ''representative democracy'',

who could read directly the death

that extended through them in all Cuba?

Death by hunger, disease,

torture, frustration?

She comes to clean the apartment three times a week.

She'd been coming for a year, and I'd never noticed her.

lf she did herself up, she'd be very attractive.

She's as slim as a Vogue model. l like her.

She's from Matanzas and is a protestant. A Baptist, lthink.

-You were baptized in a river? -Yes, sure.

How is that done?

WeII...

I can't be toId?

WeII... peopIe gather on the river bank.

The pastor and I entered.

Then she expIained to me what a baptism was.

For us, baptism is the death of sin,

the resurrection to a new Iife fuII of faith, hope, dignity...

He took me to the deepest part of the river

and put me into the water. l was so afraid!

But everything happened so quickly l hardly noticed.

l was so nervous and got so worked up,and it was nothing.

Most people are exhibitionists.

They look like harmless animals.

Smooth-faced, precariously balanced on two legs...

Some say that man's intelligence and physical imperfection

are due to his being a Premature monkey Fetus.

There is an exquisite point between 30 and 35 years old

when Cuban women suddenly go from maturity to rottenness.

They are fruit that rot with an astonishing speed.

The Revolution put an end to Yankee domination.

The US use Guantanamo navalbase

to spy on Cuba.

lCAlC cameramen film some scenes of provocation

by the military troops and the counterrevolutionaries in the base.

You have beautifuI knees!

-Do you want to eat with me? -Are you mad?

No, reaIIy, I don't Iike eating by myseIf.

What are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?

-Your boyfriend? -Are you mad?

At your age it is dangerous to be aIone in this pIace.

-You are mad! -No, Iook, reaIIy... it is...

Why don't you come with me?

I don't digest properIy when I eat by myseIf.

I'm waiting for a man from ICAIC who offered me a job.

From ICAIC?

That movie thing. He'II make me ascreen test.

I've got a friend there. Rather important. He's a director.

-From ICAIC? -Yes.

I'II introduce you to him tomorrow, if you want to.

-What time is it? -About six thirty.

It's Iate. He won't come now.

WeII, are you coming?

Oh, first a dry Martini.

-Why don't you have a drink? -I can't.

I'm having some shots for the nerves.

Look.

Why an actress?

I'm tired of being aIways myseIf.

I can be other peopIe and not be thought mad.

Besides, I'm interested in deveIoping my personaIity...

But characters in movies are scratched records.

And actress onIy repeats a thousand times, by rote,

the same gestures and the same words,

the same gestures and the same words...

Don't waste yourtime. I'mnot givingin.

lsit so?

Where did they get aII that from?

Those are some tins that were found one day...

-The cuts by the commission... -What commission?

The one that checked the fiIms. That was before the RevoIution.

Those were the cuts made to the fiIms that were to be shown.

They considered they went against moraIity.

-MoraIity, good conduct... -Yes, I remember that.

-I have to attend a meeting. -Bye. See you.

It seems these guys aIso had moraI concerns.

At Ieast, they kept up appearances.

-What wiII you do with that? -I wanted it for a fiIm.

-For a fiIm? -Yes.

A kind of coIIage, where everything goes.

-But it must have a meaning. -It wiII, you'II see.

-WiII they approve it? -Yes.

Come.

What is your experience? Have you been in theater, on TV?

No, I haven't been Iucky.

You haven't studied either?

No, I was going to once, but I never did go.

WeII, write aII that down in the form.

Won't I have a screen test? I can sing too.

This sadness won't be forgotten like shadows run from light

l hope fate will bring you back some day

To remember

If you say so... You don't?

-No. -You sure?

Look what a beautifuI house. Don't you Iike it?

I don't know...

There won't be anything between us.

Look, that's where I Iive...

-What's the matter? -That...

-What? -What about your wife?

Didn't I teII you I was divorced, that my wife Ieft?

-WeII, anyhow... -Anyhow what?

-What about the neighbors? -Oh... you don't trust me.

-It's not that. -Then what?

You go in first, then I'II go...

It's on the upper fIoor. Apartment K-L.

Make yourseIf comfortabIe. I'II make you some coffee.

These are my parents. This is Laura.

