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ONE WAY OR ANOTHER (1974) premiered at the Pesaro Film Festival in 1975.
The premiere in Cuba followed in 1977.
In the same year, the film was shown as part of the Berlinale
at the International Forum for Young Films and was subsequently
distributed by what is now the Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art.
The film was shot on black and white 16mm negative and film stock.
The cut image negative was severely damaged in the copying process.
In the course of the subsequent photochemical restoration
in Sweden, the film was copied from 16mm to 35mm.
The whereabouts of these materials are unknown.
A 35mm duplicate image negative and light
negative was made in Argentina to secure the film in 2008.
Both materials show clear traces of the film's production history.
The present digital restoration (2K) was carried out
in 2020/21 and is based on the preserved duplicate
negatives from the archive of the Instituto Cubano
del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos (ICAIC).
Two 35mm rental copies from the Arsenal archive
served as a reference for the density correction.
The digital restoration was carried out by
Arsenal in cooperation with the ICAIC at ARRI
in Munich and Berlin. The 35mm optical tonal
negative was scanned at Cinegreil in Zurich.
The digital restoration was made possible as
part of "Archive Ausser sich", a project of the
Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art e.V.
in cooperation with the House of World Cultures.
Requested by the BKM as part of "The New Alphabet"
on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag.
Well...
I want you all to know
that I'll accept your decision.
If you send me to a farm, OK.
But let me tell you something:
when I got to Santiago, my mother was dying.
I spent four days and nights at her bedside,
not sleeping a wink.
And I only came back here
when I thought she was out of danger.
The staff at the hospital can vouch for this.
All of you know me.
You know I don't toe the line too closely
and that I like a good time.
Nobody can be a good worker
or a good man if he's not a good son.
I know some of you are out to get me.
I know some of you don't think I'm telling the truth
and still doubt me.
For those comrades who still doubt me,
I want to repeat what I said at the beginning:
I'll abide by the assembly's decision.
That's all.
Hold on, comrade, you can't leave yet!
It's all bullshit! You're nuts!
You ought to be ashamed of lying. You have no respect for your colleagues!
Let me tell you something: you've been hinting that I blabbed
because nobody knows but me, right?
So, get this: I'm gonna spill the beans right here and now!
That's a bunch of crap about your mother! She's not even sick.
You were with a woman!
Your mother's been dead for years!
I'll take you on any time you want! Any time!
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
A FILM ABOUT PEOPLE: SOME REAL, SOME FICTITIOUS
A large slum area in Havana is being transformed.
The Cayo Hueso neighborhood is being replaced by new housing.
Several years ago, the revolution began tackling the problem of marginal cultures.
In 1961,
five new neighborhoods
were built for the people of Las Yaguas, one of the country's worst slums.
Neighborhoods such as this one
were built via plans of self-help and mutual aid,
before the present system of mini brigades was even thought of.
Housing has been drastically changed through a strategy of integration.
At the same time,
the increasing use of vocational education has become our main tool.
How do I feel?
Well, not very good.
I graduated from different schools, from Topes, Minas and Tarará.
Then I came here,
to this strange, peculiar world,
a world I thought no longer existed.
Throughout the capitalist world,
but especially in the underdeveloped countries,
there is an economic stratum with certain well-defined characteristics.
It shares the same characteristic everywhere: unemployment.
All of these people
have been relegated to chronic under- or unemployment.
As a result of capitalist competition,
they cannot participate in production
and have to subsist in the belts of squalor and poverty
that ring the large cities.
These are the people, who, for us, compose the marginal sector of society.
WHEN THE REVOLUTION TRIUMPHED,
ALL MARGINAL GROUPS WERE INTEGRATED INTO SOCIETY.
A culture that lives on in the form of subconscious habits,
customs, beliefs, values and ways of doing things
can stubbornly resist social change.
So even after having radically changed the conditions that gave rise to marginalism,
we can still study the culture of the section of society
that was created in these neighborhoods due to it being divorced from production.
