Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba

Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana
"Quilombo" and "El Otro Francisco": A Post-Modernist Attempt to Re-Write Contemporary

History and Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba
Author(s): Nicols Hernndez Jr.
Source: Chasqui, Vol. 34, Special Issue No. 1: Brazilian and Spanish American Literary and
Cultural Encounters (2005), pp. 97-112
Published by: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana
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QUILOMBO AND EL OTRO FRANCISCO:

A POST-MODERNIST ATTEMPT TO RE?
WRITE
CONTEMPORARY
HISTORY
AND COLONIAL SLAVERY IN BRAZIL
AND CUBA
Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr
Russell Sage Colllege
to explore
I propose
and
and pretext,
the relationship
the recreation
that exists
of cinematographic
the written
between
with
not
though
scathing,
irony
convincing,
its context
a film in which he
underlying text. In 1974, Sergio Giral releases El otro Francisco,

parodies
word,
a well-established
that modify
images
Anselmo
Su?rez
Romero's
abolitionist novel, Francisco: Or theDelights of the Sugar Mill.* Carlos Diegues, on the
other hand, releases in 1984 Quilombo, which is the result of historical research modified
with a view toward a Utopian outlook.2 Diegues attempts to establish an antislavery
prohuman
rights
a model
text,
of
subsistence
alternate
in the
realized
17th
century
that
criticizes Brazil in the 1980s and offers a tentative plan for a pluralist and equalitarian
coexistence.
These films represent efforts of sociocultural location and national identity in a

decidedly postmodern Latin American context. Perhaps they echo the project of Nuestra
Am?rica that Jos? Mart? formulated. El otro Francisco is the work of a talented
screenwriter,
and
director,
producer
who
at
worked
that
agency of the Marxist Cuban government. Quilombo
Romero
Su?rez
'Anselmo
wrote
1838
Francisco
time
for
ICAIC,
the
official
is equally the work of a gifted
to 1839,
and upon
completion
read
it at Del Monte's tertulia. Francisco is published posthumously inNew York in 1880.

Gertrudis G?mez de Avellaneda publishes Sab in 1841. Antislavery scholars stress the fact
that Harriet
as a serial;
179.
2D?cio
Beecher
Uncle
Stowe
Tom
wrote
s Cabin
Uncle
Tom's
is published
Cabin
in book
from
form
1851
in 1852.
to
1852,
Cf.
publishing
C?sar L?ante,
Palmares?a
dos escravos,
5ta ed. (Porto Alegre:
Mercado
Freitas,
guerra
Since he was
in exile, Freitas first published
the history
of the independent
of Palmares
in Montevideo
in 1971 in Montevideo
with
the title
kingdom
Aberto,
1984).
Afro-Brazilian
Palmares?La
it
p.
guerrilla
negra
(translation
of A guerra
dos
escravos
by Claudia
97

Schilling)
. . .Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery
Quilombo and El otro Francisco
98
screenwriter,
and producer;
director,
the confines
within
this artist works
however,
of free
enterprise after a long period of military dictatorship.

It is surprising that the foreign press (that is to say neither Brazilian nor Cuban) would
ascribe the film industry of both nations to the rubric of picturesque curious phenomena
recent
As regards
the academic
press,
vintage.3
or
looked
at
it is convenient
when
ignored
only
of relatively
either
largely
characteristic,
not
though
to the extreme
excusive,
always
Latin
American
is
cinema
to accentuate
tendencies
left.
Selection Criteria
Both films mark an importantmoment in the development of cinematography in their
a
reinterpret
is a metaliterary
otro Francisco
El
countries.
respective
feature
significant
of
Cuban
to
experiment
on carefully
and metahistorical
history
been
had
that
based
conducted research.With the exception of a course dedicated specifically to Cuban film,

El otro Francisco is usually omitted from the primary viewing lists in courses dedicated
entirely to Latin American film taught in theUnited States.4 This omission could be due
to the dogmatic didacticism that appears throughout the soundtrack or the manifold
that
antecedents
historic-literary
to specialists
appeal
to a general
not
and
university
viewing audience. Similarly, Quilombo doesn't seem to be included in undergraduate

courses
than
other
dedicated
those
to Brazilian
solely
culture.
states,
Diegues
when
interviewed by Revue du cin?ma:

Je me suis toujours m?fi? de ces filmes o? l'opprim? est toujours petit,
triste,
laid,
r?action
au Br?sil
choquer
non
Noirs,
et pauvre.
sale
faible,
mais
je suis certain
l'?lite
seulement
ont
qui
Je ne
perdu
l'habitude
comment
vision
cette
que
blanche
encore
sais
se
voir
mais
tels
sont.
qu'ils
aspirent
autre
chose
ce qu'ils
que
ont
connu.
(Tessier,
Grelier,
la
va
les
?galement
indispensable de montrer des hommes bons, qui ? un moment

? une
?tre
antid?magogique
conservatrice,
de
va
Il
est
donn?
and
Avellar 61)
3See Kov?cs for a brief general introduction to Cuban film that only focuses on
ICAIC's output. Although he offers a coherent reading of Cuban filmmaking from 1959,
the bane of those
that is often
trap (1981)
of
in the category
of their study
the object
of
the defective,
domain
"Revolutionary
and neocolonial
in the post-modern
to frame
who
prefer
in
the
or, worse,
underdevelopment,
he
falls
Latin
Americanists
Consciousness
and
non-academic,
non-controversial,
Imperfect
Cinematic
in his work;
cinematographic
impact
he
102-03.
serial?given
John Mossier,
the fact that
a
in Americas,
it is the official
discounts the importance of Diegues because of the folk
publication of OAS?inherently
element
Forms,"
innocuous,
so
goes
of Orfeu
far
as
negro
to
show
utter
disdain
for
the historical
and
(1985).
are high-profile
Fresa
classics.
and Recuerdos
del subdesarrollo
Lucia
4For example,
in
as much
La ?ltima cena
ismentioned
to receive
attention.
does not appear
y chocolate
an
retrato
El
de
to
the
is
little
known
film
itself
but
studies
Teresa,
non-specialists.
many
in a universal
of women
and rights
of the dignity
defense
excellent
plane?whether
communist
or not?is
hardly
acknowledged.
These
are my
personal
observations.