They Ieft the same day.

What about you?

-Me what? -Aren't you Ieaving?

I'm OK here.

Are you revoIutionary?

What do you think?

I think you're not for nor against the RevoIution.

No. What am I then?

Nothing. You're nothing.

-WiII they send you things? -No. What for?

Nice shoes... anything.

They couId even send you a car if you wanted...

You know Laura had more or less your figure?

I can show you some of her dresses.

You may have them, if you want.

-But... -Come on...

Just see them.

It fits you nice. Look.

Fasten this up for me.

No...

No, no...

Come on. Stop crying.

-Come on. -You've ruined me.

That I have...?

Come on. We've done nothing bad.

What wiII I teII my mother?

WeII... nothing.

If you wait for awhiIe, I'II waIk you home.

No, I'd rather be aIone.

OK.

WeII, caII me.

That makes you a dazzling beauty, and not common Cuban riffraff.

Are you serious or are you making fun of me?

-A IittIe of both, darIing. -Go Iaugh at your mommy, honey.

-Go to heII! -I Iike it. I reaIIy do!

Are you insane? Let go of me.

I can't stand you. I can't stand Iiving here, or the heat.

You sweat too much, you get fiIthy. Let go of me.

You know I've recorded aII this?

-What? -Every singIe word.

It wiII be very fun to Iisten to.

-You're a monster! You're sick! -CarefuI! You'II break it!

-I'm going to smash it! -Let go of it! Let go of it!

This is over. I don't want to see you again... ever!

I'm Ieaving. I'm Ieaving aIone.

And don't come with me. I can't stand this one more day.

-You'II Ieave me aIone? -I don't care!

Look for a woman who puts up with you.

-Didn't you say that... -I'm tired of being a lab mouse...

for your whims and games.

I'II Iead my own Iife. I'm growing oId, you hear, oId!

I'm going by myseIf! I don't want to be with you.

Eh!

What's that?

Before your lips told me you loved me

l knew it

-Are you aII right? -Who? Me?

-You were feeIing badIy. -I did, but not now.

I came to see how you were.

Want me to cIear up the house and make Iunch?

-What's the matter with you? -No, nothing.

Come on, say we won't go on that this is the end

that it can be no more that you don't love now

Do you Iike baIIads?

Then aII that drama Iast night...

-Don't Iaugh. -I'm not Iaughing, but...

You have no feeIings.

Youcan't criticize howllive,alllhave

One of the things that take me more aback with people

is their inability to keep up a feeling without straying.

Elena proved to be utterly inconsistent.

For Ortega,it's mere alteration.

She doesn't establish links between things.

A signa lof underdevelopment:

an inabilityto establish links

to store experience and grow.

lt is difficult to find a woman with feelings and culture.

The atmosphere is too soft.

Cubans spend all their talent in adapting to the times.

People are not consistent.

And they always need someone to think forthem.

Hope to see you there, Sergio.

Me? I don't think so.

I know the US.

But what wiII happen here is a mystery for me.

This is no mystery, Sergio. We aII know what wiII happen.

I frankIy don't.

Now it wiII not be Iike Bay of Pigs.

Perhaps, but it may be interesting.

Perhaps, but I'II be on the other side.

It wiII be safer.

You'II meet oId friends over there.

-I know you, Sergio. -You do?

Yes, but there were very decent peopIe among them.

At Ieast, that's what they said.

I don't know what they said, but I have a cIean conscience.

You do.

Didluse to be like him? Perhapslwas.

The Revolution may destroyme, but it is my revenge against

this stupid Cuban bourgeoisie and assholes like Pablo.

l can see Pablo is not Pablo, but my own life.

Everything l do not want to be.

lt's nice to see them leave, as threw them from within myself.

l stil l have my lucidity. An unpleasant lucidity, a vacuum.

l know what is the matter with me, but l cannot avert it.

He, Laura, all of them...

De la Cuesta used to live here.

We were 8 or 10 years old.

l wonder where he is now.

Will he remember our games?

l try, but cannot.

When we were i nschool, the priests were always right.

They held the powerthen.

lt didn't matter who did it.

Then l understood the link between Justice and Power.

Armando's father was a freethinker.

He gave him a peso every week for the whore house.

