Cecilia (1982)

Cecilia: Directed by Humberto Solás. With Daisy Granados, Imanol Arias, Raquel Revuelta, Miguel Benavides. Cecilia, a Cuban girl of mixed race in violent 19th-century Cuba, is raised by her mother and grandmother as a courtesan. Soon, pale-skinned Cecilia catches the eye of the estate owner’s son, Leonardo. Cecilia bows to Leonardo’s demands provided he agrees to shelter a wounded member of the resistance movement at his home. Leonardo’s wealthy father, Cándido de Gamboa, arranges the engagement of his son to a white girl of their own class. Cecilia tries to stop the wedding with tragic results.

“It must have only been during the past few years that Humberto Solasu0026#39;s u0026quot;Ceciliau0026quot; became available in the United States. I actually liked Solasu0026#39;s later u0026quot;Un hombre de exitou0026quot; (u0026quot;A Successful Manu0026quot;) better, as this one comes across as sort of a Jane Austen-style period piece. Daisy Granados plays the title character, trying to seduce a young aristocrat through santeria in 1830s Cuba.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA scene that I found really impressive was the beginning, when the slave woman tells the story of the African woman stolen off of her land. Such was certainly the fate of so many Africans. That whole sequence reminded of Jonathan Demmeu0026#39;s u0026quot;Belovedu0026quot;, what with the stories of slavery. And of course, thereu0026#39;s eventually a slave rebellion. Slavery is the real history of the Americas.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, worth seeing.”