Film #36 - Juan of the Dead

Juan of the Dead is a bit of curious film and not just because it mixes the classic zombie apocalypse horror with slapstick comedy (similar ground having, of course been covered in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead and, to a lesser extent Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead).

No what stands out primarily about Juan of the Dead (or Juan de los Muertos in its original form) is that it is not only a Cuban zombie film but one that is heavily critical of the Cuban government yet enjoyed the Cuban government’s support whilst being made.

Plotwise we’re looking at some pretty standard fare. Our hero Juan (Alexis Diaz de Villegas) enjoys a shiftless existence palling around with his even more ineffectual best friend Lazaro (Jorge Molina), both of whom make their living avoiding honest work and who are both estranged by various degrees from their adult children: Camila (Andrea Duro) in Juan’s case and Vladi California (Andros Perugorria) in Lazaro’s.

But Juan’s satisfaction with his own existence (he credits being a survivor as his ultimate talent) receives a bit of a shake up when his friends and neighbours start turning violent and biting one another. Yessirs, the zombie apocalypse is on.

Zombie films have always been rich pickings for anyone looking for a metaphor but Juan of the Dead stands out from its stablemates is how overt the satire is. It takes the protagonists of the film a considerable amount of time to even notice there is a zombie plague afoot because life in Castro’s Cuba and life with the living dead don’t instantly look totally dissimilar from each other. As they government becomes aware of the threat, it is dismissed as the work of “dissidents” and “imperialists” and the protagonists seem largely willing to go along with this description. The word “zombie” is uttered only once in the entire film and it comes from the lips of an improbably placed Australian priest who the major antagonists can’t understand anyway.

Even more interesting is the way the film’s protagonists react when they realise what is going on. For many of Havana’s residents, the walking dead is just another on a laundry list of inconveniences to be endured and our hero sees it as a serendipitous opportunity to make some fast money by starting a business offing your relatives when they become noisily dead (the film’s title is also the name of Juan’s company).

All of which may sound like Cuba is being presented as a Hell on Earth but nothing could be further from the truth. There’s a lot to like about Cuba from the film’s perspective. It’s people are practical, efficient, and (in their own lazy murderous way) adherent to a moral code. There’s also the (to me) surprising addition of a major transvestite heroic character and his behemoth of a boyfriend which helps to offset some of the more homophobic elements of the script (there’s more than one). And it’s very clear that Juan at the very least has an abiding love for his country even as he plots to swindle it for all it’s worth.

Although the pacing tends to be on the slow side (it’s unclear exact how long the plot of the film runs for but it’s at least a month), the steady stream of humour helps distract from the fact that nothing’s happening plotwise – there’s an impromptu tango scene to look out for in particular.

Performance-wise, I’m at a bit of loss owing to the language barrier but Preugorria and Jazz Vila as “La China” stood out for me in particular.

This screening was part of the Toronto After Dark Summer Sessions where the selections can sometimes be a bit patchy (hey, can’t please everyone all the time) but the community is incredibly enthusiastic. See Juan on the big screen if you get the chance as it’s this kind of crowd that is the cherry on top of a well put together cake.