A film about a nuclear power plant that never was
HAVANA TIMES – The first Cuban nuclear power plant was a project coordinated with the former USSR. It began taking shape in the 1980s in Juraguá, south of Cienfuegos. Equipment and technology from that nation were brought in for the project. Additionally, a residential neighborhood was built for the workers and their families.
I recently saw the film The Work of the Century (2015) at the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, which was set in this location. The film, directed by Carlos Machado Quintela revolves around a patriarchal relationship among three different generations: the grandfather, the father, and the son, who live together in an apartment assigned to the son, an engineer who studied in the Soviet Union.
These are men without women, burdened with problems and frustrations. The grandfather is a staunch machista who sabotages his son’s budding new relationship; the grandson waits endlessly for a girlfriend who never returns. Their daily life is a battlefield, with frictions that lead to constant psychological and physical violence.
It’s interesting that the personal sto