Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba

8/10/2019 Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba

1/17

Chasqui revista de literatura latinoamericana

"Quilombo" and "El Otro Francisco": A Post-Modernist Attempt to Re-Write ContemporaryHistory and Colonial Slavery in Brazil and CubaAuthor(s): Nicols Hernndez Jr.Source: Chasqui, Vol. 34, Special Issue No. 1: Brazilian and Spanish American Literary andCultural Encounters (2005), pp. 97-112Published by: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericanaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29742033.

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2/17

QUILOMBO

AND EL OTRO FRANCISCO:

A

POST-MODERNIST ATTEMPT

TO

RE?

WRITE

CONTEMPORARY

HISTORY

AND

COLONIAL

SLAVERY

IN

BRAZIL

AND

CUBA

Nicol?s

Hern?ndez

Jr

Russell

Sage

Colllege

I

propose

to

explore

the

relationship

that exists between

the

written

word,

its

context

and

pretext,

and

the

recreation

of

cinematographic

images

that

modify

a

well-established

underlying

text.

In

1974,

Sergio

Giral

releases

El

otro

Francisco,

a

film

in which he

parodies

with

scathing,

though

not

convincing,

irony

Anselmo

Su?rez Romero's

abolitionist

novel,

Francisco:

Or the

Delights

of

the

Sugar

Mill.*

Carlos

Diegues,

on

the

other

hand,

releases

in

1984

Quilombo,

which

is

the result of

historical

research

modified

with

a

view

toward

a

Utopian

outlook.2

Diegues

attempts

to

establish

an

antislavery

prohuman

rights

text,

a

model of

alternate

subsistence

realized

in

the 17th

century

that

criticizes

Brazil

in the

1980s

and

offers

a

tentative

plan

for

a

pluralist

and

equalitarian

coexistence.

These films

represent

efforts

of

sociocultural

location

and

national

identity

in

a

decidedly postmodern

Latin

American

context.

Perhaps they

echo

the

project

of

Nuestra

Am?rica that

Jos?

Mart?

formulated.

El otro

Francisco is

the

work

of

a

talented

screenwriter, director,

and

producer

who worked

at

that

time

for

ICAIC,

the

official

agency

of

the

Marxist

Cuban

government.

Quilombo

is

equally

the

work of

a

gifted

'Anselmo

Su?rez

Romero

wrote

Francisco

1838

to

1839,

and

upon

completion

read

it

at

Del Monte's tertulia.

Francisco is

published

posthumously

in

New

York in

1880.

Gertrudis

G?mez

de

Avellaneda

publishes

Sab

in 1841.

Antislavery

scholars stress

the fact

that

Harriet

Beecher Stowe wrote

Uncle

Tom's

Cabin from

1851

to

1852,

publishing

it

as a

serial;

Uncle

Tom

s

Cabin is

published

in

book form in

1852.

Cf.

C?sar

L?ante,

p.

179.

2D?cio Freitas, Palmares?a guerra dos escravos, 5ta ed. (Porto

Alegre:

Mercado

Aberto,

1984).

Since he

was

in

exile,

Freitas

first

published

the

history

of the

independent

Afro-Brazilian

kingdom

of

Palmares

in

Montevideo in 1971 in

Montevideo

with

the title

Palmares?La

guerrilla

negra

(translation

of

A

guerra

dos

escravos

by

Claudia

Schilling)

97

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3/17

98

Quilombo

and El

otro

Francisco

.

. .

Contemporary

History

and

Colonial

Slavery

screenwriter,

director,

and

producer;

however,

this artist works

within

the

confines of

free

enterprise

after a

long period

of

military

dictatorship.

It

is

surprising

that

the

foreign

press

(that

is

to

say

neither Brazilian

nor

Cuban)

would

ascribe

the

film

industry

of

both nations

to

the

rubric

of

picturesque

curious

phenomena

of

relatively

recent

vintage.3

As

regards

the

academic

press,

Latin

American cinema

is

either

largely

ignored

or

only

looked at

when

it is convenient

to accentuate

tendencies

characteristic,

though

not

always

excusive,

to

the

extreme

left.

Selection

Criteria

Both films mark an

important

moment in the

development

of

cinematography

in their

respective

countries.

El

otro

Francisco

is

a

metaliterary

and

metahistorical

experiment

to

reinterpret

a

significant

feature of

Cuban

history

that

had

been

based

on

carefully

conducted

research.

With the

exception

of

a

course

dedicated

specifically

to

Cuban

film,

El

otro Francisco

is

usually

omitted

from

the

primary

viewing

lists in

courses

dedicated

entirely

to

Latin

American

film

taught

in the

United

States.4

This omission

could

be due

to

the

dogmatic

didacticism

that

appears

throughout

the

soundtrack

or

the

manifold

historic-literary

antecedents

that

appeal

to

specialists

and

not

to

a

general

university

viewing

audience.

Similarly,

Quilombo

doesn't

seem

to be

included

in

undergraduate

courses

other

than

those

dedicated

solely

to

Brazilian

culture.

Diegues

states,

when

interviewed

by

Revue

du cin?ma:

Je

me

suis

toujours

m?fi? de

ces

filmes

o?

l'opprim?

est

toujours

petit,

triste, laid, faible,

sale

et

pauvre.

Je

ne

sais

encore

comment

va

?tre

la

r?action

au

Br?sil mais

je

suis certain

que

cette

vision

antid?magogique

va

choquer

non

seulement

l'?lite blanche

conservatrice,

mais

?galement

les

Noirs,

qui

ont

perdu

l'habitude

de

se

voir

tels

qu'ils

sont. Il

est

indispensable

de

montrer

des hommes

bons,

qui

?

un

moment

donn?

aspirent

?

une

autre

chose

que

ce

qu'ils

ont

connu.

(Tessier,

Grelier,

and

Avellar

61)

3See

Kov?cs

for

a

brief

general

introduction

to

Cuban film

that

only

focuses

on

ICAIC's

output. Although

he

offers

a

coherent

reading

of Cuban

filmmaking

from

1959,

he falls

in

the

post-modern

and neocolonial

trap

(1981)

that

is often the

bane of those

Latin Americanists

who

prefer

to

frame the

object

of their

study

in the

category

of

underdevelopment,

or,

worse,

in the

domain

of the

defective,

Revolutionary

Consciousness

and

Imperfect

Cinematic

Forms,

102-03.

John

Mossier,

in

Americas,

a

non-academic,

non-controversial, innocuous,

serial?given

the

fact

that

it

is the

official

publication

of

OAS?inherently

discounts

the

importance

of

Diegues

because of the folk

element

in

his

work;

he

goes

so

far

as

to

show

utter

disdain

for the historical

and

cinematographic

impact

of

Orfeu

negro

(1985).