Nicolas Hern?ndez Jr. 99

an
As
artist,
to
attempts
Diegues
an alternative
to propose
and
public
inform
view
to entertain,
and
conscience
of society.
to elevate
a box-office
was
Quilombo
the
success
when it premiered abroad. At the time of this interview it had yet to open in Brazil. It is
clear
that
does
not
the fact
very
successful
outside
or
impact
reader
work?the
Diegues'
an
film,
to Cuban
In contrast
function.
recall?is
should
it is a commercial
that
Brazil,
its didactic
commercial
independent
ICAIC is an official entity of the government of the Republic of Cuba.
effort, whereas
thing
interesting
when
happens
outside
continents
American
been
its aesthetic
obviate
filmmaking,
of having
the United
see films
Americans
non-Latin
in terms
States
on
made
the
to an aesthetic,
of responding
the
canon of which is how far a given movie distances itself from what they intuit as
Hollywood. Brazil and Cuba reap a prolific cinematographic crop from the 1960s on that
which is deeply rooted in their respective national identities. It should be pointed out that
the history of film in Brazil and Cuba exceeds one hundred years as of this writing.
and Literature
History
Filmmaking,
Although I do not share the guidelines of how to instruct themasses that ICAIC has
followed since its inception, I recognize that in its collected output, and in a good number
of selected works, it has put forth a monumental effort in recording Cuban culture for
domestic
and for dissemination
consumption
ICAIC
abroad.
has
recorded
national
history
not only since January 1st, 1959, but since earlier colonial days through photographs,
music,
drawings,
etchings,
The
academic
These
traditions.
national
date,
I have
films
that
proximity,
not
by
found
reason
of
noted
duly
studies
a very
of these
valuable
structure,
two films
their
effort.
own
and
to
Yet,
two
and Quilombo,
process,
gestational
within
hermeneutic
otro Francisco
of El
analysis
theme,
reenactments.
interpretive
the existence
represent
comparative
their
and
dance,
song,
has
press
chronological
deserve the systematic attention of literary criticism in the international

milieu.5
university
I accept axiomatically that a film, by virtue of the fact that it is an artifact (a truth
unlikely to be disputed by many anthropologists), can tell us much about the culture that
produced it, if we approach itwith patience and paying attention to the relationship of
parts to the whole, what Jos? Ortega y Gasset called unicidad org?nica. There is little
as the reader
doubt,
the postmodern
has
who
devices
technical-cinematographic
within
in on the plot
focuses
of an author
consciousness
vanguard.
at his
and substance
disposal
that allow
Violence,
him
of
the subtle
to achieve
kindness,
the camera
silence,
these
films,
use
a plastic
that one
of many
art squarely
the juxtaposition
sees
narrative
the
and
situated
of
images
are the elements

and editing,
to force the public
have
to react as they experience
that both filmmakers
and Giral
to deny
their work.
do everything
their audience
the feeling
Diegues
possible
in ignorance,
because
of satisfaction
both artists
teach. Nor
do they allow
indifference,
a message
because
demands
that, however
they convey
unpleasant,
acknowledgment.
and characters,
musical
5Alex Haley
television
miniseries
lighting, what
at their disposal
score,
sees,
publishes Roots: The Saga of an American Family

based
on
the biographical
novel
is produced
in 1977.

in 1976. The
.. .
Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery
100 Quilombo and El otro Francisco
At this point, Iwould like to offer a series of observations that have allowed me to
explore a fundamental element of the sociocultural history of Cuba and Brazil: the
of
presence
the African
as a statistical
not
slave,
as an
but
datum,
individual
character
endowed with verisimilitude.

Without the involuntary contribution ofmillions of Africans that served as an enslaved
at
workforce
the behest
of
the Portuguese
and
Spanish
for more
empires
than
three
hundred years, the cultures of Brazil and Cuba would be entirely different.6
Carlos Diegues, the author of Quilombo, is who he is at a given moment inBrazilian
history; Sergio Giral, the author of El otro Francisco, iswho he is at a given moment in
Cuban history; the two of them, independent from the other but well within Iberoamerican
cultural
of
El
or reenvision
recreate
currents,
the subtext
two very
their
respective
national
argue
that El
otro Francisco,
historical
complex
realities
that underlie
consciousness.
otro Francisco
could
One
the classic
movements,
musical
that a general
reconstruction
impressionistic
audience
as a symphony
is structured
broadly,
for a full
of the sonata-allegro
genre
would
walk
orchestra.
away with
in three
This
when
is the
leaving
the theater.What follows is the broad impression that a viewer might begin to digest
without taking notes or digitally recording any given set of scenes. The film is
however
complicated,
that of
Francisco,
effect
of an original
vision
first movement
The
novel.
the cumulative
the coherent
is the melodramatic
de
negro
of memory
Romero's
arrived
in Africa,
is
chaotic.7
of Su?rez
sc?ne
is to say born
retina
to be
that appears
en
mise
that
naci?n,
in the
that reverberates
discourse
original
as a
in Cuba
young boy. Refined and kind of heart, as is characteristic of the protagonists of romantic
novels,
seamstress.
is the lady's
a grave
they make
Furious
at
banishes
Francisco
a man
to Sra. Mendiz?bal.
is coachman
skinned,
their
to her
to
the
point
of
sexual
have
who
who
Lady
had
far away
had
and
in love
been
slave
to
Havana.
go
let
Her
to
But
pregnant.
them marry,
son Ricardo,
to Dorotea
attracted
woman
light
for years.
becomes
planned
from
and
(Cuban-born),
been
and Dorotea
relations
plantation
sadism
plantation.
criolla
mulata,
and Francisco
Sra. Mendiz?bal,
sugar mill
the
manages
have
they
disobedience,
perverse
adolescence,
mistake:
Dorotea,
Dorotea
sojourn
since
in
the
plantation, bringing with them the newborn girl. Ricardo intensifies his vile treatment of
Francisco
through
Antonio
the white
overseer.
Francisco
himself
hangs
a tree and
from
dies in the bush.
6It should
be
clear
that
I am
such as the stereotypically

idealized,
santer?a or candombl?.
7The
details
alternative
of the plot
can only be done,
nor
of a commonplace
neither
speaking
or a superficial
racist gift of rhythm
of the film, which

reading
and the technical
execution
of
of course,
after
several
viewings.
is the
result
of
carefully
a different
yields
Giral's
esthetic
effect
the film

of
something
treatment
of
jotting
down
sequence?this
is very original.
Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr. 101