The low educational level and oral traditions of these people
made them cling to their old culture.
Lacking concrete experience of work and knowing little of trade unions and politics
meant that members of Cuba's former marginalized class
seized the opportunities to work provided by the revolution
without questioning them.
This would have allowed them to see work as being in their own interest.
In contrast to the social and political interests of the time,
we can note a certain inertia
and lack of interest in those with a marginal background
that explains the persistence of certain antisocial attitudes within the revolution.
Hey, buddy! You've been keeping yourself to yourself!
- What? - I haven't seen you in a while!
- You're a strange one! - What about Sunday?
Come on over for dominoes.
- I'll bring a bottle. - A liter? - Yeah!
- Not too early, OK? - OK. Around 10:30 a.m.?
10:30 a.m. it is.
- I'm going to see Pepe! - Pepe? - Yeah.
That man has had me running in circles. He didn't tell me he'd invited you.
He said: "The teacher's coming for dinner tomorrow."
And I said:
"Yeah? Well, you can fix the beans, I'm beat!"
The other man of the house is here!
We have a guest.
Excuse me.
You cooked this just for the teacher, huh?
You'll have to sample her split peas tomorrow.
Rascal!
Better peas than nothing! I would've been grateful for peas 20 years ago!
Those times are gone for good.
- Yolanda, let's go into the living room. - OK.
- Hi! Is my buddy here? - I didn't know you were buddies.
What a welcome!
Mario is taking a bath.
Please tell him I'm at Narra's, playing dominoes.
- Playing what? - Dominoes.
- Not too little, I'm starving! - Cut that out!
Isa, can I use your icebox?
Sure. Leave the meat on the table, I'll fetch it in a sec.
I'm 25.
- My parents were comfortably off. - Money?
Both had jobs.
So, no money.
My folks nearly killed themselves working.
They neither had money nor were they "comfortably off."
"Comfortably off."
Tell me about yourself, Mario.
- You really want to hear? - Yes, I do.
- I was born there. - Among those pines?
No.
That would've been great, the way they are now.
There were polluted streams, the houses were made of tin cans or even cardboard.
They were made of anything we could find.
But, hell, we were all in the same boat.
I grew up in the streets.
- I only went home to sleep. - What about school?
Well, sure, I went to school.
My old man wanted me to study so I could break out of here.
But the school was far away. I hardly ever got more than halfway there,
- I played hookey. - What did you do?
I enjoyed life.
I can imagine!
- Until it came... - Until what came?
The revolution.
I got nothing to say to those census takers.
They keep saying all this is gonna change. Bullshit!
That kind of talk is bad for my business.
You gotta sell your stuff to us, we are your business.
In 1960, the Cuban Revolution took a census of the population
and conducted a literacy campaign in the worst neighborhoods
with the aim of totally eliminating illiteracy.
What the hell! They're all the same, so let's do this!
They'd better not ask me how many people sleep in my house.
My saint never lies and he says we're gonna leave this place!
After the revolution gave us the land and the tools,
a lot of people said they wouldn't work: "What for?"
We really had a job getting them out of there!
The revolution had decided to give us houses.
This is the new house
and this is the new neighborhood.
That's how the song goes.
But then they got me.
- Were you in jail? - Jail?
They gave me a scholarship.
But I had to climb the mountain five times first.
- Five times? - Yes, five.
The mountains were a ball.
I really felt good there.
It was like back when I was playing hookey.
But not the school, that was rough.
I quit in the second year.
And then?
Nothing.
Back to the streets,
my buddies,
women.
My old man was so mad, he didn't want to see my face.
And?
Nothing. They got me again.
Military service. Drafted.
- Lucky for you! - Lucky?
Up at 5 a.m.:
"Right face! Left face! About face!"
But I can't complain.
I was lucky I was drafted in time.
Because I was nowhere.
