This movie is so fantastic! I've seen it like 10 times or so, and I still get impressed whenever I watch it. Glauber Rocha, who was a total genius, unites various elements of Brazil's Northeastern culture in a great story about alienation of the people. The story is narrated by a singer who impersonates a regional popular singer; and the visual aspects of the film and the tone of black and white are supposed to resemble the rhymes and the woodcut covers which invoke the "literatura de cordel", or "string literature", which is very common in the northeast of Brazil(not so much today, but certainly in the 60's). The film shows how the powerful control the poorest through violence and intimidation, and how religion and the "Cangaço" movement can be bad when a person without perspective and objectives in life get involved with them. Manuel, the main character, is totally alienated by the "black god" Sebastião, which resembles, in many ways, real Brazilian preacher Antônio Conselheiro; and by the "white devil" Corisco(a real Cangaceiro who worked with real and, in the 20's and 30's, widely famous Cangaço boss Lampião), wonderfully performed by Othon Bastos, while the hired gun Antonio das Mortes is on the look for both Sebastião and Corisco through the badlands of Northeast. This is a real masterpiece!!
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Given Word
(1962)
What can I say?
4 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Usually, the books are better than the movies that are made based on them. But, on this case, of O Pagador de Promessas, I really can't say which one is better. I'm starting to think the movie is better than the book, because the director, Anselmo Duarte, has added many things that weren't on the book, and they only contribute to improve the story. For example, the TV reporter and the people who go ask Zé do Burro for miracles. That part reminded me of that scene in Forrest Gump in which Forrest runs for three years and people start following him, thinking he was some kind of wise prophet, when he simply wanted to run. Actually, the whole story of O Pagador de Promessas is kind of that. A guy who only wants to pay his promise to a saint and is made a prophet, a "new Christ", a devil worshiper, and ends up dying because of some people's prejudice towards aspects that integrate their own culture.
Cinema Paradiso
(1988)
A wonderful masterpiece!
19 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is so beautiful, in each of its aspects. The beautiful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, the wonderful acting and directing, it all fits perfectly to create a great story on a boy, a projectionist and their love for films. All the actors who play Salvatore are wonderful, including the little boy, Salvatore Cascio. Philippe Noiret is great(as usual) in the role of Alfredo, the projectionist of Cinema Paradiso. And the ending, when Toto watches a compilation made by Alfredo of all of the censored scenes is so beautiful, so emotional...
A great and wonderful masterpiece that deserves to be adored to the end of time.
A great and wonderful masterpiece that deserves to be adored to the end of time.
El corazón
(2007)
Very nice...
17 November 2008
When I went to watch this movie, I was thinking it'd be just another boring documentary on how the human body works, and stuff. Instead, I got to see a deep study on Colombian society(as Colombia was the country of the "Sagrado Corazón"(Holy Heart), analyzing many aspects of their culture and habits, going up to their political system. I was very pleased when I met Diego Garcia Moreno and congratulated him for this very good documentary. Of course, it's not perfect, and it's maybe a little tedious in some parts, but the way it all gets together in the end and the message it gives us is great. So I'll just say it was a good picture, I liked it, and it was also good for improving my Spanish.
Macunaima
(1969)
A weird-comical-colorful masterpiece about Brazil
17 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not sure if non-Brazilian people will completely get the message. The character of Macunaíma represents Brazilian natives. He is a critic made by Mário de Andrade through Brazilian Indian legends to Brazilian people. Of course it's all exaggerated in Macunaíma. It criticizes many aspects of the Brazilian way, for example all black people who want to be white(the episode of the magical fountain). The story of the book has been adapted to the 60's and set during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Macunaíma, "the hero without any character"(which also represents a break with the classical hero concept), hides food from his family, sleeps as much as he can, and cares only about himself. After they go to the big city, he meets a guerrilla-girl named Ci, which means 'mother' in the Tupi language, and marries her. They have a child, and then she dies and loses her Muiraquitã(a lucky charm), which is found by the villain Venceslau Pietro-Pietra(the cannibal bourgeois). Macunaíma then goes on a quest to recover it(because it would bring him good fortune), and goes to a Candomblé(an Afro-Brazilian religion) dance to set a kind of voodoo curse on Pietro-Pietra. This way, all Brazilian culture is mixed up in the film, in an "Antropophagical" way to symbolize every important aspect of Brazil. A beautiful way for Joaquim Pedro de Andrade to show his love for his country. He once said "I can only talk about Brazil".
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