Muerte De Un Burocrata - Free Paper with a Movie Review

Muerte de un burocrata "Death of a Bureaucrat" is a comedy film released in 1966 and has its director as Tomas Gutierrez Alea, a Cuban nationality. The film begins with the passing on of a perfect worker whose dedication to work goes to a point of being buried with his working card as a demonstration of honor to his lifetime of service. Unfortunately, the working card is required for the widow by the name Silvia Planas to claim her entitled benefits. The rest of the story is based on attempts to retrieve the card that was buried with the man. As such, the following paper provides a review of this film in relation to the key themes such as death, burial, and bureaucratic rigidity as well as challenges in Cuban life by then. Further, the review explores and discusses other important aspects of the film such as the technical aspects of the cinematic apparatus including sound, cinematography and Mise-en-scene.

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Death is a theme that is highly dominant in the film. An instance that illustrates this is at the first office whereby the nephew makes his way into the office in search for an approval, outside the office sits a man armed with a scythe. In another occasion, at the restaurant where an agreement is reached between the nephew and the cemetery crew to have the casket of his uncle opened, the waiter is in the possession of fangs. Additionally, it is noticeable from the film that the mortician has a hanging skeleton on the rear-view mirror while the nephew kept seeing blackbirds. The blackbirds can be taken to foreshadow his approaching demise, further depicting the theme of death in the film. The theme of burial is depicted at the point where the nephew wants the body of his uncle stolen before making a proposal to bury it once more hence hiring two men to have the exercise done. Furthermore, the theme of bureaucratic rigidity is presented by the strong dedication of the working man before he met his death. It is also illustrated in the film's title, "Death of a Bureaucrat". The theme of challenges in Cuban life is depicted using humor whereby the story of the widow could be interpreted to suggest the hardships that widows in Cuba faced in their efforts to claim their dead husbands' benefits. This theme is also underpinned by the encounters that the nephew had to face, just to acquire a simple document, a permit.

Technical aspects of the cinematic apparatus are also well represented in the film. Starting with cinematography, various elements are visible. For instance, the machine belonging to Paco malfunctioned and he makes an attempt to fix it. This scene is different from others in the film whereby it is presented in a cartoon-like form. Also, the scene has an accelerated motion which adds to the element. In terms of sound, the film has used what can be referred as silent comedy style in which the actors are overdramatic to express events and emotions in the absence of sound. This is demonstrated at the instance where the nephew is forced to start queuing from the back, only for the clock to tick onto five when he reaches the front. Another aspect of sound is depicted in the introductory part of the film whereby an invisible functionality types a bureaucratic memo while epic music plays from the soundtrack. Mise-en-scene is also evident in Alea's work. For instance, photographs are used to illustrate Paco's eulogy while the man is pointed out in the crowd with the help of an arrow which creates a joke and enhancing a sense of humor for the audience. Thus, in this instance, the designing of mise-en-scene is such that it evokes a sense of humor, which makes the film an excellent comedy.

In conclusion, as demonstrated in this film review, several themes are evident in Muerte de un burocrata including death, burial, bureaucratic rigidity and challenges in early Cuban life. Further, it is evident that the filmmakers have successfully used various cinematic apparatus including sound, cinematography, and Mise-en-scene to tell the story and enhance the film's comedy aspect.