O Homem do Ano

I'm not sure just where in the USA this Brazilian film has been released but I'm grateful that it came to my small city...

I saw "City of God" and was mesmerized by its raw power and its characters struggling with their sordid lives of hopelessness. But "The Man of the Year" I had to see twice. Everything about this film appealed to me. Murilo Benicio as Maiquel is nothing less than brilliant as a quiet middle class loser - vain, smug, angry, brooding, thoughtful, remorseful, duped, and with a special fondness for a baby pig that is handed him as a gift. Many twists and turns of fate cause his life to take on dimensions similar to a Greek tragedy. The two women in his life are equally well-cast, along with just about everyone in the entire film. Maiquel struggles with two jealous women, life-long friendships, and along with his new job as a hit-man, he has more than enough to keep him brooding, on edge, questioning his actions, his fate. I could sense his desperation in every scene. And always, you empathize with him.

What made this movie especially powerful for me was the way it was filmed. I read that it is the first movie of director Jose Enrique Fonseca - this man has a real future! The beginning panorama of Rio at night, Murilo's apartment and the pet shop, the wedding, a dose of religion, the final round of killings, the Rave - these and other scenes were filmed with such beauty and panache, propelling the plot with momentum, vigor, color, even tenderness as the Murilo's life changes bigtime. There are touches of humor - being in the dentist's chair, bathing a baby pig, ranting about the pitfalls of marriage. The musical score added immensely to the film, and the camera angles and overall cinematography were expert.

Here's to filmmakers from Brazil, Mexico, and other countries in Central and South America! I hope this film has a wide release, it deserves it.

In Baixada Fluminense, in the State of Rio de Janeiro and in the periphery of the City of Rio de Janeiro, Máiquel (Murilo Benício) is a loser, who believes that God wants to f*** him and that life cannot be controlled, like a flow of a river. He loses a soccer bet with his friends and has to dye his hair blond, using the services of the gorgeous hairdresser Cledir (Cláudia Abreu). In the night, when he goes to a small bar dating Cledir to show his friend the payment of the bet and his new beautiful girlfriend, the criminal Suel (Wagner Moura) laugh him. Máiquel becomes upset and challenge Suel to a duel. On the next day, Máiquel shoots and kills Suel, and becomes famous in the neighborhood as a vigilante. The fifteen years old mistress of Suel, Érica (Natália Lage) moves to his apartment and Máiquel becomes a sensation in the community where he lives. His fame of hero reaches the upper class dentist Dr. Carvalho (Jóge Dória), who hires Máiquel to kill the man who raped his seventeen years old daughter Gabriela (Mariana Ximenes). Meanwhile, Cledir gets pregnant and marries Máiquel. This is the beginning of his successful career of killer. In the end, Máiquel believes that the are two options for like: let it go, like a flow of a river, or use reins and ride it like a horse.

It seems that the success of 'Cidade de Deus' gave enough courage to other directors to expose to the world the underground life in the periphery and slums of the big Brazilian cities. 'O Homem do Ano' is based on a successful book of Patrícia Melo called 'O Matador' ('The Killer'). In the book, the story takes place in the periphery of São Paulo, but once the reality in the periphery of Rio de Janeiro is the same and due to geographical reasons, the story was transposed to the Baixada Fluminense, one of the most violent places in Brazil. Its narration in off by Máiquel recalls a film-noir. The story has most of the components of the popular and cheap Brazilian newspapers: the common murders and execution by vigilantes in the periphery of the Brazilian big cities and the religious fanaticism of the hopeless low classes. The middle and upper classes passively accepts this fearful way of life. Most of the characters in this movie represents a great segment of our society, where in some weekends can show more than seventy deaths of 'anonymous and common persons' only in Baixada Fluminense. The movie is never corny, there is no exaggeration in the situations and is based on the worst present problem of our society, the violence. Lack of education, corruption, impunity, lack of employment, very low salaries and life conditions, lack of perspective in life, lack of security, hypocrisy of the upper classes, all of these components in minor or greater proportions, result in the increasing violence showed in movies like 'O Homem do Ano', 'Cidade de Deus', 'Cidade dos Homens' and other sad examples of Brazilian society. Just as a curiosity, Cláudia Abreu has a daughter (Maria) with the director José Henrique Fonseca, who is son of the writer Rubem Fonseca. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'O Homem do Ano' ('The Man of the Year')

I stumbled unto this film by mere coincidence. I had no idea what to expect, not being acquainted with the director, or any of its excellent stars, although I've seen quite a few Brazilian films. Director Jose Enrique Fonseca works miracles with this movie and in the process gets amazing performances from all of his cast.

