Picture imperfect

In his attempt to capture the eccentricities of Cuban life and his frustration with bureaucracy and underdevelopment Guiterrez relies on clichés,and the meandering script and lame dialogues fail to lift the film. Given that it won seven awards,like the Golden Kikito and the Golden Lion,one has high expectations of the film.

The recently released DVD version has almost no special features,save for trailer and scene selection,since Guiterrez died the year after the film released and an interview became impossible.

However,the film has its moments and purely for the sake of revisiting the era of Cuban history,we can set aside great expectations and allow ourselves to be lulled into the winding rhythm of the film.

We follow the motley caravan of characters along the dusty roads from Guantanamera to Havana as Georgina (Mirta Ibarra) transports her dead aunt Yoyita,a well-known singer who lived in Havana. According to Cuban customs,a person must be buried in the state where he or she is registered as a citizen. Adolfo (Carlos Cruz) a bureaucrat sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate to his committee a new and economic way of transporting the dearly departed. The entourage includes Candido (Raul Eguren),Yoyita’s childhood lover. Amid contraband bananas and livestock,hitchhikers and a pregnant woman,the group does not reach its destination. Georgina meets Mariano (Jorge Perugorria),a younger man who had a crush on her when she taught Economics. Mariano,who did not complete his degree and went on to drive a pick-up truck,is a ladies man and has a girlfriend in every village along the way—but apparently Georgina is his true love. Several mishaps and several girlfriends later Georgina and Mariano are united in an ending that one guesses halfway through the film.

The breezy title track is interesting at first,but gets a bit hackneyed by the end.