João Batista de Andrade's documentary "Vlado - 30 Anos Depois" ("Vlado: Thirty Years Later") is a good tribute to a friend of the director, the journalist
Vladimir Herzog, a victim of the brutal repression of the military regime who got killed in 1975 after alleged relations with the Communist Party. His death,
told by the military as being a suicide - poorly faked - was the beginning of the end for the regime, prompting to several gatherings, masses and outcry from
high members of the Brazilian community of the period, which later on evolved to another protests and public demonstrations from other sources (which was
forbidden in the repressive years before 1975) then the opening came in the early 1980's.
Friends, colleagues and others provide great insights on Herzog, and a little is shared about his career on cinema - he directed the short film "Marimbás", of
which I also wrote about it, and wrote the initial treatment for the feature "Doramundo", a little gem from the Brazilian cinema yet to be discovered by a
wider audience - and everyone bring nice stories about the man and also the events prior to his arrest and death.
Andrade makes a good job but not great. It's easy and flows well with the testimonies and some bits of facts but it's presentation is tiring and poorly done
with a digital camera completely out of focus with huge close-ups on the faces of the people being interviewed. The camera is so up high that at times it
feels like an amateur is shooting the picture rather than the professional Andrade is, as seen in other documentaries he directed since the 1960's. It was
distractive; and the rhythm of everything is sloppy and careless since it depends of presenting its facts and stories with the main figures rather than
having recreation of events or archive footage/photos of Herzog and his family.
I liked the stories and the information, specially the ones I didn't know about but I think more could be said of the iconic photography of the fake suicide.
That image hauted a whole generation and it was that brought the regime down, since one could easily see that the body's position could never prove that one
could kill himself in such low angle and manner (hanged on his cell from a seated position). I wanted to see the people's shock when remembering that single
moment, or discuss it more. Obviously we can't have the people responsible for the picture or people who worked on the DOPS so the facts as presented is just
too little.
As a tribute and a reminder on Vladimir Herzog 30 years after his passing this was well done and for those who don't know anything about him, the circumstances
of his death and the context of his death and importance during the dictatorship period this film is the best of its kind. Not sure if there are others films
about it but I keep on waiting for a dramatic release with actors and recreation of facts. That'd be spectacular if told as it happened. 7/10.
