La muerte de un burócrata AKA Death of a Bureaucrat (1966) FotW #332

[Cocoa]

Film of the Week #332: La muerte de un burócrata AKA Death of a Bureaucrat (1966)



Summary:
A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape.

#134 on 500<400, with 245 checks.
Nominated by blocho, Cocoa, filmbantha, and Minkin.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#134(⇩29, #105) La muerte de un burócrata (1966)
[Death of a Bureaucrat]

Directed by: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
(473.04 Pts, 13 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–1–4
History: 134←105←188←740←285←444←NA

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ICheckMovies: 232 Checks , 29 Favourites , 5 Official lists

List of Voters:

clemmetarey (9)
Ebbywebby (13)
Fergenaprido (19)
BaalMan (24)
weirdboy (NA)
cayado-coro (93)
joachimt (96)
jeroeno (145)
burneyfan (148)
insomnius (NA)
bal3x (187)
xianjiro (517)
Perception de Ambiguity (591)

This movie fits the current Comedy Challenge.



Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.

[joachimt]

A lot better than last week's movie. 8/10

[pitchorneirda]

I watched it years ago, I remember it to be hilarious during the first 30/40 minutes but it goes downhill after that so that's not quite a favorite for me (7/10) but it will be in my list for the next 500<400 poll for sure

[Minkin]

Here are my recent thoughts on the film (from the Conquer the World topic)

An amazing fun film that combines the Kafka bureaucratic nightmare with the cartoonish. The story follows a man who's trying to have his dead uncle's remains exhumed in order to get a card that was buried with him .... and then the laborious effort to get the remains re-interred. The jokes are primarily targeted around the absurdities of the bureaucratic system - and the issues that are compounded when deviating from the system in any slight manner. For example - the body can't be buried because there's no exhumation request on file - so the protagonist must find an exhumation request for a body that's already been exhumed. It also helps that the director was such a cinephile and tributes countless filmmakers here (chiefly during the dream sequences - which borrow from Bunuel, Bergman, Kurosawa, etc). He even does a direct parody of the Laurel and Hardy short - Two Tars. There's also a scene in an animated paper-craft sequence. This is the best discovery I've experienced in quite awhile - and I can't recommend the film enough!

[blocho]

This is satire of the highest order. Just fantastic. Added to my 500<400 list. Does anyone know how Alea got it past the Cuban censors?

[Fergenaprido]

Saw this a few years ago. Great film, wonderful comedy with something to say. My favourite Cuban movie so far.

8.2/10

[Ebbywebby]

Saw this a few years ago (too). Loved it.

[burneyfan]

One of my favorites.

[filmbantha]

Caught up with this film tonight and really enjoyed it. One of those films that you watch with a smile on your face the whole way through. I'm curious as to whether this was a big influence on Brazil as it sure feels like it. This is going straight on my 500<400 list.