El recurso del método

Sometime in the past but not a thing of the past, there is a fictitious Latin American country that could be each and any of them. Its president, residing in Old World Parisian splendour, receives news that back home a coup has been staged. So, to quell the uprising, he must return for a while. Once order is restored, he returns to his life of luxury – only to find out that news of his brutal campaign has made its way to Europe and so, he is no longer welcome there. But a new cycle of violence will change all that once again…

Based on the eponymous 1976 novel by Alejo Carpentier, one of Cuba’s greatest writers, Miguel Littin creates a splendid, visually luscious and stunning master fable on the Latin American state of things – which is, of course, applicable to the rest of the world as well. The combination of Littin and Carpentier is more than fitting, particularly on a biographical level, considering that both spent many years in exile and created many of their best works abroad. Regis Debray, one of the leading Left-wing figures of the day and a known Unidad Popular-sympathiser, co-writing the scenario, perfectly rounds things off.

– Olaf Möller

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