He took me on my first time.

lt was with a fat woman that cost 50 cents.

He told herto be good to me.

l couldn't do anything with her.

lhad to find another one.

Then l started going there every week.

Suddenly l discovered Elena didn't share any of my ideas.

l expected much more of her.

l thought she was more complex and interesting.

l always tryto live like a European.

She makes me feel underdevelopment everywhere.

l tried to change Elena, as l had tried to change Laura.

But she doesn't understand.

The world in her head is very different from mine.

She doesn't see me.

ADVENTURE IN THE TROPICS This gazeIIe...

was killed by Hemingway on his last trip to Africa,

in 1953.

He went with Mary, his fourth wife.

Gazelles are considered the fastest animaIs in Africa.

Apart from its speed, it constantIy jumps.

He killed so as not to kill himself.

But he couldn't resist the temptation in the end.

Hemingway traveIed in Spain severaI times

as a war correspondent.

Later he was in the internationaI brigade...

That Mr. Way lived here?

There's not much: books and dead animaIs.

Just Iike the houses of the Americans in Preston miII.

The same furniture, the same American smeII.

-How is that American smeII? -I don't know. You feeI it.

Which do you Iike best, Russian or American smeII?

Hey, Iet's go! I know nothing about poIitics.

The tropics:that is what backward countries are for:

kill wild animals, fish, get a sun tan...

There she is: the Beautiful Cuban Senorita.

''l'll never be afraid again'', said Macomberto Wilson.

''Something happened when l saw the buffalo and ran afte rit.

Like a dam overflowing.

A pure, grandiose excitement.''

As if running after a buffalo were enough to conquer fear...

Anyway,there are no Buffaloes in Cuba...I'm dumb.

He overcame the fear of death, but not the fear of life,

of time, of a world that now was to be too big for him.

Are you here? Why did you go?

-You were quite amused. -JeaIousy, pure jeaIousy...

-What's eating you up, man? -I'm not eaten up.

-You don't care? -About what?

About me... you don't care.

-It's you who doesn't care. -About what?

Nothing. You just don't care.

This was Hemingway's room.

He aIways worked here, in this oId typewriter, standing and barefoot.

He never wrote standing or with his shoes on.

He woke up earIy and work untiI 11 or 11:3O.

Few peopIe entered this room.

I among them.

I moved siIentIy from one pIace to another.

During the rest of the day, Hemingway used to...

His name is Rene Villareal. Hemingway found him playing

in the streets of San Francisco de Paula.

l read that somewhere. He adapted to his needs.

The faithful servant. The colonizer and Gunga Din.

Hemingway must have been intolerable.

Here he had his refuge, his tower, his tropical island.

Boots to hunt in Africa American furniture,

Spanish pictures, magazines and books in English.

He was never really interested in Cuba.

He took refuge here, he entertained his friends,

wrote in English and fished inthe Golf Stream.

Towards 1947, journaIists and peopIe

wanting to interview him came here and

did not let him write in peace in his room.

She thought this office wouId offer some privacy

and tried to make it as comfortabIe as possibIe.

It had 1O windows for fresh air and

a nice view: simpIe, comfortabIe furniture...

Sergio! Sergio!

Sergio!

Wait a moment!

ROUND TABLE: LITERATURE AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT

In an underdeveIoped country, cuIture cannot be but

the costIy, at times painfuI operation

through which a peopIe become aware

of their capacity to transform sociaI Iife,

to write their own history. They shouId seize the best

in their traditions and make it bear fruit enriching it

with the conditions of the fight for nationaI Iiberation.

We were outside,

just some steps above the bIack cooks and servants in schooI.

I found out I was aspick,

a term of contempt used for Latin Americans,

the darkies in the continent, the aImost bIack.

AIthough I may Iook Iike awhite

AngIo-Saxon protestant, I'm actuaIIy a bIack Southerner.

Latin Americans are aII discriminated against,

oppressed, rejected, ignored, aIien,

inside that new fraud pretending to be universaI:

the American way of Iife. The big American white dream.

Now it is the turn of the deviI's advocate,

doubting about doubts

and asking: ''GentIemen, can't you see that

the words you are using: underdeveIopment,

underdeveIopment, underdeveIopment...

are sick or at least sickly?

