Vidas Secas

The illiterate migrants Fabiano (Átila Iório), his mate Sinhá Vitória (Maria Ribeiro), their two sons and their dog Baleia drift in the country of the Northeast of Brazil, fighting for their survival. They are hired by a farmer (Jofre Soares) in a slavery condition to take care of his kettle.

"Vidas Secas" is a classic of the Brazilian Cinema and the first movie of the "Cinema Novo" ("New Cinema"), a movement of the Brazilian filmmakers in the 60's that proposed to make low-budget movies with social concerns and rooted in Brazilian culture, which had the following slogan: "A camera in the hands and an idea in the head".

Nelson Pereira dos Santos made a masterpiece, certainly on of the best Brazilian movies ever. Based on a classic novel of the Brazilian literature of Graciliano Ramos, the reality and cruelty of the story is stunning. The black and white photography and the performances of the cast, including the dog, are very impressive, recalling the Italian Neo-Realism of Roberto Rossellini. This movie was made in 1963, the story happens in the 40's and presently the situation of the drought in the country of the Northeast of Brazil remains exactly the same, being one of our greatest national shames. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Vidas Secas" ("Dry Lives")

Typical representative of the call "Cinema Novo" in Brazil, that film is beautiful. With picture in black and white, the history was based on a classic of the Brazilian literature and it rotates around a family it expels of your earth for the dry climate, with thirst and hunger, migrating for an inhospitable landscape in search of a better life. Even a character so difficult of representing, the female dog " Baleia ", it has an anthological interpretation.

An itinerant family's search for a better life seems to lead nowhere. The husband finds work as a cowhand, the wife wants nothing more than a leather bed to sleep in.

The stark, black and white cinematography with which the sun-bleached, barren landscape was shot underscores the poverty the family is trying to escape. Kudos to the director who was able to coax an admirable performance from the family's dog. It's a totally engaging film w/ effectively subdued performances from the principals. Reminiscent of Italian Neo-Realist cinema, this makes for rewarding viewing, a cure for the summer blockbuster syndrome.

This film of Nelson Pereira dos Santos and another one called "Oz fuzis" or 'The guns' by Ruy Guerra are my favourite Brazilian movies. These films have mirrored the films of Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan made in India at about the same time. The realism they offer and the rather unconventional use of the soundtrack affects the viewer, though seriously lacking in production quality. I know that most critics tend to classify these two Brazilian films as representative of the Cinema Nouvo, but I prefer to see the two as unusually impressive cinema, little affected by Hollywood. Vidas Secas in a way brings back memories of neo-realism in de Sica's "Bicycle Thief."

The later work of dos Santos failed to impress me. He seems to have burned out--improving in technical qualities but losing out on artistic vision.

Vidas Secas had that same neorealist, slice of life feel that Bicycle Thieves and Pather Panchali have, but it didn't do quite as much for me thematically. The big focus was on how it's very difficult to survive and work in the barren Brazilian desert. The thing the film does best is establish a clear atmosphere - the slow long shots of the expansive desert and realistic, character driven story do a lot to emphasize how difficult it is to live there. It's not a film where I was emotionally drawn into the lives of the characters, the way I was in Bicycle Thieves, and I found the major messages of the movie to be muddled (aside from the main theme of how difficult it is to survive there). The repetition of the scene asking for work early in the film was really odd, and the random pivot to the older boy asking questions about hell and getting into that can be explained but came a bit out of nowhere for me, as up to that point the focus was on the father's attempt to work and the family struggles. In general, it just felt like a well shot but somewhat shallow slow, slice of life Brazilian film. Maybe I've just been spoiled by some of the great neorealist films we've watched though, and I'm sure there are some elements I didn't notice.