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Mémoires du sous-développement

Original title: Memorias del subdesarrollo
  • 1968
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 37m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
5.2K
YOUR RATING
Mémoires du sous-développement (1968)
Drama

A Cuban man cycles through his opinions and memories as the threat of foreign invasion intensifies and the rest of his family moves to Miami.A Cuban man cycles through his opinions and memories as the threat of foreign invasion intensifies and the rest of his family moves to Miami.A Cuban man cycles through his opinions and memories as the threat of foreign invasion intensifies and the rest of his family moves to Miami.

  • Director
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  • Writers
    • Edmundo Desnoes
    • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
  • Stars
    • Sergio Corrieri
    • Daisy Granados
    • Eslinda Núñez
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    5.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
    • Writers
      • Edmundo Desnoes
      • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
    • Stars
      • Sergio Corrieri
      • Daisy Granados
      • Eslinda Núñez
    • 25User reviews
    • 36Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 2 nominations total

    Photos9

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    Top cast31

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    Sergio Corrieri
    Sergio Corrieri
    • Sergio Carmona Mendoyo
    Daisy Granados
    • Elena
    Eslinda Núñez
    • Noemi
    Omar Valdés
    • Pablo
    René de la Cruz
    • Elena's brother
    Yolanda Farr
    Ofelia González
    Jose Gil Abad
    Daniel Jordan
    Luis López
    Rafael Sosa
    Beatriz Ponchova
    Gilda Hernández
    Julio Vega
    Eduardo Casado Revuelta
      Oscar Alvarez
      José Fraga
      Juana Alburquerque
      • Housing Inspector
      • Director
        • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
      • Writers
        • Edmundo Desnoes
        • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews25

      7.65.1K
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      Featured reviews

      10radar-17

      Memoiras del subdesarrollo is a stunning look into post Revolutionary Cuba.

      Memorias del subdesarrolo (memories of the underdeveloped) is a look into the life of a bourgeois young writer who decides to stay in his native Cuba following the Cuban revolution, and enters himself into a life of detachment, seclusion, and avoidance. Sergio (the writer) is juxtaposed with Elna (a young woman following the trends that are dictated to her) to show a clash in idealism, values, and moral that leads to dramatic court scene that ultimately puts in question the current state of Cuba opposed to the past. Alea's use of Sergio, Elena, Pablo (a petty bourgeois that flees to Miami), and the court shows Alea's insight into the great social change that followed the revolution. Through the course of the film you see the change in society that spurns it's, once, culturally elite to become detached from there surroundings and society, leaving only two options: flight, and seclusion. This film is a great look into a society, and a man trying to escape from it. .
      8bean-d

      A Challenging Film

      "Memorias del Subdesarrollo" (1968) is an extremely interesting Cuban film about an aspiring bourgeois writer named Sergio. His wife leaves him for a more secure life in the States, as do many of his friends and neighbors. But Sergio remains in Cuba, all the while detesting his "underdeveloped" countrymen. His interior monologue throughout the film details the numerous ways in which the people who surround him, and his new girlfriend, are all underdeveloped mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, but we soon realize that it is the smooth-talking Sergio who is guilty of underdevelopment. Perhaps his inability to leave the mediocrity of Cuba is rooted in his need to have others to look down upon. Intermixed with his observations is a visit he takes to Hemingway's retreat in which he contemplates the novelist's colonialism--yet we can't but wonder if his observations are tainted by his underdevelopment. Further, the Cuban missile crisis happens at this time, and Sergio must also deal with a rape charge. A challenging film.
      7Quinoa1984

      fascinating but not for the easily tiresome

      I saw this film in a film class, where we were looking at the mix of elements of documentary footage as well as fictional footage (including the use of archives, stills, voice-over), in relation to Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. All I can say is that I was interested in the film, and at times my interest really peaked up with the style, but it's not for everyone, that's for sure. The director is very talented with mixing the elements of making narrative out of seemingly non-narrative. Here and there I was even reminded of Bertolucci's Before the Revolution. But here and there I wondered 'would this be just better as a straight documentary on the post Cuban revolutionary world?' The questions raised by its main character Sergio are intelligent, but there are so many of them thrown at a viewer, or just in observations. And you may need to be completely up on your Cuban history circa late 50's-early 60's to catch some of the stuff inside.

      The storyline itself is actually just as involving, if not more so, than the documentary side to the film, as Sergio's viewpoint of the Cuban's (misguided) revolutionary stances and problems with the bourgeoisie is a parallel to his relationships with women. The story with the young girl he seduces, and gets in trouble with, are some of my favorite scenes from the lot (and when I most woke up to watch). It's a little more tedious at times than 'Hiroshima' was as a hybrid-style film, and even with its gritty style that even in fictional form is very documentary-like, it didn't blow me away as much as it has for others who have commented here. However, I would say if you're into the history and hows and whys of the Cuban revolution and Castro and the Bay of Pigs, AND want a character to guide you through it all, this is quite the view.
      8samxxxul

      A Classic That Holds Up To This Day!

