In 1961, in Cuba, the apolitical aspiring and frustrated writer Sergio Carmona Mendoyo (Sergio Corrieri) stays in Cuba after the Revolution. He sees his wife Carla and his family and friends traveling to the United States but he decides to stay in his country. Sergio receives rental from his apartments and lives alone in a comfortable apartment. He witnesses the reduction of supplies, such as gas and oil for the cars, while recalls parts of his life.
He recalls when he was a teenager and went to a brothel with his friend Pablo (Omar Valdés). He remembers his relationship with Hanna that was the woman that he really loved but let her go to New York without marrying her to run the furniture shop that his father had given to him. He also like to listen to the tape he has recorded with his wife Carla that was molded by him to fit his concept of perfect woman in his society. When Sergio meets the sixteen year-old aspirant actress Elena (Daisy Granados), he has a love affair with her but he concludes that she is not suitable to live with him since she does not grow or develop intellectually.
"Memorias del subdesarrollo", a.k.a. "Memories of Underdevelopment", is a dated but important movie that shows the life of a man without political idealism or position witnessing the changes in his country after a socialist revolution. The screenplay entwines footages of the historical moment as a landscape of the world that the lead character is living in complete alienation. Maybe this is the greatest importance of this movie made in a period when people had political idealism. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Memórias do Subdesenvolvimento" ("Memories of the Underdevelopment")