4For

example,

Lucia

and

Recuerdos

del subdesarrollo

are

high-profile

classics.

Fresa

y

chocolate

does

not

appear

to

receive

as

much

attention.

La

?ltima

cena

is mentioned

in

many

studies

but

the

film itself

is little known

to

non-specialists.

El

retrato

de

Teresa,

an

excellent

defense

of the

dignity

and

rights

of

women

in

a

universal

plane?whether

communist

or

not?is

hardly

acknowledged.

These

are

my

personal

observations.



4/17

Nicolas Hern?ndez

Jr.

99

As

an

artist,

Diegues

attempts

to

inform conscience

and

to

entertain,

to

elevate

the

public

and to

propose

an alternative view of

society.

Quilombo

was a box-office success

when

it

premiered

abroad.

At

the time of this interview

it had

yet

to

open

in Brazil.

It is

clear

that

the

fact of

having

been successful outside

Brazil,

that it

is

a

commercial

film,

does

not

obviate

its aesthetic

impact

or

its

didactic

function.

In contrast

to

Cuban

filmmaking,

Diegues'

work?the

reader

should

recall?is

an

independent

commercial

effort,

whereas ICAIC

is

an

official

entity

of the

government

of

the

Republic

of

Cuba.

A

very

interesting

thing

happens

when non-Latin

Americans

see

films

made

on

the

American

continents

outside

the

United

States

in

terms

of

responding

to

an

aesthetic,

the

canon

of

which

is

how far

a

given

movie distances

itself from what

they

intuit

as

Hollywood.

Brazil

and Cuba

reap

a

prolific

cinematographic

crop

from the 1960s

on

that

which is

deeply

rooted in their

respective

national identities. It should be

pointed

out that

the

history

of

film

in Brazil and

Cuba

exceeds

one

hundred

years

as

of this

writing.

Filmmaking,

History

and

Literature

Although

I

do

not

share

the

guidelines

of how

to

instruct

the

masses

that

ICAIC

has

followed

since

its

inception,

I

recognize

that

in

its collected

output,

and

in

a

good

number

of selected

works,

it has

put

forth

a

monumental

effort

in

recording

Cuban

culture for

domestic

consumption

and

for

dissemination abroad.

ICAIC

has recorded

national

history

not

only

since

January

1st,

1959,

but

since

earlier colonial

days

through

photographs,

etchings,

drawings,

music,

song,

dance,

and

interpretive

reenactments.

The academic

press

has

duly

noted the existence

of

these

two

films within their

own

national

traditions.

These

studies

represent

a

very

valuable hermeneutic

effort.

Yet,

to

date,

I have

not

found

a

comparative

analysis

of

El

otro

Francisco and

Quilombo,

two

films that

by

reason

of

their

theme,

structure,

gestational

process,

and

chronological

proximity,

deserve

the

systematic

attention of

literary

criticism

in

the international

university

milieu.5

I

accept axiomatically

that

a

film,

by

virtue

of

the fact

that

it is

an

artifact

(a

truth

unlikely

to

be

disputed

by

many

anthropologists),

can

tell

us

much

about

the culture

that

produced

it,

if

we

approach

itwith

patience

and

paying

attention

to

the

relationship

of

parts

to

the

whole,

what Jos?

Ortega

y

Gasset

called unicidad

org?nica.

There

is

little

doubt,

as

the

reader

focuses in

on

the

plot

and substance

of

these

films,

that

one

sees

the

consciousness

of

an

author

who

has

at

his

disposal

the subtle

use

of

many

narrative

and

technical-cinematographic

devices that allow

him

to

achieve

a

plastic

art

squarely

situated

within the

postmodern

vanguard.

Violence,

kindness, silence,

the

juxtaposition

of

images

and

characters,

musical

score,

lighting,

what

the

camera

sees,

and

editing,

are

the elements

that both

filmmakers have

at

their

disposal

to

force the

public

to react

as

they

experience

their

work.

Diegues

and

Giral

do

everything possible

to

deny

their audience the

feeling

of satisfaction

in

ignorance,

because

both

artists

teach. Nor do

they

allow

indifference,

because

they

convey

a

message

that,

however

unpleasant,

demands

acknowledgment.

5Alex

Haley

publishes

Roots:

The

Saga

of

an

American

Family

in

1976. The

television

miniseries based

on

the

biographical

novel

is

produced

in 1977.



5/17

100

Quilombo

and El

otro

Francisco

.

. .

Contemporary

History

and

Colonial

Slavery

At

this

point,

I

would like to

offer

a

series

of

observations

that

have allowed

me

to

explore a fundamental element of the sociocultural history of Cuba and Brazil: the

presence

of the African

slave,

not

as a

statistical

datum,

but

as

an

individual

character

endowed with

verisimilitude.

Without

the

involuntary

contribution of

millions of Africans

that

served

as an

enslaved

workforce

at

the behest

of

the

Portuguese

and

Spanish

empires

for

more

than

three

hundred

years,

the

cultures

of

Brazil and

Cuba

would

be

entirely

different.6

Carlos

Diegues,

the author

of

Quilombo,

is

who he

is

at

a

given

moment in

Brazilian

history;

Sergio

Giral,

the author of

El

otro

Francisco,

is

who

he

is

at

a

given

moment

in

Cuban

history;

the

two

of

them,

independent

from

the other but

well

within Iberoamerican

cultural

currents,

recreate

or

reenvision

two

very

complex

historical

realities

that

underlie

the subtext

of

their

respective

national

consciousness.

El

otro

Francisco

One

could

argue

that El otro

Francisco,

broadly,

is structured

as

a

symphony

in

three

movements,

the classic musical

genre

of the

sonata-allegro

for

a

full

orchestra.

This

is the

impressionistic

reconstruction that

a

general

audience

would walk

away

with when

leaving

the

theater.What follows is the broad

impression

that

a

viewer

might

begin

to

digest

without

taking

notes

or

digitally

recording

any

given

set

of

scenes.

The film is

complicated,

however the

cumulative effect that reverberates

in the

retina of

memory

is

that

of

the coherent vision of

an

original

discourse

that

appears

to be

chaotic.7

The first

movement

is

the

melodramatic

mise

en

sc?ne

of

Su?rez

Romero's

original

novel.

Francisco,

negro

de

naci?n,

that is

to

say

born in

Africa,

arrived

in

Cuba

as a

young

boy.

Refined

and

kind of

heart,

as

is characteristic

of the

protagonists

of romantic

novels,

is coachman

to

Sra. Mendiz?bal.

Dorotea, mulata,

criolla

(Cuban-born),

and

light

skinned,

is

the

lady's

seamstress.

Dorotea

and

Francisco

have

been

in

love

for

years.

But

they

make

a

grave

mistake:

they

have

sexual

relations

and Dorotea

becomes

pregnant.

