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Rating: Country: Cuba Release Date: February 17, 2009 Distributor: First Run Features Director: · Daniel Diaz Torrez Cast: · Thais Valdez · Reynaldo Miravalles · Alberto Pujoles Related Sites: · IMDb: Alice in Wondertown Grade: B

Without a great deal of subtlety, “Alice in Wondertown” tosses about many political criticisms of Cuban partisan belief systems, coercion, opportunism and the necessity of blind advocacy for a life that is equated, quite literally, to shit. The use of “Alice in Wonderland” as a template is minor, acting mainly as a rough justification of the absurdist, satirical nature of a culture founded on such peculiarities. While the film is interesting and certainly clever, it is quite rough around the edges and not entirely coherent from a narrative standpoint. A decidedly idiosyncratic framework helps mask this fact to a degree, but much of the film pivots on incomplete footage, badly lit scenes and awkward edits, which detract from some of the more amusing allegorical implications.

“Wondertown”, as it were, is a community called Maravillas where people go as punishment for not obeying the rules. Alicia (Thais Valdez), however, goes there by choice to pursue her dream of teaching drama. She quickly learns that no drama will be taught in a community of exploited, disenchanted, overworked and afraid workers, who all seem to be involved in the production of fizzy water.

With vomiting loudspeakers, constant renovations, garbage strewn streets and animations about birds living contentedly in big steaming cow pies, the tacit notion of a counter-productive culture built on bullshit is pretty obvious, which Alicia tries to expose, regardless of the many warnings she receives against doing so.

Aside from a fecal mud bath and excrement strewing loudspeakers, many of the oddities within Maravillas are bound within an exaggerated reality, which helps to mirror the apparent absurdities of daily Cuban life. This lack of subtlety, however, may explain why the film was banned just four days after release and labelled as polemic. An interview with director Daniel Diaz Torres that is included in the DVD liners notes sheds some light on the political climate that led to the banning of this film.

Also included with the DVD is a short film titled “Paul Kopinzky” about a man who retaliates to an office joke in an extreme manner. Directed by Malte Ollroge, the short is brief, but well made and highly amusing. All additional features are included with the liner notes, which delves into decidedly academic territory, pointing out that true art serves the function of pointing contradictions in culture, rather than acting in a purely illustrative manner.

For technical aficionados, the transfer is poor and the subtitles are hideous. The previous subtitle is actually ghosted every time a new one appears. What can one expect from a banned, early 90’s, Cuban film, however.