"It is, as the title suggests, a satire on bureaucracy and red tape, but also on a lot of other sad and mediocre things which we have to put up with at times.

"— Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Director’s Statement,[1] La Biennale di VeneziaThe story begins with the death of a model worker, who is buried with his labor card as a badge of honor.

But, since there is no record of the body being exhumed, the bureaucracy turns down the family's wish to re-bury the body, because all the official documents show the deceased has already been buried... "The film was wildly popular in Cuban theatres, but, reportedly, because of its bitter mockery of key elements in Cuba’s emerging socialist society, Alea had to have the film smuggled out of Cuba for its release in the US.

"[2]Special Jury Prize – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, shared[3] with Jean-Paul Rappeneau's La Vie de château "A satiric comment on contemporary Cuban society, it is also a film deeply attuned to the history of the cinema, with references to and echoes of Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, and Buñuel, among others, all cited in the opening credits.

"[2]"It is a black-and-white, full-length comedy about a country which has undergone a socialist revolution and now insists its bureaucrats provide equal treatment for all, including the dead.