Furious

at

their

disobedience,

Sra.

Mendiz?bal,

who had

planned

to

let them

marry,

banishes Francisco

to

her

sugar

mill

plantation

far

away

from Havana. Her

son

Ricardo,

a

man

perverse

to

the

point

of

sadism who had been

attracted

to

Dorotea since

adolescence,

manages

the

plantation. Lady

and

slave

woman

go

to

sojourn

in the

plantation,

bringing

with

them

the newborn

girl.

Ricardo intensifies his vile

treatment of

Francisco

through

Antonio the white

overseer.

Francisco

hangs

himself

from

a

tree

and

dies

in

the

bush.

6It

should

be clear

that

I

am

speaking

neither

of

a

commonplace

nor

of

something

idealized,

such

as the

stereotypically

racist

gift

of

rhythm

or a

superficial

treatment

of

santer?a

or

candombl?.

7The

alternative

reading

of

the

film,

which is

the

result

of

carefully

jotting

down

details of the

plot

and

the

technical

execution of the film

yields

a

different

sequence?this

can

only

be

done,

of

course,

after several

viewings.

Giral's esthetic effect is

very

original.



6/17

Nicol?s

Hern?ndez

Jr.

101

The

second

movement

begins abruptly;

there is

a

sudden shift

as

the

scene

opens

in

the

literary

salon of

Domingo

del Monte,8 inwhich we find Anselmo Su?rez

Romero,

author

of the

original

Francisco

novel. Del

Monte

was

mentor

to

the

generation

of

Cuba's

romantic

movement.

This

literary

group

shared the motivation

not

only

to

abolish

the

slave trade

(which

was

supposed

to

have

taken

place

already

since

the

agreement

signed

by

Spain

and

England),

but

also

to

advocate

for

the

emancipation

of all the

slaves

on

the

island.9

At

this

point

Giral introduces

another historical

figure

that

has

nothing

to

do with

the

plot

of

the

novel

proper,

Richard

Madden,

who

holds

one

of

the

posts

of

Commissioner

of

the

Joint

Board

of

Trade,

an

entity

established

by

England

and

Spain

in

Cuba

to

supervise,

more or

less,

the

disappearance

of the

traffic in

human

beings.

Interestingly,

it

is

at

this

point

that

begins

the

alternative

reading

o? another

Francisco,

a black man rebellious

throughout.

When Richard Madden visits the

Mendiz?bal

plantation,

the

questions

he

asks Ni?o

Ricardo and Antonio

the

overseer

yield

a

statistical

profile

of the

sugar

industry

in

Cuba

during

the

first

third

of

the

19th

century.

With

Madden

we

see

an

English

mechanic who

has

just

installed

a new

sugar

cane

grinding

machine

at

the

mill.

The slaves

sabotage

the

new

machine

by

putting

a

piece

of

steel,

possibly

a

machete

fragment,

in

the

gearbox.

A

new

movement

begins,

the

third,

during

which

the

plantation

slaves

rebel.

They

set

fire

to

the

sugar

fields,

the

mill,

the

big

house,

and

they

kill the

overseer

under

the

leadership

of

a

slave

who

is

neither

the

original

nor

the

second

Francisco.

The

uprising

begins during

a

bemb?

that

parallels

an

previously-seen

celebration in

which

the

overseer

humiliated Francisco

by

forcing

him

to

dance with

an

old

woman.

As

one

would

expect,

the

aftermath of

the

uprising

is

total

reprisal:

we

suddenly

see

dozens

of

slaves

hanging

from

the

exposed

steel

beams

of

the

burned

down

mill.

As in

a

sonata,

Giral inserts

a

coda at

the

end

of

the

third movement.

This

coda is

a

visual?rather

than

a

melodic?collage

in

which

with

vertiginous

speed,

through

the

use

of

photographs

(real

and

recreated)

and

madeup

film

sequences,

events

subsequent

to

the

8See

Alberto

Guti?rrez

de la

Solana,

p. 308,

note

20,

for

a

succinct

explanation

of

the

importance

of

Domingo

del

Monte

in

the

intellectual

formation

of

Anselmo

Su?rez

Romero;

he

also

explains

plainly

the

matter

of

Richard

Madden's

mission;

he

also

elucidates

the

role

of

Jos?

Zacar?as

Gonz?lez

del

Valle

as

proofreader

and

editor of

the

Francisco

manuscript.

9C?sar

L?ante

studies

in

depth

the

pragmatics

of

Anselmo

Su?rez

Romero

as

spokesperson

for

the

antislavery

and

pro-independence

ideas of the

Cuban

intellectual

bourgeoisie.

At

the

same

time,

L?ante

analyzes

the

documentary

value

of

Autobiograf?a

by

Juan

Francisco

Manzano,

which

was

published?inadequately

abridged?in

translation

in

England by

Richard

Madden.

Juan

Francisco

Manzano

was

the

slave

poet

whose

freedom

was

purchased by

a

collection

taken

up

among

the

members of

Domingo

del

Monte's salon. It

is

very

important

to note

that

Juan

Francisco

Manzano

may

be

spiritually

related to Anselmo

Su?rez

Romero's

hero.

L?ante

affirms,

Mas

lo

que

s?

resulta

una

singular

coincidencia

es

que

ambos

libros

tengan

por

protagonistas

a

dos

personajes

que

ofrecen

rasgos

muy similares,

sobre

todo

sicol?gica,

an?micamente,

no

obstante

ser

el

uno,

Francisco,

producto

de

la

ficci?n

y

el

otro,

Juan

Francisco

Manzano,

un

ente

de

carne

y hueso;

si

bien

es

posible

que

la

clave

de

esta

'coincidencia'

sea,

como

lo

es

de la anterior

'casualidad',

la

figura

de

Domingo

del

Monte

(175).



7/17

102

Quilombo

and El

otro

Francisco

.

. .

Contemporary History

and

Colonial

Slavery

1830s

are

compressed:

from

skirmishes

and

apalencamientos

(slave

groups

that

succeeded

in

living

autonomously,

however

briefly,

in the

wilderness)

to the

strongly

highlighted

War

of

1868-78,

which concluded

with

the

Pacto

del

Zanj?n,

to

the

beginning

of

theWar

of

Independence

in

1895.

The

film does

not

mention

the

participation

of the

United

States

in

the

Spanish-American

War. Nor

does

it

address

the

early

Cuban

Republic.

The

key

point

is

that,

thanks

to

the

rebellious

Francisco,

theRevolution

of

1959

will be

successful.

Unfortunately,

the

dogmatic

voice

of

the

narrator

that

appears

for

the

first time

when

the

second

Francisco

section

begins,

continues

to

tell

the

audience

what to

think.

