Zelito Viana Movies
- 2000
The life and career of the renowned Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos is portrayed in this biographical drama, which begins with the legendary musician looking back at his own life in his declining years, then leaps back and forth in time to show the highlights of his story. Villa-Lobos (Marcos Palmeira) first developed a passionate interest in music as a child, and took up the cello at the urging of his father (Othon Bastos). As a young man, Villa-Lobos (now played by Antonio Fagundes) becomes acquainted with a saxophone player named Donizetti (Jose Walker), who invites the young prodigy to join him on a journey through the Brazilian rain forests. Villa-Lobos is seized by indigenous tribespeople, and as he stays with them in the wilds he becomes fascinated with the musical structures of bird songs. In time, Hector begins writing his own music, which leans heavily on "natural" influences, but his young wife Luc'ilia (Ana Beatriz Nogueira) feels his work is too challenging, both for performers and listeners. Villa-Lobos eventually finds an appreciative ear for his work in virtuoso pianist Arthur Rubinstein (Emilio de Mello), who helps to support the composer as he travels to Paris to write and perform. In time, Villa-Lobos leaves Luc'ilia, though she actively contests their divorce, and the personal life of the aging composer (now played by Andre Ricardo) provides him with a number of trials and challenges as his work finally wins him an enthusiastic audience in his native land. Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida De Paixao received its North American premiere at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Fagundes
- 1986
In a fictional story that exaggerates and condenses historical realities for the sake of dramatic impact, an isolated, quiet village of the Avaete people along the Amazon River is attacked by murderous psychos in the pay of a corrupt politician. Villagers are strafed from the air, bombed, and shot while trying to escape. To emphasize the gore, a woman is hung and quartered. The horrified cook of the marauders grabs a five-year-old Avaete boy, and they manage to escape into the jungle. The rest of the story is a series of coincidences that eventually bring a final confrontation between the grown-up boy -- who has vowed revenge for these killings -- and the politician behind the massacre. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Carvana, Renata Sorrah, (more)
- 1985
Director Eduardo Coutinho has fashioned an award-winning, innovative, and insightful docudrama inspired at first by determination to tell the story of the 1962 murder of the peasant revolutionary Joao Pedro Teixeira, and then motivated by necessity -- the desire to finish that story nearly 20 years later. When Coutinho first went to a village in the state of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil to film a dramatization of the events leading up to the murder of Teixeira, he had the real peasants in the drama play themselves in his film. Before he could finish his project, the 1964 military coup stopped it cold and put the film crew in jail for a few days. In 1981, Coutinho went back to Pernambuco and brought a copy of the original material he had shot in 1963/64. As he screened the scenes taken 17 years earlier, he filmed the reactions of the peasants and protagonists to the aspirations they once had, to conditions now gone forever -- and both history and human nature are poignantly revealed.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Jose Guerra (Flavio Migliaccio) is given a check by a strange Hindu man. He takes it to a local bank where they refuse to cash the check. A computer calls for the man's arrest until it is discovered the check is worth 10 trillion dollars, at which time the money is deposited in a state bank and Jose is sent into exile for his own protection. After marrying his sweetheart Rosinha (Marilia Pera), he dreams of buying the Statue of Liberty and the world's biggest soccer stadium. The common man with uncommon riches now covets the freedom his money cannot buy in this symbolic story. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilia Pera
- 1966
This Brazilian example of cinema novo chronicles the struggle of a man deeply entangled within unstable and crooked politics. The story is told in flashback by a writer who explains how he got into his present situation. He had been supporting a conservative party leader, but then decided to support the liberal candidate. The liberal wins the election, but soon reneges upon his campaign promises. The disillusioned writer decides to stay out of politics and resume his writing. Unfortunately, his girlfriend convinces him to try to talk the country's leader into pursuing a particular direction. The writer is soon shot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jardel Filho, Paulo Autran, (more)
