LA ULTIMA CENA/THE LAST SUPPER
Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Cuba 1976, 120 mins, EST, (15)
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea is best known for his Memories of Underdevelopment. The Last Supper is unfairly neglected, made during the height of 'the cold war', showing a Cuba that was unknown and a history that was of little interest to audiences of that time. The meal of the title is provided by a slave owner to impress his slaves with his concern. We are shown that a Christian doctrine given to his slaves is in direct conflict with the work they have to do on the plantation. The film opens a window onto a past, remembered in 2007 by some who celebrate the bicentenary of 'the ending of the slave trade' but who forget that the abolition of slavery was a hard road fought for by slaves, as portrayed by Alea.
- Discussion led by Michael Chanan, Professor of Film and Video at Roehampton University, London, Jacqui McKenzie, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Dionne Walker, Lead Co-ordinator for the 1807-2007 Abolition Programme and Chair of Black History Month Steering Group for the London Borough of Camden and Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Assistant Director of the International Institute for Cuban Studies