The proposition behind "Babenco: Alguém Tem que Ouvir o Coração e Dizer Parou" is unique, peculiar but sad and morbid. But above all,
it's honest. Actress Bárbara Paz chronicles the final years of her husband Argentinean-Brazilian filmmaker Hector Babenco as he was battling
cancer and wanted to direct one last film, which end up being "My Hindu Friend" starring Willem Dafoe as a film director who's sick and has the
same wishes as Babenco in reality. It's a very unusual documentary/tribute to a man's legacy, but it certainly expresses what the man thought
of movies, telling stories and how mortality has a part on those things. Not exactly the easiest experience to watch, but it's certainly one
of the most rewarding in getting to know a man, an artist and his passion for cinema.
Despite the relative inexperience behind camera - and she makes sure to include those bits when Babenco teaches her how to focus a camera -
Bárbara made a curious tribute to her husband, going from a video diary of his moments at the hospital during treatment, then moving on to interviews,
the use of archive of all of his films, some making of, without losing momentum or falling into sentimentality. It's a little confusing when it comes to finding a
coherence of the material gathered since the film avoids the biographical route, favoring a work pattern in the themes brought on by the director
of "Pixote", "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Carandiru" instead. It's puzzling in a challenging way.
The uniqueness of a film like this is that it celebrates a man's work and life through his final days, and not many people are able to do
that. Death is not an attractive thing, but seeing how clear minded Babenco was with everything and challenging himself with the disease for a
long time (it is revealed that he had cancer right after filming "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and he was Oscar nominated), that one feels fascinated
about the man and his struggle, enlightened about how close his films were in thematic; and the challenge he leaves to us is: it's more important
to tell a story or to live life? Obvious that for a humanist filmmaker like he was, the latter becomes secondary as audiences have a deep need for
stories and few are the gifted storytellers that can make us feel less lonely in the world and find a connection, an extra meaning to life. And
he was always real and gritty with his films, a little dreamy and nostalgic, but the human spirit and its variations were always there.
It's a very moving experience and I loved it. Not sure if it can work for those who haven't seen any of Babenco films since there's no
talks about each movie or ways to present things about the story or what moved him to make those films. My suggestion is: watch one or two films
of his and then watch this piece. 9/10.
