Brazil in the Movies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Brazil in the Movies This is a brief selection of films about Brazil with English subtitles that have historical, political, social, or cultural content. Abdias Nascimento. Director: Aída Marquez, 2011. Documentary about the life of Abdias do Nascimento, who was an Afro- Brazilian leader, actor, playwright, artist, poet, founder of Brazil’s Teatro Experimental do Preto (Black Experimental Theater) and Museu de Arte Negra (Museum of Black Art), and finally a politician, elected to the Brazilian Federal Chamber of Deputies in 1983 and 1987, and serving in the Brazilian Senate from 1997 to 1999. Abdias Nascimento: 90 Years, Living Memory. Director: Elisa Larkin Nascimento, 2006. This video documents the life of Brazilian black activist Abdias do Nascimento through footage of panels, conferences, ceremonies, and international colloquia. Abril despedaçado (Behind the Sun). Director: Walter Salles, 2001. In 1910 northeastern Brazil, impoverished farmers wage a tragic blood feud with a neighboring clan. Anjos do arrabalde (Angels of the Outskirts). Director: Carlos Reichenbach, 1987. Drama about the lives of three teachers in the poor outlying neighborhoods of São Paulo. O ano que os meus pais saíram de férias (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation). Director: Cao Hamburger, 2007. A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood of São Paulo by his revolutionary parents at the height of political repression in 1970, when Brazil is competing in the soccer World Cup. Antônia. Director: Tata Amaral, 2007. A soulful look into the lives of four women living on the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil. Determined to escape their poverty- stricken lives, they learn that out of struggle come strength and the courage to continue on. O assalto ao trem pagador (Assault on the Pay Train). Director: Roberto Farias, 1962. Based on a true story of a train robbery in Rio de Janeiro, 1960. Assim era a Atlântida (That Was Atlântida). Director: Carlos Manga, 2007. Documentary about the Brazilian burlesque chanchada films of the 1950s from the archives of Atlântida, the main studio specializing in the genre. Baile perfumado (Perfumed Ball). Directors: Lírio Ferreira and Paulo Caldas, 1986. Using some footage from the 1930s, this story describes how a filmmaker befriended the northeastern outlaw Lampião and filmed his exploits. O Bandido da Luz Vermelha (The Red Light Bandit). Director: Rogério Spanzerla, 1968. A crime film based on the life of a burglar known as the Red Light Bandit, which is a representative work of cinema marginal. Batismo de sangue (Baptism by Blood). Director: Helvécio Ratton, 2007. Brazil was ruled by military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. In the 1960s, some Dominican friars sup- port leftist organizations, but they are arrested and tortured by the chief of political and security police, who is trying to arrest the leader, Carlos Marighella. 557 Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/chapter-pdf/678425/9780822371793-139.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Bay of All Saints. Director: Annie Eastman, 2012. The stories of Geni, Jesus, and Dona Maria, three single mothers, and their families living in Salvador, Bahia, shape this film’s narrative as they confront uncertainty and insecurity. Beijo na boca (Kiss My Mouth). Director: Jacira Melo, 1987. Interviews with street prostitutes in urban Brazil. Brava gente brasileira (Valiant Brazilian People). Director: Lúcia Murat, 2001. In 1788, Portuguese colonizers, dazzled and tormented by the vision of the New World, confront indigenous people, whose land is invaded and their tribes decimated. Brazil: A Report on Torture. Director: Saul Landau, 1971. Documentary with former Brazilian political prisoners in exile in Chile about their experience while impris- oned by the political police. Brazil in Black and White: Skin Color and Higher Education. Directors: Mike Dewitt and Adam Stepan, 2007. New affirmative action quotas for higher education in Brazil launch a controversial dialogue about race and identity. Five college candidates from diverse backgrounds compete for a spot at the University of Brasília. Bye bye Brasil. Director: Carlos Diegues, 1980. This film follows a troupe of carnival- type entertainers traveling through the backlands at a moment in the 1970s when Brazil is going through significant economic and social change. Cabra marcado para morrer (Twenty Years Later). Director: Eduardo Coutinho, 1984. Originally a planned 1964 feature film about a Peasant League leader who was assassinated by landowners, the director returns twenty years later to shoot new footage of some of the actors and crew. Capitães da Areia (Captains of the Sands). Directors: Cecília Amado and Guy Gonçalves, 2011. The life and adventures of a gang of abandoned street kids known as Capitães da Areia (Captains of the Sands), in Salvador, Bahia, during the 1950s. Carandiru. Director: Héctor Barbendo, 2003. A reconstruction of the October 2, 1992, prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre and set in São Paulo’s House of Detention. Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brazil (Carolota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil). Director: Carla Camurati, 1994. A comic parody of the history of early nineteenth- century Brazil, as the Portuguese royal family flees Napoleon’s troops and sets up the capital of the Portuguese Empire in Rio de Janeiro. Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business. Director: Helena Solberg- Ladd, 1995. Using archival footage, film fragments, interviews, and dramatic reenactments, this documentary goes behind the scenes to convey the life story of Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian Bombshell. Os carvoeiros (The Charcoal Workers). Director: Nigel Noble, 1999. Documentary about the life of charcoal producers and the desperate poverty they endure. O caso dos irmãos Naves (Case of the Naves Brothers). Director: Luis Sérgio Person, 1967. Based on the real story of two brothers who are arrested and after being tortured confess to a crime that they did not commit. Cazuza—O tempo não pára (Cazuza— Time Doesn’t Stop). Directors: Walter Carvalho and Sandra Werneck, 2004. Biographical film about rock singer Daniel de Oliveira, known as Cazuza, his meteoric rise to success, and his death from aids. Central do Brasil (Central Station). Director: Walter Salles, 1998. Touching story about the friendship of a young boy and a jaded middle- aged woman. O cheiro do ralo (The Smell of Sex). Director: Heitor Dhalia, 2012. A pawn shop proprietor 558 Brazil in the Movies Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/chapter-pdf/678425/9780822371793-139.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 buys used goods from desperate locals—as much to play perverse power games as for his own livelihood, but when a beautiful woman and a backed- up toilet enter his life, he loses all control. Cidade de Deus (City of God). Directors: Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, 2003. Built in the 1960s, Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a sprawling housing project built to keep the poor as far as possible from Rio’s glamorous beaches and resorts. By the 1980s, it has degenerated into a dangerous war zone and a place of poverty, drugs, and crime. Cine Holliúdy. Director: Halder Gomes, 2013. Set in the 1970s in northeastern Brazil, when more and more people had TVs. A theater owner and his wife are worried that their business will fade and the art of cinema will die. Cinema, aspirinas e urubus (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures). Director: Marcelo Gomes, 2005. A road movie about a German man who goes to northeastern Brazil in 1942 to sell aspirin. Conceição: Autor bom é autor morto! (Conception: A Good Author Is a Dead Author). Director: André Sampaio, 2007. A group of young people are drinking in a bar and trying to choose a story for the movie they have decided to make. The film follows the highlights of the conversation and develops the backgrounds of the motley crew of characters. Corações sujos (Dirty Hearts). Director: Vicente Amorim, 2012. In 1945, Japan surrendered and World War II was over, but for 80 percent of the Japanese community in Brazil, Japan had won the war and defeat was merely American propaganda. The few Japanese immigrants that accepted the truth were persecuted or assassinated by their own countrymen, causing the start of a new, private war. Corumbiara. Director: Vincent Carelli, 2009. In 1985, Marcelo Santos denounced a mas- sacre of Indians in Glebe Corumbiara, and Vincent Carelli filmed what remained of the evidence. Santos and his team took years to find survivors. This film reveals the results of this search and the Indians’ side of events. The Cross and the Crossroads. Director: Brian Brazeal, 2004. Documentary about Candomblé, an Afro- Brazilian religion, as practiced in Bahia, Brazil. De passagem (Passing By). Director: Ricardo Elias, 2003. Story about two friends who grew up together in the slums of São Paulo and the different paths their lives have taken. Deus e o diabo na terra do sol (Black God, White Devil). Director: Glauber Rocha, 1964. A classic of the Cinema Novo (New Cinema) movement set in the dry backlands of the Brazilian northeast, the film addresses the sociopolitical problems of the region. O dia que durou 21 anos (The Day That Lasted 21 Years). Director: Camilo Tavares, 2012. The story behind the 1964 coup that with U.S. support turned Brazil into a dictator- ship for twenty- one years. Díario de uma busca (Diary of a Search). Director: Flavia Castro, 2012. The director tells the story of her father, Brazilian activist and journalist Celso Afonso Gay de Castro, whose life was intertwined with the political struggles that shattered Latin America starting in the 1960s. Doce Brasil holandês (Sweet Dutch Brazil). Director: Monica Schmiedt, 2011. A documen- tary that looks behind the nostalgia that some Brazilians feel about the period when the Dutch ruled the northeastern part of the country between 1630 and 1654. Dois perdidos numa noite suja (Two Lost in a Dirty Night).