The First Charge of the Machete

The First Charge of the Machete (1969)

La primera carga al machete

Cuban peasants wield machetes in a violent uprising against Spanish authorities in the late 19th century.

Date of release
1969-05-22
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 24m
Genres
Drama, War, History
Director
Manuel Octavio Gómez

Casting

Interesting facts

The First Charge of the Machete is a 1969 Cuban historical film directed by Manuel Octavio Gómez. It dramatizes the beginning of the Ten Years' War against Spanish colonial rule, particularly the first use of the machete as a weapon by Cuban insurgents underthe leadership of Máximo Gómez. The film deliberately combines historical fiction with documentary techniques. It had its world premiere at Directors' Fortnight at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.

Production

The film was produced by ICAIC as part of the cultural commemoration of the centenary of the beginning of Cuba's wars of independence. Gómez reconstructed the historical events while deliberately giving them the appearance of a contemporary documentary.

José Rojas Bez wrote about the film's high-contrast black-and-white photographyby Jorge Herrera, which is integrated to simulated interviews and documentary-style staging,a s well as to the battle scenes to emulate documentary conventions and the look of early cinema.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended