The appeal of the ‘Old School’: From De cierta manera/One Way or Another (1974) to Conducta/Behaviour (2014)

Abstract

Abstract This article compares the critical perspectives on society, education and morality found in Sara Gómez’s classic De cierta manera/One Way or Another (1974) and Ernesto Daranas’ more recent Conducta/Behaviour (2014). Considering the films’ engagement with cinematic traditions from Italian neo-realism to melodrama, it argues that Conducta displays a return to a cinematic ‘old school’ in terms of its emotional appeal, its focus on a transcendent individual and its tendency to turn the social and physical context into aesthetically appealing backdrop. Given the overdetermination of both children and teachers in Cuba’s history, the analysis shows the conversion of Daranas’ teacher, Carmela, into a sanctified, syncretic heroine and her pupil, Chala, into a choteo-imbued, macho, miniature Hombre Nuevo (new man). Thus, the critical, imperfect and collective qualities of Gómez’s rapidly transforming revolutionary society are displaced in Daranas’ film by a melancholy aesthetic, a quasi-sacred aura and a coercive kind of care. The problem, therefore, does not necessarily lie in this film’s use of ‘old-school’ narrative techniques, but rather in their deployment to cement values of ‘authentic’ revolutionary spirit and ‘true’ cubanía – in other words, to reinforce the appeal of the ‘old school’.