      There are some great comments and facts here about this gem and I'll try not to repeat them. Alea presents a realistic, fascinating, and believable dramatization of the moral and political quagmire set in the early-Castro era through the POV of an apathetic bourgeois. The story delves into the inner psyche of Sergio, a lonely eccentric and sets out to illustrate its impact during the alienation on every level intertwined by transitioning culture at that time. He gets caught up in a relationship with Elena, their happiness seems perfect.

      Alea elaborates this predictable story in which, from the beginning, the idea is built that something does not fully agree with what Sergio think will happen. The narration submerges you in the timeline and slowly seams things together in a brilliant and subtle way. I have always enjoyed this film minute by minute, the upheavals and the disappoints that happens to break the character mentally. The film is shot in semi-documentary style which is one of the highlights as it pushes the narrative with no room for spoon-fed character development. Even with limited emphasis on traditional storytelling the film carries emotional impact with solid acting effort throughout the runtime. Some may look at it from the view of art-house documentary with newsreel footage of the Cuban Revolution dressed up as a political drama, but it is more than that. Also, I will recommend Stefan Uher's The Sun in a Net (1963), Halina Bielinska's Sam posród miasta (1965), Paulo César Saraceni The Dare (1966), The Vampires of Poverty (1977), The Man Who Sleeps (1974) and Ice (1970). If you haven't seen it, I would suggest you do add it in your watch list.

      To conclude Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968) is simply a brilliant character analysis, also a cleverly constructed political drama realised in a time where the facts truly are in your face.
      Aw-komon

      One of the greatest films ever made

      This isn't just a film of historical value; far from it. It is one of the greatest films ever made by anyone. The balance of elements that went into this venture came out magnificently poetic and real. The semi-documentary style is deeply influenced by 'Hiroshima Mon Amor' and other New Wave classics, but the sensibility is Alea's own and distinctly 'Latin American Intellectual.' There are very few films that can make me cry, this is one of them. Not because of the story, but simply because of the way it is made, the beautifully subtle way it is expressed. The leading character's central tragedy of not being able to reconcile his own deep feeling for his people with his intellectual standards because of their 'underdevelopment' and subsequent alienated existence or more precisely their inability to transcend their alienation to reach a more fulfilled state is one of the most touching and relevant themes I've ever seen in a film. It is more relevant more today, 30 years later than it was then, everywhere, not just in the island of Cuba with its mere 7 million inhabitants. A great performance by Sergio Corrieri (I Am Cuba) provides the required erotic undertone and comedic rhythms to convey the true feel of an intellectual 'playboy' existence in early '60s Cuba. The effect of this film is visceral and must be seen to be appreciated, words can hardly describe it. Suffice it to say that it uses all the resources of cinema and then some, but subtly and with maximum poetic control, and is a thousand times more valuable than most of the pretentious art films of today. If only one tenth of one percent of the audience that will see a piece of garbage like 'Mission Impossible 2' (which I sat and puked through I regret to say, because of all the hype about the 'action sequences' of John Woo, to kill a couple of hours which I'll never again be able to recover) this summer could somehow miraculously be forced to watch and understand this film and see its parallels within their own society of computerized complacent banality, the intellectual level of this country would shoot up overnight.

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      Storyline

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      Did you know

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      • Trivia
        The first film to be made in post-revolutionary Cuba to be released in the United States.
      • Quotes

        Sergio Carmona Mendoyo: One thing about people that upsets me is their inability to sustain something without collapsing. Take Elena: she was totally inconsistent. Didn't relate things. That's a symptom of underdevelopment: the inability to relate things, to gain experience, develop. It's difficult here because women are conditioned by sentiments and culture. A soft environment. People waste talents on inconsistent adaptations. They always need someone to think for them.

      • Connections
        Edited into Le Huitième étage, jours de révolte (2023)

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      FAQ17

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      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • April 16, 1974 (France)
      • Country of origin
        • Cuba
      • Official sites
        • Mr Bongo Films
        • Official site (Japan)
      • Languages
        • Spanish
        • English
      • Also known as
        • Memories of Underdevelopment
      • Filming locations
        • Havana, Cuba
      • Production companies
        • Cuban State Film
        • Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC)
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Box office

      Edit
      • Gross US & Canada
        • $29,647
      • Opening weekend US & Canada
        • $8,244
        • Jan 14, 2018
      • Gross worldwide
        • $33,103
      See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

      Tech specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        • 1h 37m(97 min)
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.66 : 1

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