Among pigeons, fighting dogs and children living their reality, the new Cuban film “Conducta”, by filmmaker Ernesto Daranas evokes splendor and decadence of Havana traced by the margins, the Havana he lived in. Much have been said these days of the release, but few know that Carmela, the character actress Alina Rodriguez plays, is real.
Carmela Martinez Echevarria , who was a long time ago, ” the teacher” of Daranas ‘s eldest son , is the inspiration of Conducta. Now, in true classroom of the Angela Luanda school, in Old Havana , among books , desks and children looking at us puzzled , Carmela tells the joys and sorrows of a life , as the apostle said, dedicated to ” make pious and useful men ” .
“I joined the teaching profession by a call of the Revolution in 1967. So I thought it would be a fad, and with the teaching practices, I changed my mind. When I graduated they placed me as director in a school in La Hata neighborhood in Guanabacoa municipality. It was difficult at first; they treated me like a child, because I was very skinny and young. But I won the love of the Hata people, visiting their homes, preparing cultural activities where all children were involved. We even built four new classrooms for the school, and the parents were who sought the materials and worked day and night.
“After two years I returned to a school in my town, in Plaza de la Revolucion municipality. From there I went to El Platanito in Cerro, where I did very well despite being also a slum. As I lived nearby I used to show up at the children’s home to check their homework or under any pretext. To some of them I fetched to take them to school and then told the neighborhood criminals to show me the exit because they were many blind alleys but they respected me. “
Carmela worked in other peripheral areas of the city such as San Miguel del Padrón and San Agustin. She was part of the literacy campaign in Nicaragua in 1979 and since 1995 she is in the Angela Luanda School, where she founded the Museum Classroom project sponsored by UNESCO. Her story is one of many teachers who deliver the best of them every day in the classroom and also, why not ? nostalgia for all those who had a “teacher ” as she sometime .
Who is the real Carmela?
“The real Carmela has no difference with the character. That was what struck me about the movie, and although Alina is very good actress I did not think he was capable of performing it like this. There really is no difference, I also demand a lot of my students and I get to their problems. This week it made me very happy that one of my former students came because he had seen the film.
She says she found many coincidences that “I wanted to check if I was there “she reveals with a smile
Have you had any Chala in your classroom like in the movie?
“There are many Chalas and worst cases in so many years of work. I remember a student who came from the behavioral school. When such centers say the child is OK, he should be reinstated in the same school and classroom where he was before. But his teacher said that if the child returned, she was gone. Then I requested her to give him to me. The boy argued with all teachers and students, he turned the class upside down. I even had to go to behavioral school for advice because he infuriated me.
“But he was slowly changing. In the holidays he called my house to announce he was bringing me a surprise when he reincorporated. He liked to move alone in the exercise of Mathematics and that I used Marti thoughts in my classes. What was the surprise? He had done the entire math book and filled a book of Marti thoughts. He even made it to Lenin School (best Cuban pre-university school), but he was expelled. Years passed and one day he called me and said, “Your bad student, the worst, enrolled in medicine school. When I graduate, I will take you the diploma. “And he brought it to me.
“He’s just one of many, not just behavioral cases also girls who became pregnant in the primary school, with alcoholic mothers like Chala, and other sad stories.”
Were you one of the teachers of filmmaker Ernesto Daranas’s children?
“Daranas two children, Juan Pablo and Laura studied at this school, and I was the teacher of the boy in 5th and 6th grade. I saved him, as thousands of others, from the behavioral school. He was a good student, but he was naughty, but he was good with me, because I was tough on those who do not behave well!, Likewise as Alina is.
“These guys are not guilty of the environment they live in, sometimes they just lack love. And as Carmela says in the film, a school of behavior is a stain on the record. It is true that there are specialists and other methods there, and if I have questions I go and I ask them for help but my students stay in my class.
“I saw Juan Pablo at the premiere of Conducta, in the end he proved to be a good student. Now he is doing the thesis to graduate from the Faculty of Audiovisual Media (FAMCA), he followed his dad. “
When did Daranas reach you to comment that he was planning a movie about you?
“Daranas called me one day and said I needed to tell him of my experience as a teacher because he wanted to make something about Cuban pedagogy. I hardly knew the occupation of Juan Pablo’s dad , and he told me it was for a movie.
“We exchanged a few times over my life. Time passed, until he re-contacted to meet with me . Then I stopped by his house and he gave me a folded little piece of paper. He told me to read it when I could to give him my opinion. I dropped it in my purse and I left. When I arrived I was surprised to see a script. I bathed, ate fast and that night I read it completely. It was a fusion of tremendous emotions, things of me that did not even remember and experiences I did not tell him about that he had learned somehow.
“I did not agree with some parts as the reason for the attack, which is not real, I don’t have a daughter, but something like that happened to me. Daranas explained that there is always some fiction and I understood. “
So what else is real in the life of Carmela Martínez Hechevarría?
“Almost everything is real; I don’t have a daughter, but a young man whom I love as if were, that left Cuba. He was studying to be a teacher and I had to tutor him in his professional life. Then we realized that we were neighbors and I became his mom.
“When I saw the film for the first time, and watched Chala knocking at the teacher’s door, I remembered that youngster. He also appeared at any time in my house when he had a problem. I said: – cry here as long as you want, when you calm down, if you want you tell me -. Sometimes we would sit and talk until dawn. His going out of Cuba meant a big blow for me, he told me the day before at 11 PM, and we still keep in touch.
“It is also true that I had a boy in the classroom that died of cancer in 6th grade. And when I worked at La Corea in Cerro two brothers drowned in one of those pits they open for the foundations of buildings. These are facts that I remember with great sadness “.
Was there any interaction between you and the actress who plays Carmela, Alina Rodriguez?
“Alina and others went several times to school, had to see how I was. It also came the day of Literary Cushion Day to make the one seen in the film. This idea was originally for students with major difficulties in Spanish language, but now I do it for everyone.
On Tuesday afternoon we changed the classroom, make a circle and sat on the floor on cushions. Each chooses a book to share and analyze its teachings. Moreover, I prepared the boards in the classroom in the film, I wrote all quotes. “…
In your experience what qualities should a teacher have these days?
“The teacher should know to be a teacher wherever he is, not just in school. Also in the store’s queue, everywhere, because society will be watching him, and the parents of those children whom you teach too.
“You cannot demand what we fail to do. So the first thing is exemplary, and then also the domain of what you do, pedagogical expertise, continuous improvement as the kids today know much more than before. And in the classroom you have to leave personal problems aside, because there it is up to us to understand the problem of others. “
The biggest perk of being a teacher…
“The reward to see them become good men and women on the street one day. I’m very bad with faces and that is serious, but when I look into their eyes, I recognize them. It’s what I do when I’m giving classes: look into their eyes and through the sight I know where and how their minds are. Those looks are not forgotten. Yes because the faces change. “
For: Mariateresa Hernández Martínez
Photos: Javier Tamayo
