Dog Bytes Thais Valdés ventures through a different kind of looking glass in the Cuban fantasy ALICE IN WONDERTOWN.


Midnight Meat Wanted In Wondertown


ALICE IN WONDERTOWN


Alicia en el Pueblo de Maravillas 1990, First Run, $24.95, 89m 6s, DVD By Michael Barrett


Directed by Daniel Díaz


Torres, this is sometimes de- scribed as the most controversial film in Cuban history. It was banned after four days and con- demned as counter-revolutionary because of its pointed criticism and Kafkaesque satirical vision. Alas, it cannot transcend the limits of its presentation here. Alicia (Thais Valdés) is a drama teacher who eagerly takes


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a job in the backwater of Mara- villas (whose name means mar- vels or wonders), which turns out to be a town of exiles, with every- one except her having been sent for doing something wrong or up- setting someone. Nothing works right, but the hypocritical citizens resent the newcomer’s criticisms. There are bits of animation, mildly surreal touches and allu- sions to Lewis Carroll, such as when Alice crawls through a bath- room mirror—and it may be all a dream. It’s a light, chaotic film with a bitter little aftertaste. From Icestorm’s DEFA col- lection of East German proper- ties, this is a print with burned-in

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