Undescribable Perfection

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's surprising the Cuban government let this film pass-it doesn't show a flattering picture of Cuba, as it doesn't disguise the poverty, rigid politics and injustice. But the film is good not because it deals with the situation as a whole, or the education system, but because it focuses on a small group of people. It shows a teacher, an aged woman, responsible for helping her pupils cross the hell of their childhood. The most troublesome boy in her current class in Chalah, whose mother is an addict and his father may or may not be a fight dog trainer for whom he works. The most important thing-the story never becomes the old unbearable shtick about a teacher taming and saving students. The child actor Armando Valdes Freire is simply amazing. He portrays a boy who is tough, street-smart, and reckless, and who deeply cares about his negligent mother. He feels that the teacher, Carmela, is the one person on whom he can count, and he's devoted to her. He also likes an immigrant girl who's in danger of being exiled with her father any minute. Alina Rodríguez, who does Carmela, never misses. Her acting is so precise, she seems to be the teacher herself. She goes through her own hardship so she's aware life is rough, but she is willing to be that little Dutch boy who puts his finger in the hole in the wall to prevent the ocean from washing over the city. Clearly, as it is not a soap opera, some things remain open, and nothing reaches an ideal solution. However, the film convinces that there is hope where one special person can open the way for others.

Conducta - Behaviour This film starts with powerful images and the authentic energy of the young talent Armando playing Chata. This film is not just a actual insight view of the Cuban social reality and its change, this film is much more. This film is statement.First it needs to be mentioned that the performance of the actors especially the play of the young actors is absolutely world class. Congratulations to the casting department.The story, or better the multiple stories that are told during this 108 minutes fits. Every narrative makes sense. No minute is lost. Writing, acting, shooting, music - everything was created on a very high level.But why is this film a statement.This film offers for everyone and everywhere on this earth a lesson to learn. This lesson is created around Carmela, the teacher. It is a story of courage against cowardice. A story about real and authentic humanism against the brutality of indifference. The counterpart of the moving behavior of Carmela is played great by Silvia Águila in the character of the social worker Raquel.This universal lesson is: It is easy to follow rules, laws and prejudices. Everywhere and in every social system we have those that hide themselves behind political correctness, adjusted unit and titles. In the name of nice labels as for example child care they bungle into the life of other humans. A bad but widespread behavior.A great film. Highly recommended.

Alonso Ruiz Palacios's Behaviour may seem to be about classroom deportment — whether student or teacher — but it casts more interesting light on how Cuba should be conducting itself in its current transitional period.When the elderly teacher Carmela becomes too engaged with the underprivileged students Yeni and Chala she runs athwart of the school authorities and is pressured to retire. When administrator Sonia suggests she has taught too long, Carmela asks whether she thinks the government has been in power too long. That would make the film seem reactionary, pro-Castro and opposed to change.But there's more to that picture. Yeni marks a classmate's death by posting on the class bulletin board a Catholic card that he had given her. Sonia wants it removed because the government inspector would condemn the school for such a religious display. Carmela insists on leaving it till the girl is ready to remove it. She values the student's emotional support over the government's policy on religion. That suggests a change from tradition.Sonia herself is presented as a woman of modern style, wealth, slickness, in short, perhaps a harbinger of the looming capitalism. Her values are efficiency and modernity, even if that disadvantages the school's troubled charges. As she represents the incoming Cuba and Carmela the outgoing, then the film's concern may be how to preserve the best of the old Cuba — its education, medicine, socialist ideals — while still admitting the new and progressive. Thus Carmela is supported by two former students now on staff, and a young black woman she trains to continue her values.The film also mobilizes the feminine sensitivity against traditional machismo. Yeni insists Chala dissociate himself from his mother's partner Ignazio's dog-fight business. She encourages the feminine sensitivity he shows with his pigeons. As a corrective she assigns him Jack London's White Fang. Carmela insists Ignazio accept responsibility for both Chala and his druggie mother, significantly reducing the man's swagger. As the school is obviously a microcosm of Cuba, Palacios is balancing social realism with some pointed reflections on how Cuba might preserve the best traditions and move away from the worst.

A quite interesting and satisfying movie though, for me, less so than BUQUENQUE but more so than PABLO (for those of you who follow recent Cuban productions). CONDUCTA shows the harsh side of Cuban life in various ways and demonstrates attitudinal differences very reflective of Cuban society in 2014. Wonderful acting by the young cast. Music use seems like a last-minute and cheap addition to the movie, which deserves an original score that would in fact be quite achievable in Cuba. The movie has theatrical release in Cuba, which demonstrates the liberal approach Cuba has taken to providing public funding for films that are constructively critical of Cuban society.