ODU Festival Gives Nod to Cuban Cinema

By Idalia Rosa-Martinez

Seduction, greed, betrayal and exploitation of women, you get all for one and one for all in the film "Lucia". Old Dominion University's OnFilm Festival "Reel Politics" presented "Lucia" on April 4. The 1969 black and white film, directed by Humberto Solas, chronicles three women living through three generations of social classes in Cuba's 1800's-1960's revolutionary history.

Andrew Gordus, assistant professor of Foreign Language and Literature at ODU, played a role in the selection of the film. Explaining the choice of the film for the festival, he said, "given this year's theme which focused on politics in film, it was a wonderful example of the incorporation of politics (the struggle for political freedom and determination both at the national and personal level) in film." Introducing "Lucia" at show time, Gordus said, "I see this film as a victimization of women."

Latin women have been historically presented as victims in films, and victimization drives "Lucia's" plot. Each woman named Lucia in this three-part documentary was conveniently used to gain information to further the war, to mobilize activism for the war or to control victory at a time of war.

The victimization continues in the film's cinematography. Abrupt action cuts and overhead shots switch to close-up shots at times of extreme agony or defilement of the women characters. Gordus noted a quote Solas in the Cross-Cultural Film Guide that said, "he chose women protagonists because women's victim status provides more dramatic potential."

I'm not sure if this "dramatic potential" is any consolation to watching the distress. "Lucia" more accentuates the existence of good versus evil in humankind. And it shows the depths that humankind stoops to in order to achieve power over people, places and things. Gordus said "though Lucia ends with no resolution, there is a sense of optimism for the future."

Because viewers come to a piece of work with different experiences, I'm not sure if this optimism is obvious. The ending more described the protagonist suffering from "battered women's syndrome." A condition that was revealed post "Lucia," but that better explains the oppressed woman's return to the abuser without logical reasoning.

See "Lucia" if you can take another film showing females as victims to deliver a message. The bigger message in this dismal film for me is that the situation depicted can take place anywhere the greedy and exploitative heart exists.

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