A Selva

They tried, for the very first time, to do a movie, a portuguese movie, that finally knows how to use the amount of money it has on his shoulders. They tried, for the very first time to make a movie that manages to take people to the theaters and not make them think it's another portuguese movie. But Leonel Vieira already has been trying to do this with his previous features. So have they succeeded? Almost. The movie is the greatest technical achievement in portuguese cinema. For the very first time we have a film in Panavision, and for the very first time with a real symphonic score. It is a pity, then, that they chose such a weak actor to play the main role. Diogo Morgado tries, but he has too few lines and not a sign of character depth. The supporting characters are way better. Anyway, I hope that Leonel Vieira continues developing this taste for movies made for the audience... i sure wanna make them that way someday...

Adapted from a Novel by Ferreira de Castro (a Portuguese writer from the XX century) A SELVA is nice co-production between Portugal, Brazil and Spain, directed by Leonel Vieira. I didn't read the book so I can't tell about the novel itself or its adaptation to the screen, but I can tell you I did enjoy the movie and the way it was directed and produced. The cinematography is also good. I think it's visually very strong and beautiful. And about the production I must say it's above the average Portuguese movie! Probably because it's an international co-production and probably because it had more money than the Portuguese movies use to have, but a nice job was done anyway. The acting is very nice too. It was interesting to see actors from three different nationalities work together so well. The soundtrack has the typical music of an epic story but it's a bit unoriginal and repetitive. Overall I think A SELVA is one of the best movies in Leonel Vieira's career and undoubtedly one of the best (co-) productions of the Portuguese cinema ever. I score it 8/10 (one extra point for the nice production).

This movie is inspired in the novel by the Portuguese writer Ferreira de Castro which was a best-seller in 1930 and was translated in several languages. In 1912 a Portuguese young man comes to Brazil running away from the Republic which had been proclaimed in Portugal in 1910, since he was a monarchist. He is educated (can even play the piano) but he gets only a job as "seringueiro" (rubber-gatherer) in a remote place in the Amazonian jungle which is almost like hell. The law there is the will of the white owners of the ground where the rubber trees grow and their foremen which can punish the workers (mostly Negroes or half-caste) by whipping or even killing them by such faults as not producing enough work or trying to escape, in a system akin to slavery. The workers while working in the forest are also subject to attacks by savage Indians tribesmen and wild animals such as ounces and jaguars. After a certain time the young man gets some kind of "promotion" and comes to work in the store and the office of the rubber estate where he gets better treatment and is even admitted at the table of the owner. There he falls in love with the beautiful book-keeper's wife which will bring him a lot of trouble in that kind of milieu. The movie is very well made and shows in a very realistic way the daily life in an Amazonian rubber estate. It's served by an excellent cast of performers including those who do the roles of the semi-slave workers. Its only flaw in my opinion is its inconclusive end after the final very violent scenes of the climax. But a good movie in any case.

The purpose of Leonel Vieira in the making of this movie was NOT to show the world that there is another type of Portuguese cinema - he made the type of movie he knows how to. And if that was good for cash boxes and awards in Portugal and abroad, so much the better! The purpose of Leonel Veieira was also not to prove to the Portuguese public that Portuguese actors can act. He would have chosen someone other than Diogo Morgado if that was the case. Morgado hangs himself together next to the likes of bigger-than-life Maitê Proença, and in the wild setting that the movie provides, one can nearly forget about his bad acting. The purpose of Leonel Vieira was also not to simply adapt The Jungle, a novel which has been translated into every imaginable language and delighting readers over generations, being one of the first world-best-sellers in history.

Leonel Vieira, I am convinced, wanted to do the same thing that every movie director wants: he wanted to tell us a story. And a story he told. A creepy, violent, despairing, overwhelming story of the life in the Amazon in a lawless period, in a period where men were not worth their shoes, if they had any. So, the question is not whether Diogo Morgado was good or not in the movie(surrounded by so many high-calibre starts, who cares, really...?); the question is: was the movie any good. Oh!, yes, it was! The photography is undoubtedly the best that has been done in Portugal. The script is the antithesis of typical Portuguese cinema (slow and melancholic) - although with hints of it! The opening traveling scene reminded me of Kubrik's 'The Shining'. And then there are scenes of outrageous shock. I challenge you all to watch the movie, for the story's sake. Watch it and forget about silly critical biases. What you want to do is to be thrown in the violence of the amazon. And that has totally been achieved. If it wasn't for Morgado, I'd give it a 9!

This film is based on the same name book of the Portuguese writer Ferreira de Castro. Because his monarchical ideas, the writer was forced, at the beginning of the 20th century, to emigrate to the Amazon forest, an unforgettable ind inhospitable place. The film biopic represent this phase of their incredible life. I love this Portuguese film.