Nowhere.
I was crazy.
Military service saved me.
Right when I was thinking of going.
- Out of the country? - No, what for?
"Going" means taking the oath.
What oath?
- When I was a kid, I wanted to be a "ñáñigo." - A "ñáñigo"?
You think they eat babies on St. Barbara's Day, right?
THE ABACUÁ SOCIETY (DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS)
By the end of the 18th century,
Cuba was enjoying considerable growth.
It ended up being turned into one big sugar plantation.
This in turn led to a greater demand for manpower in the form of slaves.
Men from a wide variety of cultures and different stages of development
were brought from West Africa.
From Calabar came the Efik, with a patriarchal culture.
This was based on a myth in which a woman called Sikan
revealed the secret of the god Abasi.
As a result, women were considered traitors and excluded from the secret society.
On the other hand, other workers were contracted for the Cuban colonial economy
through commercial houses in Seville and Cádiz.
As a result,
Spaniards from those Andalusian cities came to our budding capital,
recruited as sailors from the marginal sectors of society.
They brought their code of violence with them:
machismo, knifings, the worship of women.
All of these may have fit right in with a creole population
with similar views.
The 19th century saw the appearance in Havana of the Black Curros,
classy dressers who were a product of the urban milieu.
The Abacuá Secret Society,
which arose from the myth brought by the Calabar slaves,
took deep root in the marginal population of the ports of Havana and Matanzas.
The Cuban touch is seen in the initiation rite,
with the sacrifice of a goat.
After it's castrated,
it becomes a nanny, representing the woman who told the god's secret and caused war.
This cultural manifestation epitomizes the social aspirations,
norms and values of machismo in Cuban society.
We believe that its traditional, clandestine and exclusive nature
sets it against progress and prevents its adherents from assimilating modern values.
Therefore, in its present stage, it generates marginality,
promoting a code of parallel social relations
that is the antithesis of social integration.
My life wasn't so varied.
My parents worked for the revolution and I was at school.
Weren't you married?
Yes. He was studying medicine, I was studying history.
He graduated, I didn't. We got married.
You make it sound awful.
You may not believe this,
but I wanted to find out what marriage was like.
The first year was fine.
He had exams or guard duty, and things were fine that way.
I was alone a lot.
That's why I'm used to...
Used to what?
- Being alone? - Being independent.
- You're like a sparrow. - Why?
Because it's the saddest bird.
- So, how did it end up? - Mario, I don't want to go on griping.
Come on, tell me.
Come on.
Tell me.
Well,
he had to do his rural service.
He wanted me to quit studying and go with him.
I wouldn't go, we got divorced.
And now I'm working and studying, both.
And now?
You're still alone?
Still independent.
Tell me more about being an Abacuá.
All you have to do is be a good son,
a good husband, a good friend.
- You go for that? - Yes, I do.
You have to be a man,
stand on your own and not let your buddies down.
- You have to get that. - Why don't you become a "ñáñigo" now?
Because I think differently now.
Think differently? Are you sure, Mario?
Why not?
- Then you can't be an Abacuá. - Why not?
Because you think differently.
Hey!
Why do you always misbehave, Lazarito?
Are you copying what's on the board?
Where are your pencil and your notebook? Why aren't you writing?
Where are your things?
Why do you think you're here?
The revolution is good. It gives you pencils, notebooks...
But you throw them away. Why?
Do you think you're the class clown?
Quiet!
Stand up!
- I'm not going to hit you. - Lázaro is a chicken!
- Shut up! - Watch out!
Where are your things? Look at me! - Thrown out.
You threw them all away? Leave the classroom.
And don't come back until you bring a pencil and a notebook!
That's not OK.
- That's what they want. - They're driving me crazy.
I want to change schools, I don't like it here.
Yolanda,
you have to be more patient.
These kids need affection, understanding and love.
They don't get that at home.