The second movement begins abruptly; there is a sudden shift as the scene opens in
the literary salon of Domingo del Monte,8 in which we find Anselmo Su?rez Romero,
author
romantic
slave
of the original
movement.
trade
Francisco
This
was
(which
novel.
to have
supposed
was
Del Monte
group
literary
shared
taken
mentor
to the generation
of Cuba's
not only
to abolish
the
the motivation
since
already
place
the agreement
signed
by Spain and England), but also to advocate for the emancipation of all the slaves on the
island.9At this point Giral introduces another historical figure that has nothing to do with
the plot of the novel proper, Richard Madden, who holds one of the posts of
Commissioner of the Joint Board of Trade, an entity established by England and Spain
to supervise,
in Cuba
more
or
the disappearance
less,
of
the
traffic
in human
beings.
Interestingly, it is at this point thatbegins the alternative reading o? another Francisco,

a black man rebellious throughout. When Richard Madden visits the Mendiz?bal
the questions
plantation,
he asks Ni?o
Ricardo
the overseer
and Antonio
yield
a statistical
profile of the sugar industry in Cuba during the first third of the 19th century. With
Madden we see an English mechanic who has just installed a new sugar cane grinding
at the mill.
machine
a machete
possibly
The
slaves
the new
sabotage
machine
by
putting
of
piece
steel,
in the gearbox.
fragment,
A new movement begins, the third, during which the plantation slaves rebel. They set
fire to the sugar fields, the mill, the big house, and they kill the overseer under the
leadership of a slave who is neither the original nor the second Francisco. The uprising
begins during a bemb? that parallels an previously-seen celebration inwhich the overseer
humiliated
Francisco
to dance
him
by forcing
an old woman.
with
one would
As
expect,
the aftermath of the uprising is total reprisal: we suddenly see dozens of slaves hanging
from the exposed steel beams of the burned down mill.
As
in a sonata,
than
visual?rather
Giral
a
inserts
a coda
at the end
in which
melodic?collage
of
with
the third movement.

vertiginous
This
speed,
coda
through
is a
the use
of photographs (real and recreated) andmadeup film sequences, events

subsequent to the
8See Alberto
Guti?rrez
importance of Domingo
he
Romero;
also
explains
de
la Solana,
del Monte
plainly
p. 308,
note
for a succinct
20,
the matter
of Richard
of
explanation
in the intellectual formation of Anselmo

Madden's
mission;
the
Su?rez
he
also
elucidates the role of Jos? Zacar?as Gonz?lez del Valle as proofreader and editor of the
Francisco
manuscript.
9C?sar L?ante studies in depth the pragmatics of Anselmo

spokesperson
the antislavery
and
the same time, L?ante
for
At
bourgeoisie.
by Juan Francisco
ideas
pro-independence
the documentary
analyzes
of
Su?rez Romero
the Cuban
as
intellectual
of
value
Autobiograf?a
which was
Manzano,
translation
published?inadequately
abridged?in
in England
Madden.
Juan Francisco
was
Manzano
the slave poet whose
by Richard
was
freedom
taken up among
the members
of Domingo
del
purchased
by a collection
Monte's
salon.
It is very
to note
that Juan Francisco
Manzano
be
important
may
"
related
to Anselmo
Su?rez
Romero's
hero. L?ante
Mas
lo que s?
spiritually
affirms,
una singular
resulta
es que ambos
coincidencia
libros
a dos
por protagonistas
tengan
sobre
todo sicol?gica,
que ofrecen
no
rasgos muy
personajes
similares,
an?micamente,
ser el uno, Francisco,
obstante
de la ficci?n
producto
y el otro, Juan Francisco
Manzano,
un ente de carne y hueso;
si bien es posible
que la clave de esta 'coincidencia'
sea, como
lo es de
la anterior
'casualidad',
la figura
de Domingo
del Monte"
(175).


are compressed:
1830s
from
and apalencamientos
skirmishes
(slave
that succeeded
groups
in living autonomously, however briefly, in the wilderness) to the strongly highlighted

War of 1868-78, which concluded with the Pacto del Zanj?n, to the beginning of theWar
of Independence in 1895. The film does notmention theparticipation of theUnited States
in the Spanish-American War. Nor does it address the early Cuban Republic. The key
point is that, thanks to the rebellious Francisco, theRevolution of 1959will be successful.
section
Francisco
the second
of the narrator
voice
the dogmatic
Unfortunately,
begins,
that appears
to tell
continues
for
the first
what
the audience
time when
to think.
Were anyone to overlook the list of credits, itwould be impossible to tell that Leo
century.
Lucientes'
audience
The
nor
relation
(no
historical-Marxist
pun
The
intended)
is an excess
there
collage
the film's
musical
of
director.10
seems evident. Giral does not paint his
in El otro Francisco
cinematography
sees many
that hearken
frame/scenes
The
in halftones.
narrative
was
composer,
to film in black and white
The decision
19th
Cuban
the distinguished
Brower,
evokes
of
the
de Goya
etchings
Francisco
to the
Just prior
of War.
reminiscent
hardly a cast shadow
Disasters
light with
of the vision of Guernica conceived by Pablo Ruiz y Picasso.
Quilombo
The
as far as chronological
structure
is conventional
progression
Quilombo's
one could
call
little to do with what
has
rest of the film,
however,
is concerned.
conventional.
The base
Diegues paints a historic-mythological mural in the guise of popular opera.11
a
more
over
than
text for Quilombo is the screenplay that he himself redacted
period of
ten
years.
The
main
was
source
interpretive
D?cio
Freitas,
Palmares?a
dos
guerra
escravos, the first edition of which Freitas published in exile inMontevideo.