Were

anyone

to

overlook

the

list

of

credits,

it

would be

impossible

to tell that

Leo

Brower,

the

distinguished

Cuban

composer,

was

the

film's

musical

director.10

The

decision

to

film

in black

and

white

seems

evident.

Giral does

not

paint

his

narrative

in halftones.

The

cinematography

in El

otro

Francisco evokes

etchings

of the

19th

century.

The

audience

sees

many

frame/scenes

that

hearken

Francisco de

Goya

y

Lucientes'

(no

relation

nor

pun

intended)

The Disasters

of

War. Just

prior

to

the

historical-Marxist

collage

there

is

an

excess

of

light

with

hardly

a

cast

shadow

reminiscent

of

the vision

of

Guernica

conceived

by

Pablo

Ruiz

y

Picasso.

Quilombo

Quilombo's

structure is conventional

as

far

as

chronological

progression

is concerned.

The

rest

of

the

film,

however,

has

little

to

do

with

what

one

could

call

conventional.

Diegues paints

a

historic-mythological

mural

in

the

guise

of

popular

opera.11

The

base

text

for

Quilombo

is

the

screenplay

that

he

himself

redacted

over

a

period

of

more

than

ten

years.

The main

interpretive

source

was

D?cio

Freitas,

Palmares?a

guerra

dos

escravos,

the first edition

of

which Freitas

published

in

exile

inMontevideo.

The

action

begins

in

a

sugar

cane

field.

The

wife

of the

plantation

owner

is

reading

aloud

instructions

regarding

how

stocks should

be

tightened

around

the neck

of

a

slave

so as

to

punish

him

humanely,

in

a manner

conducive

to

his

becoming

docile and

productive.

These

aloof

remarks

set

in motion

a

rebellion

in which

all the

Portuguese

in

the

plantation,

with

the

only

exception

of the

youngest

son

of the

landowners,

are

killed.

At

the

intercession

of

the

future

king, Ganga

Zumba

the

boy

is

spared,

because

of

the

former's

kindness

and

the

latter's

innocence,

and

so

that

there

might

be

a

witness

of the

massacre who could

communicate

to

the

colonists

what

had

occurred.

The

majority

of the

slaves

decides

to

embark

on

an

exodus

to

the

faraway

and

mysterious

territory

of

Palmares,

in

a

most

recondite

corner

of

the

mato;

a

few

slaves

want

to

return

to

Africa.

Here

lies

the

central

problematic

issue

of the

film:

not

all

slaves

come

from the

same

10If

we

were

to

compare

the musical

style

of El

otro

Francisco

with

movies

from

the

United

States,

it

could

be

likened

to the

soundtrack

of

a

B-movie.

11

Coco

Fusco

reports

these

remarks when

she interviews

Diegues:

I

am

not

interested

in

making

a

conventional

epic.

I

tried

to

make

a

film

on

a

human scale.

It's

not

about

ideology;

it's

about

desire,

about

passion.

Those

feelings

have

to

be recorded

on a

human

scale,

not

an

epic

scale.

I used

to

say

to

the

cinematographer

that

we

were

making

an

epic

of

close-ups.

I

always

tried

to

keep

the film

at

this

scale

(14).



8/17

Nicol?s

Hern?ndez

Jr. 103

country

or

homeland,

nor

do

they

share

the

same

language. Although

the

largest

group

is

Yoruba,

this does not mean that there is an absence of other

collective-composite

characters.

Dandara

is the voice of

a new

American

reality,

she herself declares that she

was

born

in

Brazil and

that

therefore

Brazil is

her homeland. Another

slave,

at

the

onset,

tells

a

workmate

to

speak

plainly,

em

crist?o,

meaning

in

Portuguese.

The

ancestral

phase

of

Quilombo

de

Palmares?which

historically

was a

nonfeudal

amalgam

of

small

interdependent

kingdoms

with

their

own

village

king

plus

a

central

king,

does

not

corresponded

to the

European

model. In

terms

of

cinematography?if

not

history?the

task

of

identifying

the future

king

devolves

to

Acotirene,

the

spiritual

mother

of

the

runaway

slaves

already

freed

by

their

own

hands.

It

isn't clear if

she

is

their

queen

or

the

chief

priest,

but

it is

she who

identifies

Ganga

Zumba

as

the

one

elected

by

Chang?

to become the new ruler. The selection ismade manifest when Acotirene casts the shells

and

Ganga

Zumba

receives his

ach?

instantly.

Acotirene

goes

away

with

her

knight

protector,

riding

on

his

neck,

farther

up

into

the

highlands.

This

marks

the

beginning

of the

second

part

of

the

film,

the

prosperous

reign

of

Ganga

Zumba.

On the

way

to

Palmares,

the first child

is

born

in

freedom;

he is the

adoptive

grandson

of

Ganga

Zumba.

In

an

encounter with

a

Portuguese

band of slave

hunters,

the

leader kills

the child's mother

and

kidnaps

the

boy.

This

boy,

who will be

raised

by

the

priest

of the

village

closest

to

the

periphery

of

Palmares,

is

the future

Zumbi.

Ganga

Zumba

signifies

great

king

in

the

sense

of

a

wise and

prudent

man.

Zumbi

is

he who

does

not

die,

and he

is warrior

king

par

excellence.

Time

passes

and

a

comet

crosses

the

sky,

whose

portent

coincides with

a

horrible

epidemic.

Zumbi,

who

had

lost his birth

name

and

was

brought

up

with

the

identity

of

Fernando

in

service

to

the

priest

and

the

church,

returns to

the

mato

and

climbs

almost

vertically

up

to

Palmares;

the

last

stage

resembles

an

ascent

similar

to

scaling

Sugar

Loaf

Mountain

barehanded.

By

this feat his

regal

mettle is

proven.

Ganga

Zumba

welcomes

him with

heartfelt love. Palmares

welcomes

him

in

feast,

bringing

him

all the

accoutrements

necessary

for

him

to

join

the

community

as a

warrior of the

first order.

Ganga

Zumba,

or

rather

Chang?

through

him,

confers

upon

Fernando

a

new

name.

Thus Fernando

becomes

Zumbi,

Ganga

Zumba's future

successor

in

whom

the

wise

king

sees

manifest

the ach? of Ochun.

Time

passes.

Bushmaster

captain,

capit?o

do

mato,

Fern?o

Carilho

arrives and

proposes

to

Ganga

Zumba

that Palmares

pay

him

protection

money

to

make

it

look like

to

the

colonists

that he is

fighting

the

negros

f?gidos.

Carilho

intends

to

profit

from

the

colonists

and

from the

great

king.

Ganga

Zumba

manipulates

the

situation

by

making

Carilho

his

purveyor

of

weapons

and,

more

importantly, gunpowder.

