En attendant le carnaval

Toritama is a small village in the Pernambuco's Agreste region, known as the capital of jeans, whose inhabitants are self-employed jeans manufacturers, enjoying their financial freedom. Renowned Brazilian filmmaker Marcelo Gomes ("Once Upon a Time Veronica", "I Travel Because I Have To") scoops out the lives of these hardworking folks, their exhaustion, perspectives, honesty and humble concepts, as they go through memories and curiosities of themselves and the place, all while they wait for the fun and freedom of Carnival season. Poetical, humane and original, Gomes scores another goal in his accomplished career.

This is one of most underrated documentary, If are not Brazillian maybe this Don't sounds good. It's a perfect description of Brazil, with harder work, exploration, but with a good purpose, It's a perfect representation of capitalism.

Nothing good to write about it: the pace is slow, the narrator voice is annoying, the story is boring. Sadly, made with and financed through public money. There's so much to show about the country, beyond poverty and sadness. It really seems, that the movie was made just to get the money from the audiovisual law. Don't waste your time, there's nothing to see, enjoy or learn with this movie. Or perhaps, learn how NOT to do a documentary.

I guess it was well produced and film making tools used to their very extent but it is so cliche and sad, again, to see only stories of the poor, melancholic, under educated people in the screen, from a country with a huge and diverse culture of over 200 million people. Let's start to show the ups instead of the downs of our Brazilian land, please, directors. I can assure you there is poetry in that too.

... but try it. The photography and the plot of this film may be a little difficult to understand if you are not Brazilian, but giving this film a chance is really a good things. First because it reveals an background full of nice things to see and to debate. Second because of the twist of the plot. By "twist" I mean that the firt two thirds of the narration deals about jeans the city of Toritama make. Then, in the last part, we understand the title of the film and another narration begins.

Really, I think you should try it.