Sangue Mineiro

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Belo Horizonte, the industrial Sampaio lives in a manor house with his stepdaughter Carmen, who has a sort of engagement with Roberto. Sampaio's daughter Neusa, of same age as Carmen, was sent to a metropolis to have a modern education and returns to Belo Horizonte. In the São João party in the country of Acaba-Mundo, promoted by the traditional Marta, Neusa has a one night stand with Roberto. Carmen witnesses their affair and decides to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Cristovão and his cousin Max decides to go to a cabaret in town instead of staying in the party,. They find Carmen and bring her to Marta's property, where she stays with the family and Tufy, Max's younger brother. Along this period, Cristovão falls in love for Carmen, and she has to decide between the love of the unfaithful Roberto and Cristovão.

Watching "Sangue Mineiro" in 2005, as I have just done, transform many dramatic scenes in comedy. First, because of the archaic Portuguese, with very unusual words, used in the inter-titles. And mainly because of the too much conservative moral values that ruled the society in those years. Humberto Mauro, considered by the expertise as the first great Brazilian director, had a slogan: "The Progress is too much Anti-Photogenic". In "Sangue Mineiro", there is a conflictive situation between the new and progressive (represented by Neusa, the new-comer from a modern education, and Cristovão, a man from Rio de Janeiro that creates a situation in the breast of Marta's family) and the old and traditional (represented by Carmen, Max and Marta), prevailing the destruction of the traditional values through the introduction of the modernism. "Sangue Mineiro" in the present days is a naive and metaphoric view of the effects of the progress. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sangue Mineiro" ("Mineiro Blood" – obs: "Mineiro" means a person born in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais)

Herr Humberto Mauro was one of the most important Brazilian silent film pioneers and by extension due to the mastery and excellent film technique shown in his films, an unquestionable and important reference point of the Latin American silent era.

"Sangue Mineiro" shows those technical virtues in a remarkable way; it is an elegant oeuvre that depicts the story of a millionaire's adoptive daughter that tries to commit suicide due to her unfaithful lover. She will be saved by two boys, and with the boy's family, she begins to live.

The film it's impregnated with an elegant classicism in where the troubles of the heart of the main characters are immersed in the environment (nature is a decisive character). There are stylistic reminiscences, probably due to the admiration and influence that the Brazilian director felt for classic Amerikan adventures films … especially directors like Herr Vidor und Herr Griffith. Fortunately Herr Mauro transferred and adapted those influences in his own, proper way. He emphasizes the dramatic love matters and Cataguases sceneries in an original way and as this German Count said before, with a superb mastery of technique. It is a powerful use of film language with beautiful camera movements, flashbacks and ingenious film continuity. All of this is with the help of another important Brazilian cinematography director: Herr Edgar ( obviously… ) Brazil.

As many longhaired probably could think due to the nationality of "Sangue Mineiro", is not a soap-opera but a classic opera, an absolutely modern film, in where love matters are treated in a classic, elegant and nonconformist way.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must protect himself from the dangerous Brazilian sun, which puts his aristocratic pale skin at risk.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/