From

this

alliance,

perhaps

the

greatest

benefit

to

Ganga

Zumba

is

obtaining

the

freedom and

loyalty

of Ana de

Ferro,

who

had

been forced

into

prostitution

by

the

Dutch.

Ana

accepts

her

freedom and

decides

to

live in

Palmares,

a

place

where

Amerindians

as

well

as

whites

had

already

been

assimilated. The

first

white

man

who

helped

the

escaping

band of slaves

after

the

uprising

was a

Jew.

He

lived

for

a

time

in

Palmares

with his

family

before

moving

on

further into

the

mato.

Ana

becomes the

king's

second

concubine,

without

apparent

tension

on

the

part

of

the

nubile

Namba.

Dandara is

the

enduring

spiritual

leader of the

kingdom;

however,

it

isn't

clear if

she had

been

the

king's

wife

or

mate.

What

is clear

is that

whenever

she

sees

the

young

Afro-Brazilian

woman

or

the

former

Portuguese

prostitute,

there is

no

hint of

affability

in her

eyes.

It

could well be



9/17

104

Quilombo

and

El

otro

Francisco

.

.

.


and

Colonial

Slavery

argued

that

Ana

replaces

Dandara

as

she

assumes

the function

of

counselor

of state

to

the

king.

Via the

governor,

a

message

arrives

from

the

king

of

Portugal

offering Ganga

Zumba

a

peace

treaty

in which official

recognition

of

sovereign

to

sovereign

would

be

granted.

In

exchange

for

this

new

status,

Ganga

Zumba

would

assume

the

responsibility

of

moving

his

subjects

to

lands

that

are

not

yet

under

his

control,

but

that

are

very

close

to

the

narrow

band

of land

occupied

by

the

nearest

Portuguese

settlers.

Ana

warns

Ganga

Zumba that themissive

is,

in

essence,

a

lie;

she

emphasizes

to

him

that

he should

not

attend

any

meetings

to

negotiate

anything

with

the

Portuguese.

(The

king

respects

her and

does

not

expect

from her

any

special

deference;

in

fact

he

expects

nothing

other

than

common

courtesy

from his

compatriots.)

Zumbi,

heir

to

the

king,

who

now

serves

as

a

sort of

prime

minister,

concurs.

At this

time

Ganga

Zumba

convokes

and

assembly

of

all the

village

leaders.

Nearly

everyone agrees

with

Zumbi

and

Ana that

it

is

a

trap.

Here

we

see

the

tragic

flaw of the

king:

it

is

not

pride,

but the

overarching

wish

for

peace

and

prosperity

for

his

people

that

prompts

him

to

speak

face

to

face

with the

governor.

Could

this be

an

echo

of

the

motto

of

Ordern

e

Progresso

of

twentieth-century

Brazil,

especially

from

the

period

of

the

Vargas

dictatorship

on

to

the

time

just

before

the

film

is shot?

Ganga

Zumba leads

a new

exodus,

but unlike

Moses,

he

arrives

at

a

land

not

promised

by

God

of the

Judeo-Christian

tradition

or

by

the chief

African

creator

Olorum.

The

Valley

of

Cuca?

turns

out to

be

a

dessert

strip along

the

sea.

This

sea

will

not

swallow

up

the

Egyptians

in

pursuit.

The

net

surrounding

Ganga

Zumba's

tent

(tabernacle)

represents

his

capture.

My

biblical

interpretation

is

not

without

foundation;

the

audience

who viewed

the film

will

recall

thatwhen

the

future

Ganga

Zumba

asks

the

poor

Jewish

farmer

for salt and

food,

the farmer

was

teaching

his

children

precisely

the

tradition

of

the

crossing

of

the

Red

Sea.12

The

Portuguese

and

crioulo,

whose

spokesman

is

a

relatively

young

cavaleiro,

inform

Ganga

Zumba

that

he

has

not

fulfilled

the

terms

of

the

treaty,

since

Zumbi still

lives

in

Palmares

with

most of the

republic

of

outlaws,

runaway

former

slaves

and

freed

men,

white

delinquents

as

well

as

those

of

uncertain

purity

of blood.

The

Portuguese

troops

surround

the

migrants' camp.

The

young captain

reveals

himself

to

be

the

youngest

son

of

themill

owners

slaughtered

during

the

initial

rebellion.

In

an

attempt

to

save

the lives

of

the

quilombolos

who

had followed

him,

Ganga

Zumba

takes

poison.

Ana

accuses

the

captain

of

killing

Ganga

Zumba

to

incite the

last battle.

Before

dying,

he

commands

the

last

chieftain

among

his

subjects

to

break

the

blockade

and

to

save

as

many

Palmarines

as

he

can

by

leading

them

to

their

capital.

We

know

that

Ana and

Namba

will die

soon,

since

Ana

kills

that

captain

with

his

own

sword.

Another

indefinite

period

of time

passes.

Zumbi,

somewhat

aged,

receives

through

his

network

of

spies

the

news

that

a

large

invading

force

is

approaching

under the command

of

the

formidable

veteran

capit?o

do

mato

Domingos

Jorge

Velho.

This

begins

the

last

act

(or

episode)

of

the

saga

of Palmares.

Domingos

Jorge

Velho,

the historical

commander

that

destroyed

Palmares,

arrives

with

a

well-armed

contingent

sufficiently large

to

lay

siege

to

the

capital

of

the

free

12At

the

beginning

and

the end

of the film

the

highest

peak

in Palmares

appears

bathed

in

scarlet

red.



10/17

Nicol?s

Hern?ndez

Jr.

105

republic.

Velho knows the

guerrilla

tactics

that

have worked well

for

him and his

enemies

in themato for so long. He comes prepared to force the surrender of a

city,

however

remotely

situated,

the

same

way

that

he

might

seek

to

capture

any

fortified

city

along

the

colonial

coastline.

He

does

not

underestimate

the

enemy.

With

the

same

tenacity

of

the

defending

king,

it

is not

the

element of

surprise

that

helps

him,

but

rather the

well

managed

logistics

of

an

invading

force,

foodstuffs,

mat?riel,

and

the

decisive

differential

technological

element:

artillery.

Velho loses

two

pieces

of

cannon

in

traps

set

by

the

republicans

before

the entrance to

the

city,

in

addition

to

the weakest

flank

because

it

consists

of

an

extended

plain

with

little

vegetation.

However,

when

the

remaining

four

cannon,

protected

by

a

makeshift

palisade

built

in

the

mist

of

the

night,

break

through

the

log

and

mud

walls

of

the

city,

Palmares

falls,

consumed

in

flames.

Zumbi,

seriously

wounded

yet

ready

to

fight

tohis last

breath,

seeks

refuge

ina brook

far

away

from

the

destroyed

city.