- You can't leave. - The worst thing was
that he thought I was going to hit him.
Haven't you met the Mexican?
- No, why? - Lázaro's mother.
She has five boys.
Lázaro is the eldest one.
What about the father?
The fathers? They all took off.
Did you hear about my Lázaro?
He's in jail.
Why is he in jail?
He was with two other guys
and they told him to steal a lady's pocket book.
The police told me.
It was 2 a.m. and I went to the police station
as he hadn't come home. That's when they told me what had happened.
I was shocked.
I grew up in Las Yaguas,
my parents didn't send me to school.
I used to beg a lot, but I never stole anything.
Pardon me for asking.
I don't want to be...
- Where's Lázaro's father? - We had a fight in 1962.
I haven't heard from him since.
I've had to raise my kids all by myself.
I worked in the forestry brigade,
but I had to quit because of Lázaro.
I used to leave him here, but the neighbors complained.
He'd been throwing stones and climbing trees.
So, I had to quit.
Then I hooked up with another man,
but he drank like a fish and got nasty.
We had two kids together, broke up and got back together.
I tried to stay with him, but it didn't work out.
I do everything by myself: he helps with some money,
and I pay the bills. That's it.
- How does Lázaro behave at home? - Very badly.
But he's my right arm.
He stands in line for me,
takes the iron to be fixed and cleans the house if he has to.
He takes me to the hospital when I'm sick
or when there's another baby. He stays there with me.
But he gets in my hair!
Why do you hit him?
You know why?
Because I don't want him going around with the riffraff you get here.
I promise we'll help Lázaro,
but I want you to promise you won't hit him anymore.
I'm begging you on my knees to get him out.
I won't hit him anymore. I just want him to come home.
I really need him.
He helps me,
even if he's fresh
and gets in my hair.
He helps me at home.
I won't hit him anymore.
- Let me see! - Not so fast! Not so fast!
You have to do it like my buddy here,
he's looking for a broad outside our class.
So pretty! - And how! If you've got it, flaunt it!
And if you haven't, don't get a blessing from St. Peter!
It's my turn.
What have I got here?
Control yourself! Not so fast!
- Double! - You bastard!
Don't interfere.
- You mean the teacher? - Yeah.
What are you waiting for?
Get a move on!
Thanks for the advice, I know you mean well.
You have to get out or you'll get killed.
Double nine.
- You got everything. - Are you playing or not? - Yeah.
- Come on. - Watch it, or you'll mess up.
That's for sure!
- That's it, man. I got it all the way. - Ready? Ready?
And I'm off!
- I'm going to eat now. - I'll beat you next time.
- What's up? - I have to tell you something.
- About what? - I got something going on with a broad
who's really built for it.
So I need your help.
Any time, buddy.
I want to get away with her for five days
- and take her to Oriente. - During your vacation? - No, now.
What about work?
Damn it, Humberto!
Are you crazy?
You just got out of one scrape!
What's with you, dude? Getting too good for me?
No, man! But you gotta come down to earth!
If they get you, they'll send you to a farm.
You want that?
- What's wrong with you? - So it's true what people say!
What do they say?
The teacher's brainwashed you, turned you into a young communist!
What are you talking about? Leave her out of it.
- Are you getting mad? - No, just leave her out of it!
All right, buddy. Sorry.
Look, I don't want to lose this broad.
Just think: five days of voluntary work in Oriente.
It would be great for my reputation.
I always manage to come out on top.
Fine, buddy. Have a good trip. Do what you want.
- Sure? - Yeah. - Wait.
You're the only one who knows.
So if this gets out, it's on you.
Hold on a second. Are you threatening me?
- Cool down, man! - What's with this?
- Stop yelling at me! - I'm not yelling.
I just wanted to make sure.
- Alright. - What now?
- Nothing. Have a ball, then. - Sure thing.
- Best wishes. - Thanks.
Come in!
I thought you weren't coming.
