Death of a Bureaucrat," was conducted by Mario Rodriguez Aleman and published in the July 24, 1966, issue of the English-language edition of Granma, the official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist party of Cuba. The discussion, we think, is indicative of the impulse given to creative activities in Cuba by the revolution -- and also the sensitivity of Cuba's artists to one of the problems that has arisen in their country and which they, too, are seeking to help solve. ]
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Tomas Gutiérrez Alea has two film productions to his credit; both noteworthy contributions to the development of full-length Cuban film-making. I refer to “The Twelve Chairs" and the new film, "Death of a Bureaucrat.
While reserving the right to make comments on this new Cuban film at a later date, I sought replies from the director before his departure for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival to a series of questions posed in recent days by Cuban film critics, to provide our readers with some knowledge of the nature and importance of this new production. :
What is the essence of the "Death of a Bureaucrat"?
Answer: It is, as the title suggests, a satire of bureaucracy and also of many other unfortunate and mediocre things that we must often live with. However, I wish to make clear that I don't have much faith in satire as an "historic force." One can make a film and think he is ridiculing the bureaucrats. But then along come the bureaucrats themselves and not only laugh with the film but at it, as well. Some of then, because they don't recognize themselves as portrayed on the screen, and others because they are crass opportunists. It is relatively easy for them to wave the flag of "antibureaucratism" and continue living as parasites on society. Major evils can only be corrected by major solutions. In this film, the protagonist has to reach the point of violence in order to solve the problem involved. It is individual violence that can not resolve the problem permanently. But, I believe that it can serve as an example. Or at least, as a kind of catharsis... -
Is' the theme in "Death of a Bureaucrat" based on real events?
Answer: Actually, everything in the film exists in reality. However, I'll have to go into nto detail about whether the story is taken from real life, or not. I think it was Roberto Fandino, in a meeting with Julio Garcia Espinosa, who first spoke about someone who was buried with his official worker's identification card in his pocket and how much trouble his widow had when she tried to claim his pension. Although I don't believe it happened exactly like that, the story gave me the idea and I later rounded it out.
It is true that I heard this tale after I had already conceived the idea of making a film on the problems of bureaucracy, which would end with the death of a bureaucrat, that is, violently. I decided on this ending because I believe that the exasperation an ordinary citizen can experience because of bureaucracy can lead him even to the point of murder; or, if not murder, at least to just retribution. That is to say, he might be driven out of his mind.
What _d o_you think of your new film? Would you_ modify it in any way?
Answer: Generally speaking I like the film. I feel that it states what we had in mind. I would change one of the important actors and many "extras," I would shoot the. scene of the antibureaucratic campaign over again and place it in a different sequence; much earlier in the film. I would remake the opening scenes, in which we had a good idea based on good elements, but technical defects spoil the total effect.
I think it's a minor film with no great pretensions, but I believe it achieves what was intended.
"Death of a Bureaucrat" will be shown at tne Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Do you think that all the scenes in the film, which may be very clear to us
in Cuba, will be understood at the festival?
Answer: Well, yes. Bureaucracy is a very old phenomena. It's no new invention, but was inherited and, in some cases, developed by the socialist countries, where it seems to be a thoroughly oppressive stage, that must be traversed. The mechanism of bureaucracy as it is presented is very elemental and can be understood anywhere by anyone. Perhaps some Cuban details will not be understood. But these are few. The central theme of the film -- that of a dead person who cannot be taken from his house to be buried because of lack of the proper documents -- is a sufficiently violent situation for anyone to understand. The whole film rests on this.
Your films have shown a great deal of humor. In "The Twelve Chairs" the treatment was popular rather than intellectual, but, in "Death of a Bureaucrat” you have used both elements. What can you tell us about this?
Answer: Humor interests me very much as a theme. There is something of "black humor" in the filn.
; (One critic, Roberto Branly, interrupted and described the new film as "black humof" in the Mexican sense. "The concept of joking about death is a very Mexican one," he stated, “while in Cuba this idea of joking about death hardly exists.")
Gutiérrez Alea replied: "It was time to introduce this type of humor. In Cuba we have been playing with death for some time now. I think that this type of humor is more Spanish than Mexican. The Mexicans carry the concept to an extreme that is not characteristic of this film."
What is your opinion of Salvador Wood as an actor? I happen to think he's exactly right for the part.
Answer: I wouldn't say he is the best actor, since not all actors are suited to all parts. But he is one of the best and it's extremely interesting to work with such a fresh talent. It was easy to work with him on this film, because he's an actor who throws himself into a part. We know each other well and have worked together before, and so communication was relatively easy.
Was the background music expressly composed for the film?
Answer: It was composed for the film, although a few spots are from records. I believe it is very good at times, and occasionally very effective, although I'm not sure whether there is sometimes over-effect. It's the only thing that worries me.
Callejas, a critic, interrupts to state: "There is a lack of unity in this music by Leo Brouwer, something he has achieved in other films for which he has composed the music."
Gutiérrez Alea replies: "I would say that such diversity of style exists also in the visual work. It is part of the spirit of the film, that is, the very free use of every available resource. The following example will prove there was such an intention. In the opening scene, when Uncle Paco's bust emerges from the machine to appear later at the cemetery, the background music has an angelic, fantastic quality. Leo Brouwer could very well have written it, but we decided to use the music from The Robe which, in my opinion, creates a comic effect.
Was the scene of the fight at the cemetery deliberately exaggerated?
Answer: It was. When a fight like that one starts;®it reminds us of Laurel and Hardy in the 1920's. It is a completely absurd fight, and the characters are also absurd, as is shown when the cemetery manager begins to kick the automobile headlights.
What_is your opinion of Ramén Suarez' camerawork?
Answer: It is a professional job, the best Ramén has done, and it maintains the same high level throughout the film. Something very important, in my opinion: it is comedy camerawork, because there is camerawork that is very impressive in its subtlety or in its use of chiaroscuros, overexposing, or out-of-focus shots, done expertly, but -- in the case of this film -- all of that would have been useless and prejudicial affectedness. In comedy, everything, every detail must be seen. For example,
at a given moment important things may be happening on one side, but should not keep the viewer from observing what is going on all around. This type of photography is not tendentious but, as it should be, it is objective photography, which allows the viewer to pick up what he cares to. As far as technical resources are concerned, this type of camerawork. is much harder to achieve than "effectivist" techniques which can convert a technical error into a very expressive effect. In this film, we had to avoid this sort of thing at all costs. In other words, this is professional, high-level camerawork. : ;