| Popis: |
Maestra: Th e Film is the directorial debut of Catherine Murphy. Th is 2012 documentary interviews a group of nine women whose lives dramatically changed aft er working in the Cuban literacy campaign of 1961. Th e nine women refl ect on how the spirit of postrevolution Cuba encouraged them to go out and teach the urban and agricultural poor. Despite their families’ objections, the young women left the cities to live in their students’ rural homes and learn about another kind of life amid real threats of physical danger from insurgents. As we learn at the end of the fi lm, the teachers’ hard work achieved signifi cant results when, in 1962, the United Nations deemed illiteracy eradicated in Cuba. In addition to the impact on the Cuban people, the fi lm focuses on the enduring changes in the women’s lives. Th e documentary eff ectively delivers a series of personal narratives that add these women to the historical archive, by mixing archival materials of the literacy campaigns, personal photos from the women, and video footage of the interviews. In what follows, the authors of this review engage in a conversation about the fi lm’s content and gender politics. Th ey comment on the documentary’s reliance on women’s oral testimonies and on their commitment to literacy and more inclusive pedagogies. In the process, they also address how the rhetorical devices of the fi lm interact with traditional notions of nationbuilding and citizenship in postrevolutionary Cuba. |