A

fifteen

or

sixteen-year-old boy,

his

successor,

to

whom

he

will

pass

on

command

just

as

he is

about

to

die,

accompanies

him.13

Theodore,

the

chieftain

on

whom Zumbi

had

relied

to

attack

Velho from the

rear,

approaches

the

stream

wounded

and exhausted. He tells

the

king

he has

been

tortured

and

begs forgiveness.

At

this

point

Velho

and his

men

begin

to

shoot

at

Zumbi. The

king

keeps

himself

standing

for

an

instant

that

seems

to

be

part

of time

frozen.

He

maintains

his

erect

posture

in

part

because he is

king

imperishable,

he

who

does

not

die,

and

the

protection

of

Ochun;

in

part

he

remains

standing

because

the

bullets

hitting

his

body

from

all

sides

do

not

permit

him

to

fall

in

any

given

direction.

Before

dying

and

being

captured,

he

throws his

spear up

in the

sky.

The

future

king

is saved.

Titling

at

the

end of the film

tells the

viewer

that

although

greatly

diminished,

the

Republic

of

Palmares

will have

reached

more

than

a

hundred

years

before

its

definitive extinction.

Gilberto

Gil's musical direction is

an

integral

part

of

the work.

The main

theme,

completely

modern,

even

though

it

is

slightly

anachronistic,

fits well

with

the

rest

of

the

film.

Comparative

Analysis:

Art

at

the

Service of

Society

As

literary

critics,

even

if

we

do

not

specialize

in the

history

of

Cuban

literature,

we

should

be

aware

that

Anselmo

Su?rez Romero

offers

an

interesting

series

of

problems

the

solution

to

which is

gradually

carried out. He

was

an

important

writer;

his

influence in

the

intellectual

development

of

the

generation

of

writers and

patriots

involved

in

the

two

wars

for Cuban

independence

has

been

established. Mario

Cabrera

Saqui reports

that

he

was

Jos?

Mart?'s

teacher at

Colegio

San

Pablo,

whose

founder

and

director

was

Rafael

Mar?a de

Mendive.14

Jos? de La

Luz

y

Caballero

offered

Su?rez

Romero

the

post

of

viceprincipal

at

Colegio

el

Salvador,

which he

was

unable

to

accept

given

the

many

legal

13When

the

Portuguese

begin

to

attack

Zumbi,

he

throws his

spear

upward

and it

disappears

into

the

sky

aflame.

He

dies still

the

vehicle

of

Och?n's

ach?.

We know

that

his

successor,

in

turn,

will

somehow

be

selected

by

his

own

titular

potencia.

14Prologue

to

the

1947

edition

of

Francisco

(13).



11/17

106

Quilombo

and El

otro

Francisco

. .

.

Contemporary

History

and

Colonial

Slavery

problems

of his

family,

to

which,

as

a

law

student and

eventually

an

attorney,

he

devoted

nearly his entire working life outside of teaching. For me the key question is this:

Francisco,

the

product

of

a

writer

that is

becoming

well-known

among

educated

Havana

society,

is

based

on

a

concrete

intellectual

posture

that

responds

to

an

immediate

need;

that is

to

say,

it is

a

polemical

novel,

a

roman

?

th?se,

a

work

written

upon

request

to

document

the

condition

of slaves

in

Cuba.

It

is

not

an

essay

(his

articles

were

of

course

essays)

and

colonial

censorship

never

permitted

the

publication

of

Francisco in

Cuba.

Nor

was

it

an

inaugural

address

or

brief

initiation

thesis

to

Domingo

del

Valle's salon.

It

was,

however,

part

of

the

set

of

documents

that

Del

Valle

compiled

to

give

to

Richard

Madden.

His

inaugural

address

was

a

micronovel?more

or

less

in

the

style

of

Cervantes'

Exemplary

Novels?entitled

Carlota

Vaid?s

(not

Cecilia

Vaid?s,

Cirilo

Villaverde's

masterpiece,

also

a

member

of the

same

salon

but

older

than

Anselmo).15

He

writes Francisco between 1838 and

1839,

Cabrera

Saqui

records:

Los

borradores de cada

cap?tulo, seg?n

los iba

terminando,

los remit?a

a

Jos?

Zacar?as

Gonz?lez del

Valle,

quien

los

copiaba

y

les

introduc?a

numerosas

correcciones

(20).

From

the

start

it

was

a

persuasive

verbal

artifact,

a

documentary

work rather

than

an

autonomous creative

effort;

it

was

novelized

discourse rather

than

a

novel of

ubiquitous

passion

characteristic

of

romanticism.

Sab

by

Gertrudis

G?mez

de Avellaneda

is

the

great

Cuban

romantic

novel,

and

it also

attacks

slavery.

In

Cecilia

Vald?s,

Cirilo Villaverde

produces

the

masterpiece

of the

Cuban novel before

Alejo

Carpentier;

it

has

romantic

elements,

realist

elements,

an

integral

esthetic.

The

three novels

are

the result

of

the

same

set of

realities.

Their

impact

and

success

differ.

Cabrera

Saqui

underscores:

Este

es...el

aspecto

m?s

interesante

de

la

novela:

un

documento

vivo

[my

emphasis],

al

cual

recurre

principalmente

el

doctor

Fernando

Ortiz

cuando

se

ocupa

de

estudiar

la

vida

del

esclavo

en

el

campo.

Muchas

p?ginas

de

su

importante

obra

sobre

Los

negros

esclavos

est?n llenas

de

citas

de

esta

novela.

(21)

Why

shouldn't

Sergio

Giral

use

the novel

as a

document

also?

The

difference

lies

in

the

fact

that

for

Giral

the

principal

point

is

the class

conflict that

will

not

resolve until

the

triumph

of

the

dictatorship

of the

proletariat;

that

is

what

counts.

For

Del

Monte,

Su?rez

Romero,

and

their

compatriots,

the central

question

was

one

of human

rights

there and

then,

the

formation

of

national

consciousness,

a

matter

of

political

economics,

of

modernization,

and

independence.

To blame in

retrospect

a

given

author,

his

school,

or

his

generation

for

not

sharing

in

an

anachronistic

ideology

is somewhat

dangerous.

But

Giral,

facing

the

intellectual

world in

the last

quarter

of the

20th

century,

has the

right?cum

grano

salis since

he is

an

artist

in

a

communist

country?to

create

a

new

linguistic-visual

narrative artifact.

Notwithstanding,

if

he is

going

to

use

Su?rez

Romero's

text

he

ought

to

respect

the

integrity

of the baseline

text.

By

this

I

do

not

mean

to

say

that

parody

is

outside

the

reach

of

any

artist.

If

one

is

going

to

parody

anything,

the

underlying

text

must

be

worked

out

in

its

totality,

even

if

tacitly

so,

in

order

for the

parody

proper

to

yield

a

maximum

effect.