The action begins in a sugar cane field. The wife of the plantation owner is reading
aloud instructions regarding how stocks should be tightened around the neck of a slave
to his becoming
docile
and
conducive
in a manner
him humanely,
to punish
all
the
in
a
in
which
set
rebellion
in
motion
remarks
These
aloof
Portuguese
productive.
are
son
killed.
of
the
of
the
the
with
landowners,
the plantation,
youngest
only exception
so
as
At the intercession of the future king, Ganga Zumba the boy is spared, because of the
who
could
decides
slaves
lies
to
States,
11
Coco
on
embark
recondite
the central
10Ifwe were
United
the latter's
problematic
an
to
exodus
corner
of
issue
so that there might
and
innocence,
what
to the colonists
communicate
in a most
Palmares,
Here
and
kindness
former's
massacre
the
the mato;
of
the film:
to compare
the musical
style of El
to the soundtrack
it could be likened
had occurred.
a witness
of
the
The majority
of
the
be
of
and mysterious
territory
faraway
to Africa.
to return
a few slaves want
not
all
slaves
otro Francisco
come
with
from
movies
the same
from
the
of a B-movie.
"I am not interested

she interviews
remarks when
Diegues:
a film on a human
It's not about
scale.
I tried to make
epic.
on a human
to
be
recorded
have
about
Those
about
it's
desire,
feelings
passion.
ideology;
an epic
that we were making
scale, not an epic scale. I used to say to the cinematographer
at this scale"
I always
the film
tried to keep
of close-ups.
(14).
in making
Fusco
reports
a conventional
these


country or homeland, nor do they share the same language. Although the largest group
this
is Yoruba,
not mean
does
that
is an absence
there
of
other
collective-composite
characters. Dandara is the voice of a new American reality, she herself declares that she
was
in Brazil
born
a workmate
tells
The
that therefore
and
to speak
ancestral
Brazil
plainly,
of Quilombo
phase
is her homeland.
em crist?o,
Another
at the onset,
slave,
in Portuguese.
meaning
de Palmares?which
was
historically
a nonfeudal
amalgam of small interdependent kingdoms with their own village king plus a central
not
does
king,
to the European
corresponded
In terms
model.
not
of cinematography?if
history?the task of identifying the futureking devolves toAcotirene, the spiritualmother

of the runaway slaves already freed by their own hands. It isn't clear if she is their queen
or the chief priest, but it is shewho identifies Ganga Zumba as the one elected by Chang?
to become the new ruler. The selection ismade manifest when Acotirene casts the shells
and Ganga Zumba receives his ach? instantly. Acotirene goes away with her knight
protector, riding on his neck, farther up into the highlands.
This marks the beginning of the second part of the film, the prosperous reign of
Ganga Zumba. On the way to Palmares, the first child is born in freedom; he is the
of Ganga
grandson
adoptive
In an encounter
Zumba.
a Portuguese
with
band
of
slave
hunters, the leader kills the child's mother and kidnaps the boy. This boy, who will be
raised by the priest of the village closest to the periphery of Palmares, is the future
Zumbi. Ganga Zumba signifies great king in the sense of a wise and prudent man. Zumbi
not
does
is he who
Time
and he
die,
is warrior
a comet
and
passes
crosses
excellence.
par
king
the sky, whose
coincides
portent
a horrible
with
epidemic. Zumbi, who had lost his birth name and was brought up with the identity of
Fernando in service to the priest and the church, returns to the mato and climbs almost
up to Palmares;
vertically
the last stage
an ascent
resembles
to scaling
similar
Loaf
Sugar
Mountain barehanded. By this feat his regal mettle is proven. Ganga Zumba welcomes
him with heartfelt love. Palmares welcomes him in feast, bringing him all the
accoutrements
Thus
or rather
Zumba,
Ganga
becomes
Fernando
sees manifest
Time
the ach?
Chang?
Zumbi,
as a warrior
the community
confers
him,
through
Ganga
Zumba's
captain,
capit?o
future
upon
of
the first
successor
order.
a new
Fernando
in whom
name.
the wise
king
of Ochun.
Bushmaster
passes.
to join
for him
necessary
do
Fern?o
mato,
Carilho
arrives
and
proposes to Ganga Zumba that Palmares pay him protection money tomake it look like
to the colonists that he is fighting the negros f?gidos. Carilho intends to profit from the
colonists and from the great king. Ganga Zumba manipulates the situation by making
his
Carilho
and, more
of weapons
purveyor
importantly,
gunpowder.
From this alliance, perhaps the greatest benefit to Ganga Zumba is obtaining the
freedom and loyalty of Ana de Ferro, who had been forced into prostitution by theDutch.
Ana
well
band
family
without
her freedom
accepts
as whites
had already
of
after
slaves
before
moving
apparent
to live
and decides
been
assimilated.
the uprising
on further
tension
on
was
in Palmares,
The
a Jew. He
into the mato.
the part
of
a place where
as
Amerindians
man who helped
the escaping
for a time in Palmares
with
his
first white
Ana
lived
becomes
the nubile
Namba.
the king's
Dandara
leader of the kingdom;

it isn't clear if she had been
however,
spiritual
mate. What
is clear
is that whenever
she sees the young Afro-Brazilian
former
Portuguese
prostitute,
there
is no hint
of
affability
in her
eyes.