Mario doesn't believe in this kind of thing.
But, on a day like this, I like to have all the family together,
and you're almost family.
Look, these are my saints.
They're the only things I'll have left when I die.
Later, they can throw them away, if they want.
I revere them.
I've had them for 25 years.
Stones and shells.
Let Obatalá be praised!
You're Lázaro's teacher?
We're glad you want to help.
We especially need the help
of the mass organizations and the school council.
This boy is still a student at the school.
We want you to know
what we've done since he was picked up by the police.
After a medical checkup,
he was tested by a team of psychologists, sociologists and lawyers.
They made individual reports.
Then the advisory team met
to draw up a combined report.
We included the opinions
of the mass organizations in his local area.
We think that, with the school's cooperation,
we can help him.
What he needs is affection,
somebody who loves him.
And the interest of the mass organizations.
Naturally, we can't reeducate the mother,
but we have a responsibility to educate these children.
And we'll need the teacher's help.
When he got home, I didn't kiss him or anything.
I said: "So you broke out?
Don't you think I have enough troubles? You know I'm sick."
And he said: "No, Mom, look at my papers."
Is something going on with Joel?
This is the last time I'm going out with him.
He always pretends to be poor.
- Why does that bother you so much? - It doesn't, it just isn't working.
Here's to you, buddy.
You know?
Cheers.
You're just not on the same wavelength.
Drop it.
Take care of her, OK?
Yolanda is special.
What makes you think we're together?
- How's the girl you brought? - Not good, too hot.
We aren't all the same.
How about another toast? It's your turn.
I'm just as revolutionary as you.
But a man with a gold tooth?
Things will be different for our kids, but now...
Here's to...
the revolution.
To all this.
To this whole process.
Because we wouldn't be sitting here having a drink.
That's for sure. Well said.
We'd better get going, those two are already drunk.
- You think? - Just look at them.
What's up?
- Yolanda is my sister too! - Yolanda!
- There's Migdalia. Call her. - Stay out of it.
Call her, man. Migdalia!
Coming here and seeing these kids...
I don't know. I feel very bad.
And worried too.
I'm worried about their future. The boys not so much,
because they have military service and have to work.
But the girls in my fifth grade...
When they finish the sixth grade,
what will they do?
I don't know. What future do they have?
There's nothing to keep them studying.
They'll probably get married, have children,
and their children will come to this school and get the same education
their mothers got until sixth grade.
And they'll never get out of here.
I wish there were some way
to make them do something else after sixth grade.
It's very sad and it really worries me.
I wish I could do something about it.
You're right, but girls do have opportunities.
They can get scholarships to agricultural or medical schools.
We haven't forgotten about them.
I'd like to know about Lázaro.
- Nothing's been done for him yet. - Listen, Candito,
we have been working to help him.
He's one of the worst problem kids,
and we are taking care of it
because he's among the first ones who should be in school.
Of course, the parents have to be shown
the role of the school in getting the kids
out of their home environment and on the right track.
The parents haven't set a good example.
Mercedes, we've asked you to come
so we could tell you something you must've guessed:
your son Luis isn't going to pass.
I knew it.
The other teacher told me he was flunking.
This is the third time he's repeating the second grade.
We've called you in before and asked you
to keep after him about school because he wasn't going to pass.
How is it possible that he's repeating again?
I leave the house at 5:00 a.m.
to get to work on time.
The bus service is terrible.
I do the washing and ironing at night, till 11 p.m.
I have eleven kids.
Do you know the first thing Juan said to me when I came?
He said: "You're the new teacher?
No shit! I'm really gonna bug you."
He's setting a bad example for the younger children.
I know you're a good worker,
but you have to spend more time with your children.
I'm saying this as a teacher. I take care of them, too.
You don't have to tell me to look after my kids.
I spend every bit of spare time I have talking to them.
I really do.
But something else has to be done.
Your kids keep on flunking. They aren't disciplined.
