Utopía

This little film by Arturo Infante throws a bittersweet dart at Cuba's much tooted free for all educational system. In three short vignettes it shows the results obtained by Communist dictatorship after almost fifty years of manipulating education and culture. It is almost uncanny how Infante can say so much in such a short time. It is also strange that he gets away with it all considering the tight censorship that reigns inside the ICAIC, Cuba's Institute of Film. But the deed is done and we should be all grateful for it although distribution of this little gem is at best erratic.

Vignette #1 takes us to an empty classroom where a teacher is coaching his best student, a girl in her teens, in the reading of a classic work of literature which the girl must deliver at some upcoming school function. It becomes obvious that this girl can not pronounce the highly polished Spanish of the piece and can only communicate in the trashy slang she has learned in her barrio. Utter frustration from the suffering and well-meaning educator.

Vignette #2 takes place at a dilapidated patio where four Cubans gather for a friendly game of dominoes. They talk in their Cuban lingo and the conversation turns to music and to baroque-style constructions. It's very hard to follow what they are saying but soon there's an argument that turns unreasonably violent. The only thing clear is that these guys, shining examples of Cuba's revolutionary men, are quick-tempered and experts at foul language and bad manners. Wild, uneducated beasts in the country of free education.

Vignette #3 has also a slum setting where a manicurist is providing her services to a woman while another waits impatiently for her turn. The conversation here turns to opera and each lady gives her opinion of who is the best soprano. Soon they are at each others hair and high opera has become an excuse for these women to unleash their trashy natures, vent their anger and shout the foulest obscenities in Cuban lingo. One of them underlines her point by gesturing to her crotch as if her ovaries were the ultimate source of knowledge. Totally incompatible with the world of opera.

The film reminds me of a conversation I had once with a journalist that had recently visited Cuba. He described it as "the empire of trashiness."(El imperio de la chusmeria) I protested: How can that be when people receive free education. The journalist replied: No real education there... just teaching. (No hay educación... solo enseñanza.) At that time I did not fully understand his words. Now I do.