'La mujer salvaje' the debut film by Alán González, closes the Official Competition Section with a portrait of violence in a sexist and patriarchal society
El director cubano Alán González ha presentado su ópera prima, ‘La mujer salvaje’, la producción cubana que ha clausurado la Sección Oficial a concurso.
Cuban director Alán González presented his debut film, 'La mujer salvaje', the Cuban production that closed the Official Competition Section. His feature film portrays violence in a sexist and patriarchal society through the story of an imperfect female character who fights for survival and rebels against the status quo.
González explained at a press conference that his story is based on a state of mind that we breathe in a violent, sexist and patriarchal society at all levels. In the same way, he confessed that 'he is very affected by the stories of people who, when they make a mistake, society tramples them underfoot. And if you fall, you run the risk of being trampled on for the rest of your life', he said.
This is how González explained the essence of his script, which was born when the Cuban director watched a video of a person who had made a mistake and society judged him. 'When people take matters into their own hands and we lack a judicial system that works, society becomes an even more violent world', he said.
The main character is Yolanda, played by actress Lola Amores, a 40-year-old woman who lives in a poor neighbourhood in Havana and survives a bloody fight in which her husband almost kills her lover.
In an attempt to save her son from the consequences of the scandal, she decides to run away with him, but a video of the incident has already gone viral and his mother ends up taking the boy without his consent. For a whole day, she will go around the city searching for information about the boy's whereabouts. In the end, he will have to face his mother's arguments, his son's fears, the disapproval of his neighbours and his own sense of guilt.
On the other hand, the director added that he wanted to expose 'what happens when you are not what others expect you to be'. In this respect, he pointed out that he did not want to portray a woman who had made a mistake, but to show an imperfect woman who is loved despite her mistakes.
Lola Amores is joined by actors Jean Marcos Fraga Piedra, Isora Morales, Grisel Monzón, Yaité Ruiz, Leandro Sen, Afrodreak, Arnaldo Galbán, Yailín Coppola, Leidys Chiv, Andros Perrugoría and Jorge Perrugoria, who complete the cast.
Finally, González acknowledged that it is very difficult to make films in his country. It is very difficult to make films in Cuba, with little money, in a few days of shooting, with an actress who is the opposite of a diva and at a hostile time with the pandemic in which people were afraid of losing their lives,' he said.
Share