They don't study.
Somebody has to keep after them.
I don't know who: you or their father... Things can't go on this way.
It's what they pick up in the street.
Look. You're right to call them in,
but you're using the wrong approach.
You know what these parents are like.
It isn't easy to work with them. They're a product of their environment.
If they come to you and you lose your temper with them,
they'll reject you.
Remember: our main job
is to get them to cooperate with us.
If you go about it your way, you won't get anywhere.
What way? What did I say wrong?
This isn't the first time we've told you, Yolanda.
You have to be more diplomatic.
Never lose your temper.
They don't have your education.
Look, I'm fed up with you criticizing me as if I were a child.
It's not the first time.
I'm not used to being hauled over the coals,
especially when I know that I'm doing everything right.
Stop and think, Yolanda.
We're not doing this to destroy you.
We want to help you because we know you're new.
We just want to help you to be better.
I'm not about to call the kid in and tell him he's doing wrong.
I won't tell him that.
I have to ask his parents
who is responsible for his behavior.
But you have to use a different approach.
- You have to. - I don't understand you guys.
But I'll do the same thing again.
- Where were you? - I had a problem at school.
- Why didn't you let me know? - I didn't know. - You're always bitching.
The teacher likes to make scenes.
You're making a scene. I'm not a child, so stop treating me like one.
You made me wait an hour and nobody does that to me.
- An hour! - Don't shout at me. I can shout, too.
You want to make a scene?
People are watching. Hey!
Look, I don't want to see you again. This is over.
If that's what you want, fine by me.
Yolanda!
Mario!
What's up?
- Where've you been? - Working my ass off.
Luz says: "What have you done to Mario
that he doesn't come around anymore?"
Listen, I got a gig.
- Great, I'll drop by. - You have to, don't let me down.
Yolanda. This is Yolanda.
- Guillermo, a friend of mine. - Nice to meet you.
Pleased to meet you.
WHO IS GUILLERMO?
I'm like a baby
that cries in its cradle...
Guillermo Diaz, composer, singer and boxing referee,
another real person in this movie.
Amateur Golden Gloves champion in 1957,
he intended to turn pro in 1958.
Guillermo was born in Las Yaguas in 1938.
Luz had been my girl for a year.
When another guy started following her around,
I didn't pay him any mind.
Because I thought he was just fooling.
One night, I dropped by after a fight
to tell her I was slated for the championship.
I caught him peeking through the window.
I called her father
and the guy pulled a knife and attacked me.
We fell down,
and when I got up,
he was lying there dead.
Jail was hell.
I don't even want to remember.
Goodbye, boxing career.
I'm like the wind
that goes whistle and boom.
I'm what will lie
in the darkness of my tomb.
I am the phoenix
that rises anew.
I am the one
who makes love with you.
I am, oh yes,
the man who loves you.
The man who loves you.
Good.
- You still remember! - Once learned, never forgotten.
- I'll see you later. - Good, see you.
Let's go.
- Nice guy, huh? - How should I know?
What does he do?
He sings.
What a ball!
Man, was she stacked!
Congrats, Humberto.
Here comes a sermon.
I said congrats. What do you want me to say?
I know you, you're up to something.
- No, you got it wrong. - Don't lie to me, man.
Forget it, OK?
I had a ball, eating like a king!
She really puts on a good spread!
She even got hold of a cow!
A cow!
- When did you get back? - Last night.
You know how bad the buses are.
- How's your mother? - Bad, really bad.
But what can you do? When you have to work, you have to work.
Now I just have to wait.
- What's the matter? - I'm working my ass off.
- I heard you got a girl. - You heard wrong.
Now give me room to sack out.
- You're throwing me out? - I'm tired, leave me be.
You're really throwing me out, man?
Jeez, a guy can't even talk to you.
You don't let me talk to you!
- Cool it, man. - You're throwing me out, man.
I was just being nice to you and you send me away.