Can't you see that perhaps these words are traps of

the language, accomplices of a worn-out cuIture

a ruse, a Iinguistic aIibi,

a Iinguistic-ideoIogicaI tangIe

that may take you to the mentaI peace of formuIae?

UseIess to fIee from the Iinguistic continent of

underdeveIopment whiIe forgetting that the main

contradiction of our times is not between US imperiaIism and

3 underdeveIoped continents

but between the forcefuI deveIopment

of productive forces worIdwide

and the forms and productive reIations of capitaIism, that is,

between a SociaIist RevoIution and the capitaIist system

in its finaI imperiaIist stage.''

You're referring to the centraI contradiction between

the proIetariat and capitaIism.

But I beIieve this is thoroughIy abstract.

CentraI contradictions are verified in reaI Iife

when a centraI contradiction becomes embodied

turns into awar.

For me, the centraI contradiction now

is not that between

European proIetarians and European capitaIists,

but rather is to be found in areas where war materiaIizes

and proves it is a centraI contradiction.

Viet Nam, for exampIe.

The discussion is based on whether one or the other

is the centraI contradiction.

From the point of view of Marxist schoIars, I agree,

but I see something different in its specific embodiment.

What are you doing up there with that cigar?

The lack of competition seems to make you feel important.

You would be nothing abroad... But here you have a place.

You've really come up in the world, Edmundo Desnoes!

Your name, pIease?

Jack GeIber. Can I ask a question in EngIish?

Is it aII right?

He asks why if this RevoIution is so originaI

it resorts to conventionaI methods Iike round tabIes,

instead of devising more dynamic ways of creating

a reIationship between the paneI and the audience.

ldon't get it. The Americanisright.

Words swallow words and leave you in the clouds,

a thousand miles away. How is underdevelopment left behind?

lt is very difficult. lt leaves its mark on everything.

What are you doing here? What's the meaning of this?

You have nothing to do with these people. You're alone.

There's no continuity in underdevelopment.

Everything is forgotten. People are not consistent.

You remember many things. You remembertoo much.

Where are your people, your job, your wife?

You're nothing. You're dead.

Your final destruction starts now, Sergio.

lt's the same thing everytime mother writes.

She knows l don't chew gum and l have an electric shaver.

I've only asked for books and magazines, but no.

l can't read her handwriting.

We don't understand each other.

LENIN SPECIAL SCHOOL

Hanna is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

They ran away from Hitler and fell in Cuba.

She was more mature than the underdeveloped girls over here.

How long we were together? l can't remember.

l know it's the best thing that eve rhappened to me.

How did llet her go? Why didn't l run after her?

We were going to marry when her parents took her abroad.

We did not believe in formalities, but it would have beeneasier.

We had plans. l was to go to New York with her and work.

l still wanted to be a writer, and she believed in me.

She's the only one who ever believed in me. She'd help.

Then my father gave me the furniture store.

l buried myself there.

l worked like mad for two years.

''Hanna, love. l can't leave this right now. Understand.

l don't want to arrive empty handed.''

''One day it was too late.

I'll always look for you.

Where are younow? What do you think about me?''

Wait! Stop right here.

Sergio!

Sergio!

Main occupant, first surname.

Carmona.

-Second surname. -Bendoiro.

-Name. -Sergio.

-Occupation. -None.

-You don't work? -No.

-What do you Iive on? -My rent.

-Former owner? -Yes.

-Age? -38 years.

-Net income? -6OO pesos.

-Other famiIy income? -No, I Iive by myseIf.

-Do you pay the rent? -No.

-Last month you paid? -I've never paid anything.

Owner, buyer, iIIegaI Usufractuary?

No, no. Owner.

-Are you distrained? -No.

How many square meters does this have?

-Imagine! -More or Iess.

-It's rather Iarge. -Yes.

1OO or 2OO m?

I guess a IittIe more. Want to measure it?

No, we take your word for it.

Let's say 3OO. If its not, we'II change it Iater.

MateriaIs: bricks.

The premises are an apartment.

How many bedrooms?

A bedroom and astudio.

-And maid's rooms? -Oh yes. Two.