second
is
concubine,
the
the king's
woman
It could
enduring
or
wife
or
well
the
be

that Ana
argued
as she assumes
Dandara
replaces
the function
of
of counselor
to the
state
king.
Via
a message
the governor,
a peace
in which
treaty
arrives
official
the king
from
recognition
of
of Portugal
offering
to sovereign
sovereign
Ganga
Zumba
be
granted.
would
In exchange for this new status,Ganga Zumba would assume the responsibility of moving
his subjects to lands that are not yet under his control, but that are very close to the
narrow band of land occupied by the nearest Portuguese settlers.
Ana warns Ganga Zumba that themissive is, in essence, a lie; she emphasizes to him
that he should not attend any meetings to negotiate anything with the Portuguese. (The
king respects her and does not expect from her any special deference; in fact he expects
nothing other than common courtesy from his compatriots.) Zumbi, heir to the king, who
as a sort of prime
serves
now
all
of
assembly
concurs.
minister,
leaders.
the village
Nearly
At
this
everyone
Zumba
time Ganga
agrees
and
convokes
Zumbi
with
and Ana
it
that
is a trap.Here we see the tragic flaw of the king: it is not pride, but the overarching wish
for peace and prosperity for his people that prompts him to speak face to face with the
governor. Could this be an echo of themotto of Ordern e Progresso of twentieth-century
Brazil, especially from the period of theVargas dictatorship on to the time just before the
film is shot?
Zumba
Ganga
a new
leads
but
exodus,
unlike
he
Moses,
at a
arrives
not
land
or
creator Olorum.
promised by God of the Judeo-Christian tradition by the chief African
The
turns
of Cuca?
Valley
out
a dessert
to be
strip
sea.
the
along
sea will
This
not
swallow up the Egyptians in pursuit. The net surrounding Ganga Zumba's tent
(tabernacle) represents his capture.My biblical interpretation is not without foundation;
the audience who viewed the film will recall thatwhen the future Ganga Zumba asks the
The
the crossing
of
tradition
of
the Red
and crioulo,
Portuguese
was
the farmer
for salt and food,
farmer
Jewish
poor
his
teaching
children
the
precisely
Sea.12
whose
is a relatively
spokesman
inform
cavaleiro,
young
in
Ganga Zumba that he has not fulfilled the terms of the treaty, since Zumbi still lives
white
most
with
Palmares
delinquents
of
the republic
as those
as well
the migrants'
surround
camp.
The
of
runaway
outlaws,
of uncertain
young
purity
captain
former
of blood.
reveals
himself
and
slaves
The
freed
to be
men,
troops
Portuguese
son
the youngest
of themill owners slaughtered during the initial rebellion. In an attempt to save the lives
of the quilombolos who had followed him, Ganga Zumba takes poison. Ana accuses the
he commands the
captain of killing Ganga Zumba to incite the last battle. Before dying,
last chieftain
to break
subjects
to
their
capital.
leading
that captain with his own
kills
his
among
as he can by
since Ana
Another
network
of
act
of
them
and
the blockade
We
know
that Ana
to save
spies
somewhat
Zumbi,
aged,
period of time passes.
is approaching
force
that a large invading
the news
veteran
do mato Domingos
Jorge Velho.
capit?o
(or episode)
of
the saga
Jorge Velho,
Domingos
a well-armed
with
contingent
Palmarines
will
die
soon,
sword.
indefinite
the formidable
as many
and Namba
receives
under
This
through
his
the command
begins
the
last
of Palmares.
the historical
sufficiently
commander
large
to
lay
that destroyed
to the
siege
Palmares,
capital
of
arrives
the
free
12Atthe beginning and the end of the film the highest peak in Palmares appears
bathed
in scarlet
red.


republic. Velho knows the guerrilla tactics thathave worked well for him and his enemies
in the mato for so long. He comes prepared to force the surrender of a city, however
remotely situated, the same way that he might seek to capture any fortified city along the
He
coastline.
colonial
does
not
underestimate
the enemy.
the same
With
of
tenacity
the
defending king, it is not the element of surprise that helps him, but rather the well
managed logistics of an invading force, foodstuffs, mat?riel, and the decisive differential
technological element: artillery. Velho loses two pieces of cannon in traps set by the
republicans before the entrance to the city, in addition to the weakest flank because it
consists of an extended plain with little vegetation. However, when the remaining four
cannon, protected by amakeshift palisade built in themist of the night, break through the
walls
log and mud
of
the city,
Palmares
falls,
in flames.
consumed
Zumbi, seriously wounded yet ready to fight to his last breath, seeks refuge in a brook
far away
from
he will
whom
the destroyed
pass
city.
on command
or
fifteen
just as he
sixteen-year-old
is about
to die,
boy,
accompanies
his
to
successor,
him.13
Theodore, the chieftain on whom Zumbi had relied to attack Velho from the rear,
approaches the streamwounded and exhausted. He tells the king he has been tortured and
begs forgiveness. At this point Velho and his men begin to shoot at Zumbi. The king
keeps himself standing for an instant that seems to be part of time frozen. He maintains
his erect posture in part because he is king imperishable, "he who does not die," and the
protection of Ochun; in part he remains standing because the bullets hitting his body from
all sides do not permit him to fall in any given direction. Before dying and being
he
captured,
throws
his
spear
up
in the sky.
The future king is saved. Titling at the end of the film tells the viewer that although
greatly diminished, theRepublic of Palmares will have reachedmore than a hundred years
before its definitive extinction.
Gilberto Gil's musical direction is an integral part of the work. The main theme,
completely modern, even though it is slightly anachronistic, fits well with the rest of the
film.
Comparative Analysis: Art at the Service of Society

As literary critics, even ifwe do not specialize in the history of Cuban literature,we
should
be aware
that Anselmo
Su?rez
Romero
an
offers
series
interesting
of problems
the
solution to which is gradually carried out. He was an important writer; his influence in
the intellectual development of the generation of writers and patriots involved in the two
wars for Cuban independence has been established. Mario Cabrera Saqui reports that he
was
Mar?a
teacher
Jos? Mart?'s
Jos?
de Mendive.14
at Colegio
viceprincipal
13When
disappears
his successor,
at Colegio
San Pablo, whose
founder
and director
de La Luz y Caballero
offered
Su?rez
Romero
el Salvador,
the Portuguese
begin
the sky aflame.
He
into
14Prologue
in turn, will
to the
1947
somehow
edition
he was
which
to attack
dies
be
still
he
Zumbi,
the vehicle
selected
of Francisco
unable
by his
to accept
throws
his
of Och?n's
own
given
was
Rafael
the post
the many
of
legal
and it
spear upward
ach?. We
know
that
titular potencia.
(13).

