El Enemigo

The aedes genus of mosquitoes is not only the “enemy of the fatherland, but indeed the enemy of all mankind.” They have infected around 300,000 people with dengue fever in the space of a year: Aldemar Matías begins his film with black and white footage from the state film institute ICAIC, after which the camera accompanies Mayelín and her colleagues from the anti-mosquito brigade, which is tasked with tracking down the dangerous species and its larva amongst the neighbourhoods of central Havana. They search flats, hand out fines and clear the way for the white clouds of smoke that make up the pesticides.

This hunt for an invisible enemy makes for a stellar documentary observation, both Kafkaesque and full of tragicomic stoicism. WMH