Your old man's coming, I'm off.
- Let's go. - See you.
Keep moving your hand.
- What's up? - Hey, Mario.
Go on up.
- A new song? - No, an old one.
Want a workout?
Got problems?
Nothing important.
Your...
girl.
Can't dig you?
No, it's just... She's different.
She's got a different way of looking at things.
Do it like me:
leave.
- Who? Yolanda? - No, your world.
Leave...
your world
that doesn't care,
that has no morning flowers,
only bars to show its power.
Leave it,
and never let her know
what you've been doing,
never let her know about the hard grind every morning.
If she shows you
the empty part
of a world full of lies,
and if she won't look you
straight in the eyes,
leave her be.
Leave her be,
to her hypocrisy.
Good. Very good.
Remember, Mario:
you, too, can leave.
You're past this foolishness.
Believe me, Mario,
most people are afraid to leave
what they know.
- Afraid? - Yes.
They're afraid of anything new.
They can make it in their own world.
Outside it, they're nobodies.
I tell you,
it takes more courage
to cut loose than to stay put.
Sociological studies that took into account the experiences of the early years
were part of the demolition and remodeling of those areas
where marginal cultures persisted.
These studies brought to light certain problems.
On average, the residents in the area had lived there for 20 years.
A characteristic typical for marginal families
is the instability of marital relationships.
Out of 341 people who were members of families,
around 53% of the families were headed by women.
Of the 104 children in the community,
over 28% had fallen behind in school
as a result of inattention,
lack of assimilation, mental handicaps, and being excluded from school.
The monthly per capita income of 122 of the people surveyed,
averaging 4.2 people per family unit, was 36 pesos.
The most frequent crimes were homicide,
drug addiction, going AWOL from military service,
involvement in the black market, gambling, immorality,
drunkenness and family fights in public,
all of which are closely related to some of the social conditions
that are part and parcel of marginalism.
Let's get to work.
You take a pick.
You grab a shovel.
Did you hear about Humberto?
No, what? - He's been called before the works council three times.
- He's in big trouble. - So? I don't care.
Why not? He's your buddy.
- He is, but you're the head of the council. - We'll see at the council then.
Would you marry a guy like me?
What's the matter, Mario?
Nothing.
- What do you see in me? - Huh?
- What do you see? - A man.
Just a man?
A man nobody else sees or knows about.
What do you mean? I don't get it.
You're one person with your buddies
and another with me.
- Don't you get it? - No, I don't.
Let me explain it to you.
With your buddies you walk like this,
look:
"What's up, man? Gimme five."
You got no respect.
In the streets you have to be cool.
- You gotta be tough. - All the time.
OK, and what am I like when I'm with you?
What am I like?
- Like this. - Like what? - Like now.
What do you mean?
Just you and me.
No one else.
What about me?
Well...
I like you.
Nothing more?
Isn't it enough?
I like a lot of things about you.
Name one.
You're sincere.
You say what you think and want other people to speak out, too.
- I like that. - Sometimes I'm too outspoken.
- No. - Yes.
It's just that you've been dumped here
where people are scared of speaking out.
OK. Tell me something.
- Anything? - Yes, anything.
Anything at all.
- You serious? - Yes.
Well, I've never told this to anyone before.
I'm scared shitless.
I'm going to read the telegram he submitted
to justify his absence.
He presented it after his return, not before.
"Mother dying. Come. Dinorah."
I think Humberto should be given a chance
because his absence was justified.
Nobody thinks about work when he gets a telegram
saying that his mother's dying.
I don't work in Humberto's brigade.
But every brigade has to achieve something
and we all have to pull our weight,
otherwise we won't meet our goals for the revolution.
Is there anybody
who has anything to add
for or against Humberto Sarría?
No? Then he has the floor.
Well...
I want you all to know
that I'll accept your decision.
If you send me to a farm, OK.
