Memories of Underdevelopment

“Memories of Underdevelopment, by Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. I can’t tell you what I felt after I saw this film, because it’s a film about the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, where people are leaving Cuba, and this intellectual, this guy who was part of the Cuban bourgeoisie, he decides to stay, and it’s so philosophical, but it’s also a film that reflects a moment in history that few films that I know did, because it doesn’t capture only the facts, but the feelings.”

“This is a film that’s really a must. And it’s… It’s Memories of Underdevelopment, and it’s a Cuban film. And I saw this film actually before I took my first trip to Havana, back in the very early ’90s. And if you want to see what was happening post-revolution, this is really great, and it’s sort of a mix of… It’s a narrative, but also with elements of vérité, archival footage. It’s very powerful, and it’s one of my favorites.”

“This film is the film with the worst title, I think, probably imaginable. It’s called Memories of Underdevelopment, and it’s a film by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. When I saw this film, we were working on Trainspotting... And I stole, frame by frame, the last shot of this film for the last shot of Trainspotting. And if you happen to watch this movie... You’ll see the last shot of this film as it was intended to do, as it reflected the last shot of this film.”

“Drifting now to new Cuban cinema, Memories of Underdevelopment by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Rarely does a film manage to blend what is of a documentary nature and what is of a fictional nature. The impurity of that film on a conceptual level is so ever present and creates a narrative that is constantly surprising. I have the impression that the film is kind of sucked by the reality of a country also being redefined. The journey of the character and the journey of the society as a whole intermingle.”

“I just got back from Cuba where I asked people, 'What is the greatest Cuban movie of all time?' and well, this was the number one film that they mentioned. Pretty much like nine of the other 10 films were by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, but Memories of Underdevelopment seems to be everyone's named as everyone's favorite Cuban film or best Cuban film.”

“Memories of Underdevelopment. This for me is the most important film in Latin America. It is an incredibly modern story that had many interpretations, a great introspection on the soul of the Cuban Revolution, on the people that left, on the people that stayed. It is an incredibly sophisticated, intelligent kind of take on humanity and also on our sort of belief system. It's a really great movie.”