Films 6 7
N
umerous cinemas have been running Brazilianthemed seasons and after the praise garnered
by City of God, films about Brazil’s underclass
are being pushed to the fore. Lee Hodkinson investigates.
In Carandiru, acclaimed director Hector Babenco takes us
into Carandiru prison, based on the true life journal of
Drauzia Varella, a doctor attempting to raise AIDS awareness.
He soon becomes a confidante to many ‘innocent men’ he
encounters; drug addiction, unsafe sex, violent grudges and
gay weddings are all portrayed in a believable and
compassionate manner. Anyone not wanting to know the
end, ignore the rest of the paragraph: a heavy-handed quelling
of a prison melée ultimately ends in the slaying of 111 men,
the madness is not only realistically brutal but played out
with the poignant direction of a ballet, albeit one seemingly
performed in the depths of Hades.
From nightclubs and record labels
to department stores, everyone is
flying this season’s colours of black,
yellow and green.
The documentary Bus 174 (Jose Padilha) tells the story of
Sandro, a street kid who, witnessing his mother slaughtered,
hits the streets and survives the infamous Candelaria massacre,
where the antagonism between police and street children
descended into the slaughter of kids too young to arrest.
Sandro’s life continues on a sadly predictable path until,
psychotically-high and desperate, a botched bus-robbery
becomes a disastrous hostage situation. The crisis is aired
live on TV, receiving the year’s highest rating. Footage shows
a police force woefully untrained and demoralized, a young
man who can sink no lower and a group of hapless passengers
(mostly female) who could have their heads blown off. To
paraphrase Bus 174 and the frustrations of kids interviewed,
it’s too easy for unloved, homeless (black or brown) children to
become ‘invisible’, regarded as blemishes on the lush scenery
who will miraculously disappear if ignored. In reality, of
course, the children become more pained and embittered,
further adding to the deadly polarisation of the ‘haves’ and
‘have nots’. »