Arábia

I just saw this film yesterday in Lisbon, where it had won the Jury Prize at Indielisboa. I knew nothing about it except for the fact it was Brazilian, and I had lived in Brazil for eight years, so went to see it with my Brazilian partner. We both loved it. It was a extremely sad film overall but had moments of great humour and of great tenderness. Some people have criticized it for not being "political" enough but it was all the more moving for focusing on the personal rather than on slogans. For those of us who know Brazil it comes over as really authentic. The dialogue is spot-on. Recommended for anyone who likes thoughtful cinema.

I sat down to watch this film at a film festival a while back without any expectations. It started off very low-key and the tone remains so throughout but narratively it builds and builds into an epic mosaic of working class Brazil. One of the most quietly political films I've seen and so much more powerful as a result of that quietness. Charming, funny, angry and tragic, this film has stuck with me for a long time and I don't think I'll forget the experience.

"I'm like everyone else. It's just my life that was a little bit different." Cristiano (Aristides de Sousa)

As a road ramble and self-discovery story, Araby, set in Brazil, is more unassuming than most others. In fact it is nothing like the robust Motorcycle Diaries or Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001); it rather is a simple tale from a factory worker Cristiano's (Aristides de Sousa) notebook that tells of small adventures and small defeats, all in the name of trying to find himself in the daily grind of working for the man.

Truth be told, his story is "a little bit different" but not by much. Araby has a lyric beauty in its simplicity, a reverence for the small things of life like riding a bicycle or briefly falling in love, with dreams of having a child, a seeming impossibility in such poverty. This almost randomly episodic tale, told in voice-over by Cristiano as young Andre (Murilo Caliari) reads Cristiano's notes, holds secrets about a young man's dreams and not so subtle opinions about the dead end of factory work.

In fact, the meta theme of owners exploiting workers has more prominence than it seems because of its low key appearance in a few words and images of Cristiano toiling amidst the hellish flames of the steel factory, where a good black worker can be fired or a competent Latino can become dispirited just by the work.

As Cristiano says, this is" the story of how I stood up for myself." That insight is worth watching in a road picture like few others.

The Brazilian film Arábia (2017) was shown in the U.S. with the translated title Araby. The movie was co-written and co-directed by João Dumans and Affonso Uchoa.

The film stars Aristides de Sousa as Cristiano, a working class man who has to settle for jobs involving unskilled labor. He travels down the road, always looking for a better job and a better life.

This film had some real strengths. It demonstrated the fate of an unskilled laborer who can never find a job has any meaning or gives him any satisfaction. de Sousa is a fine actor, and he makes his role come alive.

I found the movie discouraging, because Cristiano never attempts to improve his situation in any way. He talks about how his father organized a strike among fruit pickers, but he himself doesn't organize. He's likable enough, and he makes friends, but when he move on, he leaves them behind.

A previous reviewer called this a "A movie about hope," but I would call it "A movie without hope."

We saw this film at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It was part of the excellent Rochester Labor Film Series. It will work well on the small screen.

Very cute, I love these independent films, the day to day, the raw exposed routine, a sincere portrait, a slow pace, but nothing that negatively impacts, a simple script, well executed, nothing grand, but sensitive and poetic, sad , beautiful, full of stories... And the choice of soundtrack, stupendous, makes it hurt, the testimonials are so real and vivid...