This is a film where there is a lot of violence, but it also works as a moral tale. When all seems to be lost in the Brazilian society, we get a sort of paid avenger that will get rid of the bad element terrorizing the 'hood. This is the underlying theme of the film.

Maiquel, as played by Murilo Benicio, is a cool cat with no apparent scruples. Deep down, he strongly believes he is doing the right thing in helping people get revenge with what the inept police doesn't even bother to do. Mr. Benicio gives a controlled performance with funny moments. His relationship with the pet pig he receives from a satisfied customer, gives comic relief from his otherwise well known underground activities.

Claudia Abreu, a beautiful actress plays Cledir who eventually will marry Maiquel, the man she helped to give a "new blond look". Also in the cast, Natalia Lage, another gorgeous young woman who reappears in Maiquel's life only to transform herself when she discovers religion and wants him to join in the evangelical movement, something he never does.

Some people have compared this film to "City of God", and frankly, there is no basis for the comparison. While the latter film showed the life in the poor favelas, the characters of this film are lower middle class people with a different set of values in life. They're not completely destitute, or as hopeless, as the poor young people of the other film.

Mr. Fonseca, the director, shows great promise. We look forward to his next film.

Murilo Benecio is a young Brazilian actor who just keeps turning out fine, solid and very different character roles. As the leading character is this well made film by director Jose Henrique Fonseca from a script written by his father Rubem Fonseca in turn based on the novel 'O Matador' by Patricia Melo, Benecio molds a memorable portrait of a man of low self esteem who is strangely and inadvertently raised to the level of hero in the most bizarre of circumstances.

The setting is Rio de Janiero and Maiquel is a loner looking for an identity. On a bet he decides to have his dark hair bleached by the beautiful beautician Cledir (Claudia Abreu) and finds that as he steps back into his world he is the object of notice. After a cruel teasing by thug Suel (Wagner Moura) he buys a gun and almost unwittingly kills Suel who dies in the arms of his girlfriend Erica (Natalia Lage). Despite Maiquel's fears of his arrest he finds that the neighborhood rewards him for ridding them of a criminal and Maiquel becomes a hero. Not only is he rewarded with gifts (including a pet pig he names Bill after watching Bill Clinton's visit to Brazil on TV!), he is also given free dental work by Dr. Carvalho (Jorge Doria) in exchange for agreeing to kill an enemy of the dentist. More and more people ask Maiquel to whack bad people making Maiguel's new blond persona a hit man and man of the year. How he ultimately begins to spiral downward when his life is complicated by a marriage and family and holding a regular job forces him to initiate his own choices of violence and return to his original hair color to alter his destiny! If the story sounds odd, it is really a depiction of life in the city of Rio where the police are impotent to control the violence that prevails. Maiquel becomes the Robin Hood/Batman type who brings a degree of safety to his community. Wisely Benecio holds our attention and our compassion as he performs his many murders, creating a man in whom we can believe and applaud despite the grim things he does.

The cast is uniformly fine and the cinematography by Breno Silveira and the musical score by Dado Villa-Lobos (an important guitar player, relation to composer Heitor Villa-Lobos unknown!) is classy. This is yet another fine film from Brazil, in Portuguese, and one that deserves wide attention - especially for Murilo Benecio's superb performance. Recommended. Grady Harp

After City of God, any Brazilian film will get a good reception. This movie has now been released as "Man of the Year" in UK cinemas.

The low key start, where we see an angry kid shooting a man we later find out is detested in the community, gives way to escalating situations which owe quite a bit to Scarface. Like many similar films, a lot of time is spent looking at the consequences of immoral behaviour - not attempting explanation. The film walks the now familiar fine line between entertainment and moral relataivism quite successfully, mainly because the characters stay undiminished throughout.

The performances between the principles is really good. But it is the way the film starts rooted in a halting reality that makes it so watchable. Watching our protagonist brooding in his small flat with the girlfriend of his first victim, and a small piglet - neither of which he has control over - is what films are all about.