In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out, and the world was suddenly shrouded in the clouds of nuclear war. This is the first time that humanity has faced the frontier of extinction, and for the first time, many people have found themselves so close to destruction or extinction. Fortunately, the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved peacefully. And then there has been a half-century of hostility and economic blockade by the United States towards its neighbor at the doorstep.
In fact, Cuba's relations with the United States before the missile crisis were still very good, and in early 1959, the Cuban Revolution was successful, the old government was overthrown, the new government came to power, and Fidel Castro, as the prime minister at the time, led a delegation to visit the United States. Eisenhower, then president of the United States, expressed his welcome and support for the new regime in Cuba.
However, this honeymoon period did not last long, and by June of that year, Fidel Castro had seized power, and there was a power turmoil in the Cuban hierarchy.
Since then, the United States has feared that the new regime will be too independent and will shake its influence in Latin America. Thus, internationally, the United States began to stand against Cuba, while the United States openly expressed its support for the government-in-exile.
Forced to do so, Castro could only turn to another international camp, the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union at the time, in response to U.S. missiles deployed in Turkey and Italy, as well as West Germany, did not hesitate to accept Cuba.
But this acceptance was conditional, and when Cuba joined the socialist camp, the Soviet Union began to plan the establishment of a medium-range missile launch base in Cuba. This is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Construction began in July 1962, and by August, the United States had discovered the missile base. Thus, the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out.
The reason why I have to say so much before is that if we do not understand the historical background of the time, we will look bored. Yes, the film recommended to you today is about the reaction of some people in Cuban society before and after the outbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The film is called "Memories of Low Development", and in fact, its other translation, "Memories of Underdevelopment", seems more appropriate. Because Cuba is a developing country relative to the United States, their country is extremely underdeveloped. And the term "low-level development" is clearly confusing.
The protagonist in this film represents a group of people who are facing a period of social change in Cuba at that time, and they belong to the middle class today, and in the past, that is, the petty bourgeoisie.
This group of people is a minority in the whole society, they do more decent work than the average person, and then they live a life without worry. In the face of the independence revolution, they did not feel any change in the whole society, nor did they care about the final outcome of the revolution, because no matter which regime came to power, it would not have too deep an impact on them.
The petty-bourgeois figure in this film, who has the titles of writer, freelancer, etc., lives in Havana at that time and has a lot of time to see what happened in this twentieth-century stormy city. However, although he himself was in such a turbulent situation, the political situation did not affect him at all. His daily life is still very empty and lonely, and even all day long, he is bored to talk about a relationship.
And the most impressive thing in the whole middle age was the love entanglement with an underage girl, and this entanglement led to a lawsuit, and the lawsuit was finally won, which is the most memorable thing for him.
The film depicts a category of people who are representative in Cuba and even in the world. The turmoil of any state power will ultimately affect two kinds of people, one is the exploited at the bottom and the other is the oppressor at the top.
In the capitalist camp of the West, the political rights of the oppressed at the top are upheld, while the power of the exploited at the bottom is upheld in the socialist camp of the East. The change of regime in any one country will only affect the vital interests of these two kinds of people.
Yet for the middle class, or the petty bourgeoisie, the impact on them is minimal. They don't have too many political demands, and they don't reach the level of high-level oppressors.
For them, the change of regime is nothing more than a change of person to come to power. Their vital interests will not be affected in any way. This is also why the protagonist of this film is still willing to stay in Havana to continue his life after the victory of the Cuban Revolution. His wife, on the other hand, prefers to run to Miami with her family. The reason for this is that social status is different.
Understanding this truth, we look at a series of behaviors of the protagonist in this film, and we will find that all of this is very reasonable. Even in modern society, we will find that those who like to stand on the moral high ground and judge others are this middle class or small bourgeoisie.
Because it's easy for them to keep their lives in shape. They do not have to struggle with life like the people at the bottom, nor do they care about political changes all the time like the capitalists at the top.
Their lives do not have any substantial impact because of regime changes, so the lives they can live with are even broader. Because every middle class, in the face of change, will actually be like the protagonist in the film, still maintain their original standard of living.
Since the storms of the twentieth century are not related to them, they can naturally allow themselves to be independent of this turmoil, but for most ordinary people, the existence of such people is so abominable that they cannot arouse empathy.
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Hello and goodbye