Dear Students,
Havana—The New Art of Making Ruins (2006) is a documentary directed by Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler. The documentary tells the story of the ruins of Havana and the people who inhabit those ruins—from a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater (in which Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso once sang to Cuba’s high society), to an expropriated landowner, to a young woman living in one of the rooms of an old hotel. We also hear from Cuban writer and poet (and ruinologist, according to him), Antonio José Ponte. In recent years, Havana’s ruins have been romanticized and valued for their magical decay, for its poetic evocation of a glorious past now lost, in particular in Buena Vista Social Club (see the post that refers to this); however, for the people who inhabit them, there is very little poetry left in these ruins. What we see is the conflation of the voice of the people whose stories we hear with the ruined city itself, a product of both the passing of time and the absolute neglect by the state. This documentary will help us contextualize Zoe Valdes’s Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada. Hunger in these works comes in many disguises and it is our challenge to make connections between the images we see in this documentary (as well as what we see in Suite Havana—the third post) and the graphic sexuality of a novel such as Yocandra.
The documentary was definitely eye opening. I was awed to see how the Havana residents were optimistic about their living situation. For example, one resident felt that it was an honor that he resides in a former theater. I do have one question though. How did the city deteriorate to the point that it basically became a ruin? I know that residents were saying that Fidel Castro brought changes to the city. However, I don't understand how the building conditions went down substantially.
ReplyDeleteJust as a heads up, the third video isn't available for viewing anymore because it was taken down by Youtube!
I thought it was interesting how the documentary romanticized the ruins. In class we discussed the strain of resources and education, and some of the more harsh realities with living in this space of "ruin". We also discussed the image of plenty that is often associated with Cuba, and the concept of it being a paradise of nothing. That the title of the paradise of nada refuses this very romanticization. It seems that the documentary was angled to represent the ruins as an "okay" thing; making it a fantasy and poetical for those who inhabit them.
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