-How many toiIets? -It has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

-How many bathrooms? -Three.

EIevators, two. Preservation: good.

Sign here.

-What's aII this for? -A controI...

-But this... -Don't you worry.

If there is any probIem, we'II teII you.

Hey, wait a moment! You can't take that turn!

-It's two bIocks over there. -No, you can't turn.

Don't worry. I stay here. Take.

And,inthe midst ofallthis, lstilllive offmyrent.

I'll still have it for 13 years. No, 12... 11.

lt's been two years since they took my apartment building.

We're socialist whether some like it ornot.

We're socialist whether somelike it or not

Everything comes too early or too late fo rme.

Perhaps there was a time when l could have understood all this.

Now l can't.

I'm 38 and already old.

l don't feel wiser nor more mature.

More stupid. More rotten than mature.

Like a rotten mamey. Like refuse.

Perhaps this has to do with the Tropics.

Everything ripens and rottens here very easily.

Nothing stay son...

I'm already an old man.

I've been in whore houses since I was 13.

At 15 l thought myself a genius.

At 25, the owner of a plushy furniture store.

Then Laura...

M ylife is like a monstrous and flabby vegetable

with huge leaves and no fruit.

l seem kind of dignified.

-Are you Sergio? -Yes.

I'm EIena's brother.

Is something the matter with her? Is she sick?

No, she's a very heaIthy girI, she's never sick.

It's something eIse. She says you made a bad use of her.

No, that's not so.

You ruined her and have to make up to her.

-I wonder what story... -It's no story...

Take. You don't pay for this with a few dresses.

She says you promised to marry her and then took...

-I promised? No way. -I don't know how it was...

l should've thought that she wouldn't stop at anything.

l didn't want the police.

l was ready to marry her... l was afraid.

Say what you said to mother. Come on, say it.

-You deceived me, sir. -Sir?

-WeII, you did. -Why?

You said you'd give me some of your wife's dresses

...and then ruined me. -If that's your story...

But you know it's not true. And you were not a virgin.

-Show some respect! -Hey, Iisten...

My sister is no whore, shit!

l can't understand how l could get mixed up in this!

l was going to be dragged to its conclusion. l was afraid.

GirIs shouId be virgins when they marry.

That's the greatest treasure women take to marriage!

That was Iong ago. Women are Iiberated now.

Don't speak of now as if you were revoIutionary!

-If you don't marry, I kiII you! -Shit! Stop it, man!

What's aII this? If I marry her, it'd be because I feeI Iike it,

but you'II get nothing by force!

-Nobody makes fun of her! -Stop it, man!

You didn't want to see me. You wanted to get rid of me?

No, EIena, I'm going to marry you, am I not?

We can't do it just Iike that. We have to think things over.

What things?

WeII, we need the papers, don't we?

The divorce papers...

-You are divorced? -Yes, madam, I am.

-Then marry at once! -Stop it, man!

We take care of the papers. Why did you bring him?

-She came Iate that night. -You shouIdn't have.

She came with her panties stained of bIood!

-That's not true! -You're a pervert!

Stop it, man! Why the heII are you here for?

Daddy, peopIe are Iooking.

Stop it! Don't go on!

And you, caIm down!

l was sure she was not a virgin. They're a sorry lot.

What were they after?

-What do you have to say? -AII this is faIse.

I have had intercourse with her, but she agreed to it.

There was no deceit, much Iess rape. It's a Iie.

Mr. Carmona, sign here.

Duty officer!

The defendant, Sergio Carmona, with the purpose of having

sexuaI intercourse with EIena Dorado, a16-year-oId minor,

deceived her into going to his apartment in Linea and Paseo,

and in those premises he deprived her of her virginity

aIthough he knew that she was mentaIIy disturbed

and thus was unabIe to oppose resistance.

-Do you want to testify? -Yes.

Answer the attorney's questions.

Do you know EIena Josefa Dorado?

-Yes. -Look at the court.

-Yes. -Yes, sir.

-I'm sorry. Yes, sir. -Where did you meet her?

On 23rd Street, in Vedado.

Is it true you took her to your apartment

and had sexuaI intercourse with her?