. . .
Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery

of his
problems
to which,
family,
as a law student
and
an attorney,
eventually
life outside of teaching. For me
nearly his entire working
he devoted
the key question is this:
the product
of a writer
that is becoming
well-known
Havana
educated
among
on
a
concrete
to an immediate
intellectual
that responds
need;
posture
society,
a roman ? th?se, a work written
that is to say, it is a polemical
to
novel,
upon
request
the condition
of slaves
document
in Cuba.
Francisco,
is based
an essay
It is not
permitted
were
articles
(his
the publication
course
of
of Francisco
in Cuba.
Nor
and
essays)
was
colonial
never
censorship
it an inaugural
or brief
address
initiation thesis to Domingo del Valle's salon. It was, however, part of the set of
documents thatDel Valle compiled to give toRichard Madden. His inaugural addresswas
or less
a micronovel?more
(not Cecilia
Vaid?s
in the style
Cirilo
Vaid?s,
of Cervantes'
Villaverde's
Novels?entitled
Exemplary
masterpiece,
Carlota
a member
also
the same
of
salon but older than Anselmo).15 He writes Francisco between 1838 and 1839, Cabrera
"Los
records:
Saqui
borradores
Jos? Zacar?as Gonz?lez

correcciones"
autonomous
it was
creative
los iba terminando,
seg?n
los remit?a
les introduc?a numerosas
los copiaba y
quien
romantic
a persuasive
it was
effort;
verbal
and
novel,
discourse
of ubiquitous
is the great
Cirilo
Vald?s,
than an
rather
de Avellaneda
G?mez
In Cecilia
slavery.
work
than a novel
rather
by Gertrudis
Sab
attacks
it also
a documentary
artifact,
novelized
of romanticism.
characteristic
passion
Cuban
cap?tulo,
(20).
the start
From
de cada
del Valle,
Villaverde
produces the masterpiece of the Cuban novel before Alejo Carpentier; it has romantic
realist
elements,
set of
an integral esthetic.
The three novels
and success
differ.
Cabrera
Saqui
elements,
Their
realities.
Este
are the result
es...el
emphasis],
se ocupa
m?s
aspecto
al cual
de estudiar
su importante
obra
de
interesante
recurre
la vida
sobre
del
Los
el doctor
Fernando
en el campo.
esclavo
est?n
esclavos
negros
un documento
la novela:
principalmente
the same
of
underscores:
impact
vivo
Muchas
llenas
[my
cuando
Ortiz
de
p?ginas
de citas
esta
de
novela. (21)
Why shouldn't Sergio Giral use the novel as a document also? The difference lies in
the fact that for Giral the principal point is the class conflict thatwill not resolve until the
triumph of the dictatorship of the proletariat; that iswhat counts. For Del Monte, Su?rez
and
Romero,
then,
modernization,
his
their
generation
the central
compatriots,
of
formation
the
national
blame
salis
grano
integrity
Sergio
the baseline
artist.
If one
Giral's
even
and
of
economics,
political
or
a given
his
author,
school,
is somewhat
But
dangerous.
ideology
in the last quarter of the 20th century, has the
is an
artist
in a communist
create
country?to
a new
artifact.
if tacitly so, in order

does not reach
discourse
15Vald?s was
there
to respect
text he ought
to use Su?rez Romero's
the
is going
to say that parody
text. By this I do not mean
is outside
the reach
text must
out
to parody
be worked
the underlying
is going
anything,
of
in its totality,
he
rights
if he
Notwithstanding,
of any
since
narrative
linguistic-visual
of human
of
in retrospect
independence.
in an anachronistic
for not sharing
Giral, facing the intellectual world

right?cum
a matter
consciousness,
To
and
one
was
question
the official
surname
for the parody

optimum
given
proper
value
to all orphans
to yield
if Sergio
raised
a maximum
Giral
at Casa

does
not fix
effect.
upon
de Beneficencia.
Nicolas Hern?ndez Jr. 107

his own interpretation of Jos?Anselmo Su?rez. If he places theman and his work within
a work
of
art form
cinematography?an
whose
is intrinsically
genre
it a
narrative?is
documentary of the long-ago dead author, or a hybrid montage of theman and his work,
a hybrid
or even
to uplift
genre
the once-downtrodden
three
art
cases;
should
understood
at
be
always
as a future
communist
the
of
service
or one
society
masses?
(No
society,
already
present,
as oppressed
longer
according to Luk?cs?it
inCastro's Cuba.) According to ICAIC?really,
is the last of the
that society
is
provided
as in the case of 1974
Cuba.
I am of the opinion that El otro Francisco is one of the masterpieces of Cuban

cinema. Its ideological impact could be more convincing if the film would trust the
of
intelligence
the
altogether?the
love
tragedy
and
whether
audience,
eliminate
continual
of Francisco
or
in Cuba
omniscient
and Dorotea
and
abroad,
voiceover.
The
The
is annoying.
avoid
slew
of historical
statistical data that the omniscient narrator proffers is distracting. Who

narrator?
camera
The
or the voice
not
overuse?if
in the
of repetition
element
facts
and
is the omniscient
an announcer?
of
the innovative and experimental currents of Cuban filmmaking, a

rhetorical process has limits, imposed from within or without. I wonder if Giral had the
faculty to choose the definitive text of his feature or not.
Even within
A Utopia That Can Be Dreamt

