Alea's Allegory

The Last Supper (New Yorker)
Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s allegorical drama about an episode in 18th century Cuban history–a rich landowner gives an elaborate dinner for 12 of his slaves which re-enacts the biblical last supper –raised eyebrows upon its release in 1976 for what it said about the country’s historical racism. Even if The Last Supper doesn’t have the depth of Alea’s earlier masterpiece, 1968's Memories of Underdevelopment, it’s still a thought-provoking slice of Latin American history.