Mariposas en el Andamio (Butterflies on the Scaffold)

The last several years have seen the release of a number of films dealing with the lives of lesbians and gays in present-day Cuba, including Sonja de Vries' Gay Cuba (VL-5/96); Kelly Anderson's Looking for a Space (Filmakers Library); and Tomas Gutierrez Alea's popular feature film, Strawberry and Chocolate (VL-11/95). Margaret Gilpin and Luis Bernaza's film Mariposas en el Andamio is an engaging addition to this growing body of work, and is perhaps the most personal and emotionally-charged of the lot. The film focuses on a troupe of drag queens who perform for workers and community members in the Havana suburb of La Guinera. Most of the members of the troupe are working-class gay men, whose emotional lives very clearly revolve around the two or three hours a night they're allowed to dress up and perform on stage in a neighborhood workers' dining hall. The real drama behind this story lies in the way this group of social and political outcasts manages to secure both a place for themselves and a kind of grudging respect in their community by winning the support of female leaders of a local construction brigade. Mariposas provides a mix of moving interviews with the performers, their families, and community members, together with scenes of drag performances, and while there's a lot to commend here, there are also a number of problems that keep it from being a thoroughly satisfying film: the editing and organization of the work tend to be fairly sloppy, and the visuals and sound are at best gritty. Too, a kind of misplaced romanticism about the subjects grows a bit tedious, and there's also something rather dishonest about the filmmakers' sly attempt at irony in using the pop-schlock lip-synced lyrics to say something about the performers' lives. Despite these failings, this is a unique work which would be a useful addition to collections interested in Caribbean/Latin American politics and culture, or gay and lesbian studies. Aud: H, C, P. (G. Handman)