Sergio

Giral's

discourse

does

not

reach

optimum

value

if

Sergio

Giral does

not

fix

upon

15Vald?s

was

the

official

surname

given

to

all

orphans

raised

at

Casa

de

Beneficencia.



12/17

Nicolas

Hern?ndez Jr.

107

his

own

interpretation

of

Jos?

Anselmo Su?rez.

If

he

places

the

man

and his

work within

a work of

cinematography?an

art form whose

genre

is

intrinsically

narrative?is it a

documentary

of

the

long-ago

dead

author,

or

a

hybrid

montage

of

the

man

and

his

work,

or

even

a

hybrid

genre

to

uplift

the

once-downtrodden masses?

(No

longer

as

oppressed

in

Castro's

Cuba.)

According

to

ICAIC?really,

according

to

Luk?cs?it is

the

last of the

three

cases;

art

should

always

be

at

the

service

of

society,

provided

that

society

is

understood

as a

future

communist

society

or

one

already present,

as

in

the

case

of

1974

Cuba.

I

am

of

the

opinion

that

El

otro

Francisco

is

one

of the

masterpieces

of Cuban

cinema.

Its

ideological impact

could be

more

convincing

if the film

would

trust

the

intelligence

of the

audience,

whether in

Cuba

or

abroad,

and

avoid

overuse?if

not

eliminate

altogether?the

continual omniscient voiceover. The

element

of

repetition

in

the

love

and

tragedy

of

Francisco

and Dorotea

is

annoying.

The

slew

of historical

facts

and

statistical

data

that the

omniscient

narrator

proffers

is

distracting.

Who is

the

omniscient

narrator?

The

camera or

the

voice

of

an

announcer?

Even within the

innovative

and

experimental

currents

of

Cuban

filmmaking,

a

rhetorical

process

has

limits,

imposed

from

within

or

without.

I

wonder if

Giral had the

faculty

to

choose

the

definitive

text

of

his

feature

or

not.

A

Utopia

That

Can

Be

Dreamt

The

narrative

situation

of

Quilombo impacts

the

viewer

directly.

Carlos

Diegues

takes

for

granted

that the

audience,

initially

abroad and

eventually

in

Brazil,

is

capable

of

processing

the

combination

of

visual

and

auditory

signals

contained

in

his

work

and

to

interpret

the film

on

its

own.

The

director

does not

interrupt

the

discourse and the

discourse

manifests

itself

through

the

plot.

Diegues

devotes to

his

verbal artifact the

same

care

that

Giral

gives

his. But

Diegues

differs in

that

by

himself

he

sets

out

to

write

a

screenplay,

that

is

the

product

of

a

creative

imagination

applied

to

the careful

study

of

a

concrete

historical

phenomenon.

His

subject

matter

is

the

Republic

of

Palmares,

more or

less

from

its

origin

to its

definitive

extinction

sometime

after

the

end

of the

film.

The

first

scene

in

which

the

wealthy

woman

directs

the torture of

the

slave

at

the

hands

of other slaves

resembles

a

genre

painting

of the colonial

period,

a

type

o?

peinture

de

moeurs.

What

seems

at

first

remote,

unreal,

becomes

alive

as

the

insurrectionists

kill

the colonists. Palmares is

for the

newly

self-liberated

group

a

locus

amoenus,

a

certain

hope

(as

in

El

otro

Francisco

one

finds

\a

Guin?[a])

a

reality

that is in

the

process

of

unfolding.

It is

possible

that

our

historian

colleagues

might

see

in

Quilombo

inconsistencies

that

are

of

no

special

consequence

for

us

in

literary scholarship.

What

is

sufficiently

clear is

that

once

Diegues

established

the subtext

of

Palmares within

the

context

of

the 16th and

17th

centuries,

and

once

he

established

the

text

of

the

screenplay

within

the context

of

Brazil

reclaiming

national

integration

upon

having

overcome a

totalitarian

regime,

he

offers

all

of

us,

in

Brazil

and

elsewhere,

a

utopia

that

can

be

dreamt.



13/17

108

Quilombo

and

El

otro

Francisco

.

.

.

Contemporary

History

and

Colonial

Slavery

Musical

Overtones

Quilombo

is the

product

of

an

intrinsic aesthetic.

It

is

a

very

important

film

in the

Cinema

Novo

movement that

is

excluded

from

standard

lists

of

the

best Brazilian

films.16

Even

if

we

knew

nothing

of Brazilian

cinema,

we

can,

upon

entering

the

theater

realize

immediately

that

the

commercial

paradigm

of

Hollywood

is

not the

only

way

to

make

movies.

We

could

enjoy

a

dramatic

work

of

art

whose

subject

matter

is

historical

and

whose

plot,

which

makes minimal

use

of

flashback,

can

be

understood without

previously

having

read

a

libretto

(as

one

might

when

going

to

see

an

unfamiliar

opera

for

the first

time).

I

make

this assertion

not because

Diegues

expressed

intent

to

create

a

work

of

art

similar

to

an

opera.

Quilombo

differs

from

opera

in

every

respect

except

in

the

greatness

or

vileness

of

its

characters.

They

achieve

mythical proportions,

but

they

speak

in

the direct

elegant

prose

of

modern

Brazilian

Portuguese.

A

tragic

work,

there

are

fully

plausible

moments

of

joy.

The

juxtaposition

of

modern

music

coupled

with traditional

melodies

and

polyrhythmic

percussion

produce

a

vital

impression

on

the

audience. It

is,

to

paraphrase

Diegues,

the

woven

fabric of

a

variegated

multifaceted

nation

with

enormous

potential

for

moving

forward

(or

at

least

theoretically

with

the

enormous

potential

for

self-destruction).

Leo

Brower,

on

the

contrary,

limits himself

or

finds

himself

limited

to

give

El

otro

Francisco

the

sound

dimension

of

a

bad

movie

from

the

1940s

to

underline

the

lack of

ideological

synchrony

between

the

original

text

written

by

Su?rez

Romero,

the

adaptation

and recreation

effected

by

Giral,

and

the

contemporary

context of Communist

Cuba.

Why

didn't

Brower

locate himself

in

counterpoint

between

authentic

slave

music

and salon

music

of

the

1830s?

Why

didn't

he

find

his

own

voice in

1974?

An

aside

that

deserves

mention

is the

fact

that

everything

related

to

religious

ritual

and

dancing

and

singing

is

as

authentic

as

possible

and

represents

the efforts

of musicians

and

craftsmen?including

ceramics,

for instance?from

Brazil

in

Quilombo,

whereas in

producing

El

otro Francisco

in

Cuba,

ICAIC

had

to

import

folk musical

groups

from

Haiti.

