Death of a Bureaucrat

Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's 1966 Cuban film is a comedy aimed at the revolution's own bureaucracy. A model worker dies on the job and, as an honour, is buried with his union card in his jacket pocket. When his widow applies for his pension, the office demands the original card. His nephew goes from department to department seeking permission to exhume the body; every desk requires another document, every document another signature, and the process turns steadily into absurdity. Alea makes open reference to the silent comedy tradition and dedicates the film to directors he admired. That it took aim this directly at his own country's administrative machinery only a few years after the revolution is its most striking feature. It is among the most cited comedies in Cuban cinema. Who it's for: viewers who like political satire and the classics of Latin American film. Who it's not for: anyone without context for Cuban history who will miss the references.