STEPHEN WILKINSON


Fig. 1 A scene from La hija del policia. The caption reads: 'El Policia Ramirez presta
su juramento ante el cabildo de fidfilgos.' From Cuba Cinematogr6fica (1917).


 [...] result de gran originalidad para el pfblico y se ha hecho con todos
 los detalles posibles. (1917: 10)

 Evidently there is a paradoxical interest in the cult: on the one hand the
film plays on a public fascination for its occult nature, while on the other it is
professing a desire to eradicate the cult's influence. Instrumental in this is
the character Luciano, a young black, the nephew of a witch who is associated
with the cult and

 [...] que aunque quiere a su tfa porque ella lo ha criado, es opuesto a
 las prActicas del fetichismo y muy a menudo reprende a su tia por eso.
 (1917: 11)

 Luciano resolves to help Ramirez because he feels sorry for the girl when
he sees her bound and gagged in his Aunt's house. Such feelings are the
result of his having received the benefits of an education:

 Es Luciano la prueba palpable del beneficio de la escuela pfiblica. Vedlo en
 esta pelicula, como en medio de un mal ambiente, su instrucci6n lo pone a
 cubierto de un fanatismo ridiculo. (1917: 11)

This faith in the 'civilising' powers of education is thus counterpoised by
the way in which the film indulges some commonly held mythologies about
the AbakuA.