-Yes. -TeII me, defendant,

before the night of the events,

had the aIIeged victim toId you she had induIged in

...sexuaI congress with another man? -No, she never did.

l was the only one with some consistency in my words.

And that drove me to the wall.

They treated me as if l had tricked a member of the ''people''.

Yes, and to give me some dresses his wife had left behind

...when she went up North... -Now everything is the ''people''.

Once l would have been the respectable guy.

l was lost.

Swine, bastard, you took advantage of my daughter!

-Did you threaten to kiII him? -If he didn't marry her.

-You threatened to kiII him. -Yes, sir.

What did Sergio said?

That he wouId marry, but he didn't.

When did the doctor see her?

WeII, mother says... I don't reaIIy know...

Mother says she had taken her a IittIe before this probIem.

-What did the doctor say? -I don't know.

And the tests?

Thenthe sentence came.

First whereas:

The defendant Sergio Carmona Bendoiro

invited EIena Dorado, 17 years oId,

to take awaIk on the night of January 25, 1962.

They went to the house of the defendant Iocated on

Linea and Paseo, where they engaged in sexuaI intercourse.

It has not been demonstrated that EIena Dorado shows

symptoms of mentaI disturbance or was deprived of her

mentaI facuIties when the above mentioned acts took pIace.

Second whereas:

The Prosecutor maintained his provisionaI concIusions

of pages 6 and 7 of the records.

Third whereas:

That the defendant's Attorney maintained

his provisionaI concIusions denying each and every

concIusion by the PubIic Prosecutor and

demanded the acquittaI of the defendant.

Whereas:

There is no evidence as to the crime of rape

the PubIic Prosecutor attributes to the defendant.

According to the Iaws and the SociaI Defense Code

articIes 142, 24O, 741 and 742

of the RuIes of CriminaI Procedure, we sentence that:

We must acquit, and we acquit, defendant Sergio Carmona

of the crime of rape the PubIic Prosecutor attributes to him.

lt was a happy ending. For once justice was served.

But was it?

I'm not all that good. I've seentoo much to be innocent.

Their mind is too tangled to make them guilty.

l haven't seen them again. l hope she's not committed.

MORE PLANES AND SHIPS TO FLORIDA

UNEXPECTED RETURN ON KENNEDY TO WASHINGTON

WAR HYSTERIA IN US CAPITAL

MOTHER GIVES BIRTH TO 3

DOG WITH 2 HEARTS. MOSCOW, OCTOBER 22.

TRADE UNIONS TO WIN COMPETITION

MATERIALS FOR YOUR WORK CENTER BILLBOARD

CUT AND PASTE

HOW IS TETANUS TRANSMITTED?

WHEN A WOUND IS INFECTED WITH THE TETANUS BACILLUS.

MOST CASES ARE LETHAL.

VACCINES ARE THE ONLY FORM OF PROTECTION.

MAO ZEDONG'S WORDS: THE ATTEMPT AT SOLVING

IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS THROUGH ADMINISTRATIVE

ORDERS OF WITH COERCIVE METHODS IS HARMFUL.

TO WORK WITH JOY

She brought me many pictures of her baptism int he river.

lt's not as l had imaginedit... lt'sn othing...

Her dress didn't stick to her body. There were many people.

l hadn't thought of the people.

There are witnesses everywhere.

OCTOBER 22, 1962 KENNEDY SPEAKS

Nothingmakessense.

People move andtalk asifwarwere onlyagame.

What if it began right now?

Why complain? I'll die just like the others.

This island is a trap. We're too small, too poor.

lt's a very expensive dignity.

We categorically reject all attempt at controlling,

aII attempt at inspecting our country.

Nobody will inspect our country.

We know what we are doing

and how we must defend our integrity and our sovereignty.

They threaten us with being the target of nucIear attacks.

They don't frighten us.

We have to know how to Iive in the times we Iive

and with the dignity with which we must Iive.

Everyone, men, women, young and oId,

are together in this time of danger

and our fate, that of the revoIutionaries, of the patriots

wiII be one and victory wiII beIong to us aII.

''Patria o Muerte, Venceremos''.

SubtitIes: ICAIC, Cuba.

SubtitIe speciaIists: IsabeI AImaguer and NivaIdo Ng.