One Way or Another

The only feature from the radical Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez—completed by her collaborators after her untimely death—is an extraordinary portrait of postrevolution Cuba. Blending invaluable documentary footage with a loose narrative about the budding cross-class relationship between an outspoken schoolteacher (Yolanda Cuéllar) and a young mixed-race factory worker (Mario Balmaseda) facing a moral crisis, One Way or Another depicts revolution as an ongoing process that takes place at the level of community—among friends, lovers, coworkers, teachers, students, and parents, all of whom must work together to negotiate a new social order. Above all, Gómez offers a trenchant intersectional critique of the lingering sexism and machismo that, she argues, must be cleared away in order to create a truly just society.

One Way or Another was restored in 2K resolution by Arsenal in collaboration with ICAIC at ARRI in Munich and Berlin.