Macunaíma

Macunaíma is one of the weirdest films I have watched and, I may also state, is a quite overrated movie. An adaptation (probably a very personal and loose one) of modernist classic novel by Mário de Andrade (which I did not read), Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's Macunaíma is less magic but not more realist. Indeed, it seems to seek a cubist or mosaic-like outcome, such as the books's mood: it does it through changes in style and in characters' traits, and through a very chaotic story. Bright and colourful, noisy and alegoric, it was a meeting of Cinema Novo with Chanchada, two opposite Brazilian cinema "waves". Besides that, in many situations it emulates animated cartoon aesthetics, although doing it with live action in genrrally raw sets. It could have been nice, but serious sins led it to what I consider a failure. First of all: racism (the hero is considered ugly when is born as black but when becomes a handsome prince he is white Paulo José; not to mention the native characters who are whites or blacks); if there were ironies and sarcasm, it was supposed to be more clear and not open to be taken as acceptable. Secondly: mysoginy; there is a gag on sexual harassment and rape (not to mention the psychological role of all women in the whole movie)! I do not know if racist and sexist traits were already present in Mário de Andrade's book, or if they were there but in a more critical view of society and as an undoubtful mockery. The third sin is that the absurd situations, be them surrealist of absurd, should have been more well connected to each other. Unfortunately, seriously disagreeing with Brazilian experts, I think it lays far from what should be expected due the importance of the director and many actors: besides Grande Otelo, the best ever in Brazilian cinema and television, there are Hugo Carvana, Paulo José, Joana Fomm, Rodolfo Arena, Jardel Filho, Milton Gonçalves...

Macunaíma (Grande Otelo / Paulo José) is a lazy anti-hero born black in Amazonas. After the death of his mother, he moves with his two brothers to Rio de Janeiro, but along his journey, he baths in a fountain and becomes Caucasian. Once in Rio, he incidentally meets the killer guerrilla woman Ci (Dina Sfat), who wears an amulet made of stone, and they fall in love for each other. They live together and a couple of months later, Ci delivers a black baby. While carrying a bomb for a terrorist attack in the stroller, the bomb explodes and Ci and the baby die, and the amulet vanishes. A very strong man finds the stone and Macunaíma tries to recover it. In the end, he returns to the jungle.

"Macunaíma" is a non-sense, anarchic, crazy and surrealistic Brazilian cult-movie and I am not sure whether a foreigner may like it or not. The story is funny, and belongs to a very specific moment of the history of Brazil, with the "Cinema Novo" ("New Cinema") and "Tropicalismo" movements and the military dictatorship. Further, it is absolutely original and unique, without any reference to another movie or use of clichés. Just as a curiosity, the rigid censorship in 1969 did not allow to expose two breasts at the same time. It was permitted to show one, but not both of them. The viewer can note that specially when Dina Sfat is in the kitchen wearing no shirt. When she turns, her left breast is covered by an object that she is holding. Today (04 April 2008) I have watched this film again, now in a magnificently restored (unfortunately very expensive) DVD. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'Macunaíma'

I discovered this movie by chance so many years back when I was watching a film by Rogério Sganzerla. The first time I ever saw this movie was a hacked-up version of a torrent file. Even with all its naughty bits cut out, I could see this movie was a definite cult classic. When I finally got to see the whole thing during the lockdown, I could not stop laughing. It is a Bizarre political reading of Brazil with a lot of satire and is a kind of folk fairy tale told in a style that blends Terry Jones, Tomás Gutiérrez, Alea Mario Monicelli, Ulrike Ottinger with Jean-Luc Godard. Two major themes form the center of the film. On the one hand it is about racism, social class and anthropophagic portrait of Brazil. The second, major topic deals with miscegenation. For this reason, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade shifts the narrative perspective towards the big city after black Macunaíma turns white. As for the rest of the film, it's a mixed bag of weirdness--all cloaked in a strange and bizarre plot involving weird encounters and surreal sequences supported with an amazing soundtrack. In summary: if you're looking for a serious film that has terrific visual effects and absolutely no gaping plot holes, look elsewhere. I'd even go so far as to say that this film intentionally utilized poor visual effects and more than a few plot holes just to make the movie weirder. This is a big plus, and makes it all the more remarkable, because you can tell this was done on a small budget, but makes the best of it.

If you like films like Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain", you will love Macunaima! Overall just a very fun spirited movie, and a very interesting perspective of the Tropicalia movement of the late 60's and early 70's of Brazil.

I'm not sure if I understood even half the cultural and political references this film makes. After all it is Brazilian and from the late 60's. In many ways a product of that era but because it seems to be based on fairy tales or legends there's an interesting timeless quality to it as well. That and the outrageous sight gags, combined with crazy costumes makes this seem like a live-action cartoon. Definitely a fun ride through jungles filled with carnivorous nymphs, machine-gun toting topless commandos, men changing race when they smoke marijuana, a piranha pool party and much much more! Well worth a look though you may need a friend versed in Brazilian history & culture to make sense of it all. The restored 2K print is absolutely gorgeous.