But let me tell you something:
when I got to Santiago,
my mother was dying.
I spent four days and nights at her bedside,
not sleeping a wink.
The staff at the hospital can vouch for this.
All of you know me. You know I don't toe the line too closely
and that I like a good time.
Nobody can be a good worker
or a good man if he's not a good son.
I know some of you are out to get me.
I know some of you don't think I'm telling the truth and still doubt me.
For those comrades who still doubt me,
I want to repeat what I said at the beginning:
I'll abide by the assembly's decision.
That's all.
Hold on, comrade! You can't leave yet!
It's all bullshit! You're nuts!
You ought to be ashamed of lying. You have no respect for your colleagues!
Let me tell you something:
you've been hinting that I blabbed because nobody knows but me, right?
So, get this:
I'm gonna spill the beans right here and now!
That's a bunch of crap about your mother! She's not even sick!
You were with a woman!
I know because you told me! You were with a woman!
Your mother's been dead for years!
I'll take you on any time you want! Any time you want!
That's all I got to say. I'd like to leave now.
That's right, run away!
As the assembly has ratified Humberto Sarría's tendency to idleness,
this works council invokes the Law against Idleness,
Section 1, Article 4 against Idleness,
and rules that for the next six months
we should keep a watchful eye on him.
We submit this ruling
to the assembly for its approval or modification.
So you found out already?
- Yes, Candito told me. You did right. - Yeah?
So you like informers?
Calm down. You did right and that's all.
They told me you and me would never see eye to eye.
What's wrong with you? Go after your buddy, if that's what you want.
I turned him in
and acted like a woman.
You did right, man.
Why do you and Yolanda and everybody say that?
Humberto's my buddy.
Buddy, after what he did?
What about the moral code? The code of a man?
What code, Mario?
That code is long gone, man!
- What do you think makes a man? - What the hell do you mean?
I'm a man!
A man sticks by his buddies.
- And what's a revolutionary? - I am!
A man who works. Men made the revolution.
Real men.
- I'm all messed up. - Why?
- I am. - You were messed up before, not anymore.
Just drink your coffee.
There are things that you have to give a meaning to first
in order to understand how men think.
When men talk about their mothers,
they have to understand what a mother is.
Some men don't understand what a mother means
until it's too late.
I'm telling you because I lost my mother and I appreciate her now.
I know what a mother is worth.
He shouldn't have used her as an excuse for going off with a woman.
Using a mother as an instrument is the pits.
Humberto is totally brazen.
He's totally brazen. I should know, I was his friend.
He fooled me just like that.
You see? There ain't no words for what he did.
Look, a man's gotta have principles.
People like that deserve to be unmasked,
people who use other workers as a smokescreen.
- I'm totally with you. - He's two-faced.
Mario spoke up to defend the revolution,
but, as a man, as an individual,
he did wrong in the assembly.
When Humberto said: "I know some of you are out to get me,"
Mario exploded, thinking Humberto was calling him a snitch.
There was something going on between them.
- But everybody should get another chance. - Right, right.
OK, but wait...
It's about principles.
Hold on a second.
Everybody shut up! We all agree anyway.
Look, I'm a revolutionary.
You're my friend and you're a slacker.
But, first of all, you gotta respect me as a friend,
as a man and as a revolutionary.
But as a revolutionary, I can't let you get away with saying:
"Man, it's 3:00 p.m. and I wanna split.
You clock me out, OK?"
You gotta respect me, that's all! It's all about respect.
This revolution is bigger than the both of us,
and we're ready to die for it!
Leave
your world that doesn't care,
that has no morning flowers,
only bars to show its power.
Leave it,
and never let her know
what you've been doing,
never let her know about the hard grind every morning.
If she shows you the empty part
of a world full of lies,
and if she won't
look you
straight in the eyes,
leave her be.
Leave her
to her hypocrisy.
Leave her
to her hypocrisy.
Leave her
to her hypocrisy.