Death of a Bureaucrat

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Absurd, Suspenseful, and Insightful
If you've ever been bounced around a bureaucracy like some kind of human pinball, you'll be able to relate to this movie. And since most people have, this movie probably would have a wide audience that it appealed to. See, this film is about bureaucracy - be it communist, capitalist, or otherwise. But make no mistake- it's not a film about communist bureaucracy. It just so happens that it is set in communist Cuba. The movie is funny in an absurd sort of way, kind of like Luis Buenel's movies. If you like those kinds of movies, this one may be for you. I gotta say, it's also a bit of a nail biter, but not in the horror movie kind of way. More in the way of "Well, what's the protagonist going to do now?" or "How's he going to get out of this mess?" That just makes the film better. The film is also interesting in that it is critical of the bureaucracy in Cuba at that time. You get to see what a self-professed supporter of Castro thought the problems with the Cuban revolution were in the 60s.

Alea's great Bunuelian comedy
Never-mind post-revolutionary Cuba; right here in America, in 2000, there is enough bureaucracy for the comedic lessons of Alea's great film about people's propensity to conform at all costs to absurd restrictions from 'above' and cause misery to others rather than risk the slightest insecurity to themselves, to be driven home painfully. "Death of a Bureaucrat" is a really funny film but one that makes you think, like Tati's "Playtime," Fellini's early films and, in particular, some of Bunuel's more light-hearted comedies like "Illusion Travels by Streetcar." Alea's film is deeply critical and ridicules everything that is part and parcel of government enforced socialism. You can't fault Castro for not having a sense of humor, that's for sure. A film like this would've been unthinkable in communist Russia. Regular Alea side-kick Leo Beower's understated fusic-music is, as always, excellent.

Burocracy can kill any administrative system
The film is a satire that critices the burocracy and is a propaganda to enhance the comunist system. The cultural features included, such as men admiring women, and the need to resolve "resolver" everything is very Cuban. One can laugh to death after all the painstaking paperwork that the sobrino has to go through in order to get the "carnet del trabajo" out of the coffin.

the art of avoiding the cencorship
'Death of a Bureaucrat' stands as testimony to the indefatigable efforts of Tomas Guitierrez to portray the absurdities of the Cuban bureaucratic system in the early days of the Revolution. Frosty, paper-cluttered Kremlin-style regulations are adhered to by Latins of latin temprament under the harsh tropical sun. The protagonist is the anti-hero, resolutely attempting to comply with the system yet being forever let down by it - his law-breaking activities are merely to speed up the (re)-burial of his uncle, (look out for the vultures circling above the house). The film is a deliberate dig at the politics, yet the saving grace from the censors are (probably) the fact that his uncle was 'un obrero ejemplar',(a model workman churning out busts of Cuban hero and symbol of the Revolution Jose Marti), and that the wayward nephew is, indeed, condemned as a madman. The opening scene of the uncle's bust-making machine makes the best of Terry Gilliam's animation for Python look like a poor reproduction. The other classic moments are the languid, fat, cigar-smoking bureaucrat, and the epic battle in the cemetry, beginning with the mousy, vindictive rancour of the vicious cemetry director. A classic.