The
situation
narrative
of Quilombo
impacts
the viewer
directly.
Carlos
takes
Diegues
for granted that the audience, initially abroad and eventually in Brazil, is capable of
processing the combination of visual and auditory signals contained in his work and to
interpret the film on its own. The director does not interrupt the discourse and the
discourse manifests itself through the plot. Diegues devotes to his verbal artifact the same
care that Giral gives his. But Diegues differs in that by himself he sets out to write a
screenplay, that is the product of a creative imagination applied to the careful study of a
concrete
historical
His
phenomenon.
subject
matter
is the Republic
of Palmares,
more
or
less from its origin to its definitive extinction sometime after the end of the film.
The first scene inwhich the wealthy woman directs the torture of the slave at the
hands
of other
de moeurs.
slaves
What
the colonists.
resembles
seems
Palmares
at first
is for
a genre
painting
remote,
unreal,
the newly
of
the colonial
becomes
self-liberated
alive
group
a type o?
period,
peinture
as the insurrectionists
kill
a locus
amoenus,
a certain
hope (as in El otro Francisco one finds \a Guin?[a]) a reality that is in the process of
unfolding.
It is possible
are of no
special
that once
Diegues
17th centuries,
Brazil
reclaiming
offers
all of us,
that our historian
see in Quilombo
that
inconsistencies
colleagues
might
for us in literary
What
is
clear
is
scholarship.
sufficiently
the subtext
of Palmares
within
the context
of the 16th and
consequence
established
and
once
national
in Brazil
he
established
integration
and
elsewhere,
the text of the screenplay

within
the context
overcome
a totalitarian
upon having
regime,
a utopia
that can be dreamt.

of
he

Overtones
Musical
Quilombo is the product of an intrinsic aesthetic. It is a very important film in the

Cinema Novo movement that is excluded from standard lists of the best Brazilian
if we
Even
films.16
knew
of Brazilian
nothing
we
cinema,
can,
upon
entering
the theater
realize immediately that the commercial paradigm of Hollywood is not the only way to
make movies. We could enjoy a dramatic work of artwhose subject matter is historical
plot,
which
having
read
and whose
previously
the first
time).
Imake
makes
use
minimal
of
(as one might
a libretto
not because
this assertion
can
flashback,
when
going
Diegues
be
understood
to see an unfamiliar
to create
intent
expressed
without
opera
for
a work
of art similar to an opera. Quilombo differs from opera in every respect except in the
or vileness
greatness
of
its characters.
They
achieve
mythical
but
proportions,
they
speak
in the direct elegant prose of modern Brazilian Portuguese. A tragic work, there are fully
with traditional
plausible moments of joy. The juxtaposition of modern music coupled
melodies and polyrhythmic percussion produce a vital impression on the audience. It is,
to paraphrase Diegues, the woven fabric of a variegated multifaceted nation with
enormous
potential
forward
for moving
potential
for
(or
at
least
theoretically
with
the
enormous
self-destruction).
Leo Brower, on the contrary, limits himself or finds himself limited to give El otro
Francisco the sound dimension of a bad movie from the 1940s to underline the lack of
ideological synchrony between the original textwritten by Su?rez Romero, the adaptation
and recreation effected by Giral, and the contemporary context of Communist Cuba.Why
Brower
didn't
locate
himself
in counterpoint
between
authentic
slave
music
and
salon
music of the 1830s? Why didn't he find his own voice in 1974?
An aside that deserves mention is the fact that everything related to religious ritual
and dancing and singing is as authentic as possible and represents the efforts of musicians
and
ceramics,
craftsmen?including
for
instance?from
Brazil
in Quilombo,
whereas
in
to import folk musical groups from

producing El otro Francisco in Cuba, ICAIC had
not
to
offend our sister republic; Solas did
wish
Haiti. (In offering this observation I do
it reflects the level of pronounced
because
this
I
the same thing in Lucia I.) mention
in
Cuba, particularly during the 1970s. Santer?a is, for
religious persecution experienced
the Cuban
government,
the
sword
of Damocles.
If it denies
its existence,
it belies
the
official syncretic efforts that place high value on Afro-Cuban culture(s), whether it is the
to
decides
of any race. If the government
members
of individual
expression
to
is
tactic
best
the
of
the
practices,
religious
proto-santeria
importance
acknowledge
from the
it radically
as possible
to separate
time period
it in as early a formative
frame
diminished
to appear
in a somewhat
tension
This dialectic
begins
present.
revolutionary
in its
also significant
in 1993, a film
of Fresa
the premi?re
manner
with
y chocolate
in
Cuba.
tolerates
to show that the communist
homosexuality
regime
attempt
religious
conducted
in either
listed
is not
for example
survey
by Cinemateca
16Quilombo,
de
S.
"Melhores
Folha
nor
1999
issue
of
18
in
March
the
June
Paulo,
1988,
Brasileira,
filmes.htm
brasileira-melhores
Cinemateca
(2
Brasileira,
Filmes,"
http://www.cinemateca
September
2002).


Camera Angles
In Quilombo,
lighting,
legend,
is large scale:
everything
visual
camera
horizon,
near
takes from
It is a matter
still
and musical
photography,
accompaniment.
a nation
and national
toward which
saga. It is a utopia
sets,
can
and far,
of history,
a collective
commit
effort (its future is limited only if it closes within itself): "Quilombo - todos nos ainda
desejamos tanto."(Gilberto Gil/Waly Salom?o)
otro
In El
process.
screen
television
filming
camera
The
rather
not
will
Cuba
Francisco,
than
the
achieve
seem
takes
screen.
silver
until
greatness
to have
in mind
The
director
the moment
more
the
reserves
of
its very
closeups
of
proportion
to brief
in themelodramatic sequences; a tight zoom in from a high platform invariably

them.
With the exception of the effective stark solarized segments, the visual
precedes
texture of the film does not resonate with the plot. In passing, I should mention thatwhen
they cut the hand of one of the slaves after the rebellion and they cut the head of another
and lift it up in the air for all to see, the visual impact is nil, given its technical
artificiality. The same thing occurs multiple timeswhen the overseer whips Francisco. By
glancing atMart?'s firsthand account of political imprisonment in Cuba, or perhaps by
having some superficial knowledge of Emile Zola either directly or in translation, or via
the Peninsular lens of Emilia de Pardo Baz?n, or i?he were able to play off or against the
cinematographic iconoclasm of Luis Bu?uel; or if he could even listen to the sempiternal
canonical hero of the Cuban revolutionary pantheon Ernest Hemingway, thenGiral might
moments
have
been
to discern
able
narrative
compelling
that
silence,
rather
message
and
suspense,
can
crescendo
to a repetitive
than resorting
and
portray
strident
a more
pneumatic
hammer.
By
1974, Cuba seemed to have reached paradise on earth: the dictatorship of the
a
proletariat,
classless
one
(if
society
chooses
not
to mention
the
ruling
military
technocracy).
Impact of Both Films

