Macunaíma

Macunaíma is one of the weirdest films I have watched and, I may also state, is a quite overrated movie. An adaptation (probably a very personal and loose one) of modernist classic novel by Mário de Andrade (which I did not read), Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's Macunaíma is less magic but not more realist. Indeed, it seems to seek a cubist or mosaic-like outcome, such as the books's mood: it does it through changes in style and in characters' traits, and through a very chaotic story. Bright and colourful, noisy and alegoric, it was a meeting of Cinema Novo with Chanchada, two opposite Brazilian cinema "waves". Besides that, in many situations it emulates animated cartoon aesthetics, although doing it with live action in genrrally raw sets. It could have been nice, but serious sins led it to what I consider a failure. First of all: racism (the hero is considered ugly when is born as black but when becomes a handsome prince he is white Paulo José; not to mention the native characters who are whites or blacks); if there were ironies and sarcasm, it was supposed to be more clear and not open to be taken as acceptable. Secondly: mysoginy; there is a gag on sexual harassment and rape (not to mention the psychological role of all women in the whole movie)! I do not know if racist and sexist traits were already present in Mário de Andrade's book, or if they were there but in a more critical view of society and as an undoubtful mockery. The third sin is that the absurd situations, be them surrealist of absurd, should have been more well connected to each other. Unfortunately, seriously disagreeing with Brazilian experts, I think it lays far from what should be expected due the importance of the director and many actors: besides Grande Otelo, the best ever in Brazilian cinema and television, there are Hugo Carvana, Paulo José, Joana Fomm, Rodolfo Arena, Jardel Filho, Milton Gonçalves...

For those who are wanting the essential background knowledge of Brazil's past turmoil, chances are one (like this reviewer) may find themselves unable to suffer fools gladly of Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's cinematic adaptation of Mário de Andrade's titular modernist novel.

Macunaima is the son of an indigenous woman who lives in the jungle with her two other sons, the white-skinned Maanape (Arena) and the dark-skinned Jigue (Gonçalves), and Macunaima, first played by the diminutive black actor Grande Otelo smack out of his mother's womb, is, according to the voiceover, "a hero without a character", and indeed we are instantly seized by the film's foolishly nihilistic, surreal style that is vigorously honed by its vibrant palette, zippy rhythm and wacky performance, especially by Otelo, who makes a helluva fun as a bawdy tot inconceivably maturing into an adolescent man, during a roll in the hay with Jigue's lover Sofará (Fomm), magic occurs, he becomes a handsome white man (José, who also plays the role of the brothers' mother). Pigmentation matters, even for the primordial libido.

The family's tapir-hunting good old days come to a halt when the mother dies abruptly (after Macunaima having a brush with a cannibalistic man), whereupon the brothers moves from the tribal land to Rio de Janeiro. Macunaima is captured by a feral guerrilla fighter Ci (Sfat), together they have a son (Otelo again), but bereavement soon catches up with him, and the desultory plot takes him up against a giant merchant Wenceslau Pietro Pietra (a funnily bulked up Filho), who inexplicably has the amulet from the deceased Ci, during which a cross-dressing Macunaima tries to seduce him only to no avail, and many a raunchy snippet punctuates the story with fitful energy and idiosyncrasy, some are hilarious but all shy of a sense of reverberation.

When the wrangle with Wenceslau reaches its improbable coda (a giant swing and a swimming pool full of dismembered bodies make unusual bedfellows to settle the dissension), Macunaima and his brothers returns to their sylvan turf, and this cradle-to-grave rhapsody ends with an inane splash that a connection towards this hammock-lying imbecile is rendered futile.

High on narcissism and male chauvinism, distaff parts are patly sexualized and depicted as erotomaniacs, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's MACUNAIMA dates quickly in its ideology and mores, but on a lesser note, its visual grotesquerie makes it a curio worth visiting, better, if one can comb through its social analogy which is by default missing from this reviewer's limited perspective.

This film is hard to categorise because one can say that it is sincere, naturalist, mocking of urban life of metropols in Brazil; while being very entertaining and relatively easy to watch. Not quite knowlegdeable what is going on at that side of the ocean, I can only find the resemblances with my own country (Turkey), which is on par with Brazil in terms of industrialization, wealth and education. What you see in the film is streets are dangerous in many ways. Thievery, trickery and violence are present and politics are involved too. But it is very fortunate that this film is not totally a cold-hearted judgment of society of Brazil. Fantastic elements are incorporated so well that the result is very amusing in some sequences but it still leaves ashes in your mouth. Characters are greatly genuine and colorful and and script makes you curious about the book it is based upon. You just wanna watch more and you stumble upon its anarchic and modernistic wisdom. You needn't dig very deep to get the best out of this movie yet it touches nicely to the matters of society in Brazil. As you watch just be curious more and more about Brazil's problems. A very impressive movie hard to fault that deserves 8 out of 10.

I'm not sure if I understood even half the cultural and political references this film makes. After all it is Brazilian and from the late 60's. In many ways a product of that era but because it seems to be based on fairy tales or legends there's an interesting timeless quality to it as well. That and the outrageous sight gags, combined with crazy costumes makes this seem like a live-action cartoon. Definitely a fun ride through jungles filled with carnivorous nymphs, machine-gun toting topless commandos, men changing race when they smoke marijuana, a piranha pool party and much much more! Well worth a look though you may need a friend versed in Brazilian history & culture to make sense of it all. The restored 2K print is absolutely gorgeous.

Macunaima is Monty Python meets Jodorowsky and Robert Downey Sr. in a pool of piranhas. A full-grown black man, a " Brazillian hero", is birthed from a white woman in drag in the middle of the jungle. He discovers a magical water fountain that turns him white. He moves to the city, falls in love with a bomb bearing urban radical activist who wears a magic stone necklace that brings good luck. The magic necklace is stolen by a by an evil corporate cannibalistic millionaire. This causes a bomb to kill his wife and son (done in such a cartoonish way that it is all the more ridiculous). At this, Macunaima is plagued with bad luck through many of his misadventures and wants to get back the necklace from the evil corporate honcho. Part social satire, part serious political commentary set in a folklore steeped surreal Brazil. Based on the 1928 novel by Mario De Andrade that is considered on of the founding texts of Brazilian modernism; and the film itself is widely considered one of the most important films of the Brazilian Cinema Novo. But if you forget all the academics, it's a wild, weird, colorful, magical, surreal wonder-work with endless memorable moments, such as: a defecating goose, a pool of piranhas in which people swing above on a trapeze until they fall in, a water nymph and much more!! Who can forget such brilliant one liners such as "God gives nuts to those with no teeth". This film is a must see! One of the funniest films of any country! An underrated gem!