Cecilia (1982/I)

Director:

Humberto Solás

Writers:

Jorge Ramos (writer)
Nelson Rodríguez (writer)

Release Date:

10 August 1984 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In 1830s Havana, amidst the Cuban independence movement, social climber Cecilia Valdés uses santería to conquer Leonardo Gamboa...

Plot Keywords:

Colonialism | Independence | Latin America | Santería | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Daisy Granados
Imanol Arias
Raquel Revuelta
Miguel Benavides
Eslinda Núñez
Nelson Villagra
César Évora
Linda Mirabal
José Antonio Rodríguez
Antonia Valdés
Gerardo Riverón
Omara Portuondo
María Regla Gutiérrez
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alfredo Mayo

Country:

Cuba

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Company:

Impala S.A.

parts of it mirror "Beloved"

It must have only been during the past few years that Humberto Solas's "Cecilia" became available in the United States. I actually liked Solas's later "Un hombre de exito" ("A Successful Man") better, as this one comes across as sort of a Jane Austen-style period piece. Daisy Granados plays the title character, trying to seduce a young aristocrat through santeria in 1830s Cuba.

A scene that I found really impressive was the beginning, when the slave woman tells the story of the African woman stolen off of her land. Such was certainly the fate of so many Africans. That whole sequence reminded of Jonathan Demme's "Beloved", what with the stories of slavery. And of course, there's eventually a slave rebellion. Slavery is the real history of the Americas.

All in all, worth seeing.