Death of a Bureaucrat Movie Review 1966

A Cuban hero dies, and in tribute, the Communist government buries him with his union card. His widow, however, needs the card in order to collect a pension, and she enlists her nephew's help to retrieve it. The nephew soon finds himself buried in red tape, and digs himself in ever-deeper as he seeks to disinter his late uncle. A wry satire of the communist bureaucracy in Cuba, brimming with comedic tributes to Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy. Alea's film was only briefly released in 1966 and was promptly banned, eventually finding its way to the U.S. in 1979. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Distribution

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Available on VHS
Running time 87 minutes.
Originally from Cuban.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Cuba, Satire & Parody, Politics, Red Scare, Patriotism & Paranoia

Screenplay

Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Ramon Suarez

Cast

Salvador Wood, Silvia Planas, Manuel Estanillo, Gaspar de Santelices, Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera, Omar Alfonso, Ricardo Suarez, Luis Romay, Elsa Montero

Cinematography

Ramon Suarez

Director

Tomas Gutierrez Alea

Music

Leo Brower

Producer

Cuban Film Institute and Tirabuzon