(In

offering

this

observation

I

do

not

wish

to offend

our

sister

republic;

Solas

did

the

same

thing

in

Lucia

I.)

I

mention

this

because

it reflects

the

level

of

pronounced

religious persecution experienced

in

Cuba,

particularly

during

the

1970s. Santer?a

is,

for

the

Cuban

government,

the

sword

of Damocles.

If it

denies

its

existence,

it

belies

the

official

syncretic

efforts

that

place

high

value

on

Afro-Cuban

culture(s),

whether

it is

the

religious

expression

of

individual

members

of

any

race.

If

the

government

decides

to

acknowledge

the

importance

of

proto-santeria

religious

practices,

the

best

tactic

is

to

frame

it

in

as

early

a

formative

time

period

as

possible

to

separate

it

radically

from

the

revolutionary

present.

This

dialectic

tension

begins

to

appear

in

a

somewhat

diminished

manner

with

the

premi?re

of Fresa

y

chocolate in

1993,

a

film

also

significant

in its

attempt

to

show

that

the

communist

regime

tolerates

homosexuality

in Cuba.

16Quilombo,

for

example

is

not

listed

in

either

survey

conducted

by

Cinemateca

Brasileira,

June

1988,

nor

in

the

18

March

1999 issue of

Folha

de S.

Paulo,

Melhores

Filmes,

Cinemateca

Brasileira,

http://www.cinemateca

brasileira-melhores

filmes.htm

(2

September

2002).



14/17

Nicol?s

Hern?ndez

Jr.

109

Camera

Angles

In

Quilombo,

everything

is

large

scale:

visual

horizon,

camera

takes from

near

and

far,

lighting,

sets,

still

photography,

and

musical

accompaniment.

It

is

a

matter

of

history,

legend,

and national

saga.

It

is

a

utopia

toward

which

a

nation

can

commit

a

collective

effort

(its

future

is

limited

only

if

it closes within

itself):

Quilombo

-

todos

nos

ainda

desejamos

tanto. (Gilberto

Gil/Waly Salom?o)

In

El

otro

Francisco,

Cuba

will

not

achieve

greatness

until

the

moment of its

very

filming

process.

The

camera

takes

seem

to

have

in

mind

more

the

proportion

of

a

television

screen

rather

than the

silver

screen.

The

director

reserves

closeups

to

brief

moments in

the

melodramatic

sequences;

a

tight

zoom

in from

a

high

platform

invariably

precedes

them. With the

exception

of the effective stark solarized

segments,

the

visual

texture

of the

film

does

not

resonate

with

the

plot.

In

passing,

I

should mention

that

when

they

cut

the

hand

of

one

of

the

slaves

after

the rebellion

and

they

cut

the head

of

another

and

lift it

up

in

the air

for

all

to

see,

the

visual

impact

is

nil,

given

its technical

artificiality.

The

same

thing

occurs

multiple

timeswhen

the

overseer

whips

Francisco.

By

glancing

at

Mart?'s

firsthand account

of

political

imprisonment

in

Cuba,

or

perhaps

by

having

some

superficial

knowledge

of

Emile

Zola

either

directly

or

in

translation,

or

via

the

Peninsular

lens

of

Emilia

de

Pardo

Baz?n,

or

i?

he

were

able to

play

off

or

against

the

cinematographic

iconoclasm

of

Luis

Bu?uel;

or

if

he

could

even

listen

to

the

sempiternal

canonical

hero

of

the

Cuban

revolutionary

pantheon

Ernest

Hemingway,

then

Giral

might

have

been able

to

discern

that

silence,

suspense,

and

crescendo

can

portray

a

more

compelling

narrative

message

rather than

resorting

to

a

repetitive

and

strident

pneumatic

hammer.

By

1974,

Cuba seemed

to

have

reached

paradise

on

earth:

the

dictatorship

of the

proletariat,

a

classless

society

(if

one

chooses not

to

mention

the

ruling military

technocracy).

Impact

of

Both

Films

We

may

like

or

dislike

Quilombo.

It

is,

without

a

doubt,

a

film

thatworks

well

within

the limits

it sets

for

itself. It

is

a

movie that

defends

itself and that

emits

an

unequivocal

message.

It

is also

entertaining,

and

it invites

the viewer

to

a

catharsis

as

genuine

as

Bye

bye

Brasil

does,

although

not

so

sarcastic;

on

the

other

hand,

it

leads

to

profound

reflection,

but

perhaps

not

one

as

troubling

as

Memorias

do

c?rcere.

We

may

like

or

dislike

El

otro

Francisco.

It

is

a

jarring

film?and

that

is

in

part

something

that

cinema

should do?but

because

it is

prolix

it

can

become

boring, thereby

losing

its

ethical-esthetic

Marxist

impact.

It

undercuts

itself.

By

continually

reiterating

Ricardo's sadism

against

Francisco,

by

continually pitting

bourgeois

against

slave,

its

unnecessary

circularity

loses

some

of

its

impact.



15/17

110

Quilombo

and El

otro

Francisco

. . .


and

Colonial

Slavery

Conclusion

Both

films take

as

their

point

of

departure

the

serious

and

committed

posture

of

their

respective

authors. Both

films

have

their

respective

well-defined

ideological

bases

although

they

diverge

at

times.

Quilombo

is

to

a

certain

extent

a

didactic

work,

but

above

that,

it

is

a

rhetorical

creation whose communicative

function

is

to

convince

us

that Brazil

can

overcome

contemporary

difficulties

by raising

consciousness

of

the

past

and

suggesting

an

alternative

for

the future.

El

otro

Francisco

is

fundamentally

a

didactic

work,

an

instrument

of

political

indoctrination

first and

cinematographic

creation

second;

the

preponderance

of militant discourse

detracts

a

good

deal of its

cultural

impact.

Both

films

castigate

slavery.

In

Palmares,

an

individual

dies

free. At

the

Mendiz?bal

plantation

no one

dies

in freedom.

Perhaps

human

slavery

is?odd

as

it

might

seem?but a

metaphor

for the

slavery

of the

totality

of

Cuba

at

the

hands of

the

oppression

of the

industrial

revolution? Cuba

is,

at

the time

the

action

takes

place,

caught

between

Spain

and

England.

It is

probable

that there is

no

mention

of the

United States

in

the

visual

or

voiceover

narrative

so as

to

avoid

mentioning

the nowdefunct

Soviet

Union.

The

absence

of

praise

toward the

communist

international sisterhood

of

nations

is

uncharacteristic

of

Cuban

filmmaking

of

its

time

period.17

11

El

otro

Francisco is

for

me,

in

my

capacity

as

professor

of

Latin American

Studies,

extremely

useful

to

enable

my

students

to

engage

in

dialogue

with

ICAIC

in

its

golden

age.

It is

helpful

for them

to

place

Documents

Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba