Synopsis
A pious plantation owner attempts to teach Christianity to 12 of his slaves by inviting them to participate in a reenactment of the Last Supper.
The Last Supper
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Alternative Titles
Тайната вечеря, Das letzte Abendmahl, Viimeinen ehtoollinen, O Mystikos deipnos, Ostatnia wieczerza, Den siste nattverd, La última cena, 最后的晚餐
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Theatrical
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Cuba
18 May 1979
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Germany16
Releases by Country
Cuba
13 Mar 1976
- Theatrical
Germany
18 May 1979
- Theatrical16
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really wish this were more widely available - a surreal tragedy that interrogates the intersection between slavery and christianity, and is one of the best film's i've seen about either subject. the "last supper" sequence is lengthy and sprawling but somehow perfectly fluid and powerful; one of the most extraordinary scenes i've ever seen in a film, like something out of bunuel but heartbreaking and even more complicated. and there are a few moments of gut-wrenching, glorious, epic filmmaking that make me feel like mann's LAST OF THE MOHICANS does. can't even imagine how powerful this would be on film and in a theater. i know i just used a bunch of ultimately worthless adjectives, but i was too blown away by this for coherent words, at least yet. cuban cinema truly is the key.
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A great film about the many contradictions and excuses made to justify the actions of bigots when, in the end, it all boils down to greed and a fear and hatred of difference. It’s just as effective in its long scenes of dialogue as when there’s no dialogue, only light and shadows telling all.
There’s a powerful visual juxtaposition in the plantation owner’s two perceptions of the oldest African man he chooses as one of his “disciples” for the day. At the dinner table, the plantation owner listens to the old man’s story and appears to view him as a person before promising him his freedom. Later, though, the slaver points at this man and orders him to be killed.…
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Um dos grandes feitos de A Última Ceia é trabalhar o texto e subtexto de forma dialética. O filme carrega uma encenação realista que expõe a um modelo acusatório do período colonial em Cuba, uma potente narração dos eventos que fundamentam os caminhos trilhados do país. Esse realismo e crueza corroboram com essa conexão afetiva com história, bem como implica um sentimento de revolta. Entretanto, o mais curioso é que apesar do realismo e de funcionar bem como um filme mais direto sobre o momento histórico da escravidão na ilha, encontra no subtexto elementos que discutem temáticas que exacerbam o tempo representado: religião; luta de classes e capitalismo.
A religião como classe dominante, o capataz a serviço da defesa dos…
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Contradictions, religious justifications of atrocities. A scathing attack on the institution. Very very good.
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"Logically, a religious position or theory that seeks out the best in the history of Christianity completely contradicts the interests of imperialism."
"[F]or a long period of history, faith was used as a tool of domination and oppression. So it is only logical that the men who wanted to change that unjust system entered into conflict with religious beliefs, with those tools and with that faith." – Fidel Castro
In many ways, a film only possible under conditions of revolution—that is in its capacity to adduce the multi-layered and overlapping nature of political, economic, social, and religious violence and the position of each in history. The instantiation of a new phase—one breaking with the past, as much as it is…
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Growing tensions on a 1780's sugar-cane plantation; a handful of the smarter white people know their system is unsustainable and that unrest is getting close to critical mass... but His Lordship the owner, and his overseer, and his priest are all oblivious to the slow-motion trainwreck that's taking place.
A good half of the running time is taken up with a preposterous idea of His Lordship's, to reenact the Last Supper with himself as Christ and twelve slaves as his apostles; the satire is both broad and subtle in a way that reminds me of Amiri Baraka.
Then comes the Day Of Reckoning.
Availability: washed-out, soft TV rip with English subtitles on youtube.
PS: Double-bill with the vaguely similar El hombre de los hongos (Gavaldon, '76), which is kinda rewarding in a loopy WTF way... but this is a far better movie than that one.
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Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's sharp critique of Spanish colonialist slavery and the complicity of the Catholic Church. Set during Holy Week on a late 18th century sugar cane plantation, the contradictions and religious justifications for slavery becomes clearer to the African slaves, resulting in a revolt and bloodbath. All done with remarkable creativity and political but not polemic.
The expansive and profitable sugar plantations in Cuba of this era required more and more slaves, with Spain ascendant after the nearby Haitian revolution. This created a notable imbalance between blacks and whites. The film opens with the Count (Chilean actor Nelson Villagra) visiting his estate, run by brutal overseer Don Manuel. It being Holy Week, he invites 12 of his…
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The sublimation of Holy Week as restitution of colonial power, where the Christian savior becomes the oppressor of his disciples and Judas has a reason to betray Jesus in the face of the bastardization of his teachings and the inevitable consequences of the misappropriation of said history at stake.
Final scene might be one of the most beautiful feats in editing outside Soviet cinema i've ever seen. Cuban intelectual montage at its peak.
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Sally Jane Black Challenge (1/25)
A pro-communist film from the USSR before 1970, from Cuba after 1965, from the DPRK at all, or from China between 1950 and 1970"The moral of the story is: of all the good things Christ gives, the best is to suffer pain and injury for his divine love."
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea at his most Buñuel, though a bit more anti-Christian (as much as Buñuel criticised religion in his films, it was complicated by the fact he still clearly possessed a lot of Catholic guilty, while this film has no love at all for Christianity). Striking film that feels like an absurdist play, although the camera sweeping around the table with divine motion more than…
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At once a great novel, a great play, a great symphony, a great mural – Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s The Last Supper ponders on Adam & Eve, Fulgencio Batista, slavery, Christ, casual discrimination and systemic racism, neoliberalism, the revolution, feudalism, and when capitalist oppression will end, and what the assortment of people, events, and generally lame excuses listed here have done to keep it alive. The wealthy and powerful have attempted to justify their stewardship of forced servitude for so long, but then contradictorily deny that they even had the power to do so in the first place when brought to scrutiny. It’s a history of passing off the hot potato, of blaming those you control. Particularly that speech with Villagra talking about…
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*English below*
Movies around the world: Kuba
Ein sehr eindrucksvoller Film über Sklaverei in der Kolonialzeit in Kuba und über christliche Doppelmoral. Zum einen sehr spannend, zum anderen zieht er sich schon sehr. Die Message des Films ist deutlich und ich frage mich, wie der Film 1976 angekommen ist und ob die Message da auch schon so deutlich gewesen ist. Interessant finde ich, wie gering der Gewaltgrad in dem Film ist, aus moderneren Werken zu der Thematik geht es häufig wesentlich brutaler und expliziter zu. Trotzdem schockt der Film auf seine Art und Weise und stimmt einen nachdenklich.
Eine klare Empfehlung von mir.
___________________________________________________________________________________A very impressive film about slavery in colonial Cuba and about Christian double standards. On the…