We may like or dislike Quilombo. It is,without a doubt, a film thatworks well within
the limits it sets for itself. It is a movie that defends itself and that emits an unequivocal
message.
bye
It is also
Brasil
reflection,
does,
not
something
its ethical-esthetic
losing
unnecessary
as
one
it invites
so
the viewer
on
sarcastic;
troubling
sadism
against
circularity
should
do?but
Marxist
some
to a catharsis
other
hand,
as genuine
it
leads
as Bye
to profound
do c?rcere.
It is a jarring film?and
that is in part
it is prolix
it can become
boring,
thereby
It undercuts
itself. By continually
reiterating
because
impact.
Francisco,
loses
the
as Memorias
like or dislike El otro Francisco.
that cinema
Ricardo's
not
although
but perhaps
We may
and
entertaining,
by
of
continually
its impact.
pitting
bourgeois

against
slave,
its
. . .Contemporary History and Colonial

Slavery

Conclusion
Both films take as their point of departure the serious and committed posture of their
authors.
respective
Both
that,
they diverge
it is a rhetorical
can
overcome
although
have
films
at times.
creation
suggesting
an instrument
first
us
of
deal
of
past
and
a didactic
creation
its cultural
above
that Brazil
the
is fundamentally
and cinematographic
a good
detracts
discourse
but
work,
is to convince
Francisco
bases
ideological
a didactic
consciousness
raising
otro
indoctrination
of militant
the preponderance
extent
function
by
El
the future.
of political
work,
communicative
difficulties
for
well-defined
respective
is to a certain
Quilombo
whose
contemporary
an alternative
their
second;
Both
impact.
films castigate slavery. In Palmares, an individual dies free. At theMendiz?bal plantation

no one dies
in freedom.
human
Perhaps
as itmight
is?odd
slavery
a metaphor
seem?but
for the slavery of the totality of Cuba at the hands of the oppression of the industrial
revolution?
is, at the time
Cuba
takes place,
the action
between
caught
Spain
and England.
It is probable that there is no mention of the United States in the visual or voiceover
so as to avoid mentioning
narrative
the nowdefunct
international
the communist
toward
Soviet
Union.
The
absence
is uncharacteristic
of nations
sisterhood
of praise
of Cuban
filmmaking of its time period.17
Works Cited
Anderson, Robert N. "The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of a Maroon State
in Seventeenth-Century Brazil." Journal of Latin American Studies 28.3 (1996):
545-66.
"Brave
Vincent.
Canby,
New
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Quilombo."
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Film
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Chatham, Seymour. "WhatNovels Can Do That Films Can't (and Vice Versa)" Critical
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a guerra
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11
El
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Alegre:
for
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knowledge
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but they could begin
a
saw
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documentary
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straightforward
greater
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in which
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sequences
documentary
other
and
Francisco?would
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relationship
always
Am?rica,
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with
such disgrace
or if they saw a great film with
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reality
onto the
of
Giral
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legitimate
as
with
each other and with
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the supposed
a whole.

Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr. Ill

"Choosing Between Legend
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Colonial Slavery in Brazil and Cuba

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Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana

"Quilombo" and "El Otro Francisco": A Post-Modernist Attempt to Re-Write Contemporary

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Sat, 25 Jan 2014 13:34:30 PM

QUILOMBO AND EL OTRO FRANCISCO:

underlying text. In 1974, Sergio Giral releases El otro Francisco,

These films represent efforts of sociocultural location and national identity in a

agency of the Marxist Cuban government. Quilombo

is equally the work of a gifted

it at Del Monte's tertulia. Francisco is published posthumously inNew York in 1880.

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. . .Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery

Quilombo and El otro Francisco

this artist works

enterprise after a long period of military dictatorship.

conducted research.With the exception of a course dedicated specifically to Cuban film,

viewing audience. Similarly, Quilombo doesn't seem to be included in undergraduate

interviewed by Revue du cin?ma:

indispensable de montrer des hommes bons, qui ? un moment

discounts the importance of Diegues because of the folk

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Nicolas Hern?ndez Jr. 99

ICAIC is an official entity of the government of the Republic of Cuba.

and for dissemination

deserve the systematic attention of literary criticism in the international

are the elements

publishes Roots: The Saga of an American Family

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100 Quilombo and El otro Francisco

endowed with verisimilitude.

dies in the bush.

such as the stereotypically

of the film, which

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Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr. 101

Interestingly, it is at this point thatbegins the alternative reading o? another Francisco,

the third movement.

of photographs (real and recreated) andmadeup film sequences, events

in the intellectual formation of Anselmo

9C?sar L?ante studies in depth the pragmatics of Anselmo

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. . .Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery

102 Quilombo and El otro Francisco

in living autonomously, however briefly, in the wilderness) to the strongly highlighted

seems evident. Giral does not paint his

to film in black and white

of the vision of Guernica conceived by Pablo Ruiz y Picasso.

escravos, the first edition of which Freitas published in exile inMontevideo.

so that there might

"I am not interested

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Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr. 103

history?the task of identifying the futureking devolves toAcotirene, the spiritualmother

the sky, whose

the last stage

into the mato.

leader of the kingdom;

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. . .Contemporary History and Colonial Slavery

104 Quilombo and El otro Francisco

for salt and food,

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Nicol?s Hern?ndez Jr. 105

log and mud

Comparative Analysis: Art at the Service of Society