Corpo em Delito

Of all the films that revisited the dark days of the Brazilian military regime whether being fictionalized accounts or based on real events stories, "Corpo em Delito" has to be the worst I've ever seen. I'm really sad and disappointed in saying that but I can't lie to possible viewers and neither to myself. It's amazing that the writers and director had such a strong material to work with, solid gold in fact since there were characters like the one played by the great Lima Duarte, but they all wasted its potential, its power in making a social denounce and social evaluation. It turns out to be a very frustrating movie, confused and lacking in any quality.

Duarte plays Doctor Brasil, a medical doctor who worked for the military covering up their tortures against prisoners (it could be opposition, subversive figures or even innocent people) by forging medical records, reports and death certificates hiding from the media, the public and the deceased family the real cause of death. Those kind of doctors really existed and their past was uncovered by the media. If only the movie would concentrate with this issue alone by showing how this ethical conflict affected or not the man then we would have a better movie. But no, there's strange other points to be covered such as his weird relationship with his girlfriend/wife/who knows (played by Regina Dourado) and also his attempts to save a family friend's life since she's involved with a subversive teacher and he knows that the forces of repression are searching for him - not to mention that his own daughter was killed by the regime.

The whole films is a mess. An everlasting sense of confusion and disorientation permeates the story with its amazingly chaotic succession of flashbacks - one of the most confusing uses of flashback I've ever seen and one doesn't serve the story, it only gets in the way to make things worse than it is. When I talked about the doctor's partner is simply because it's too hard to define their actual status. In one scene they seem like a middle-aged bored couple then the next one we look back at their first meeting in a restaurant. And the worst thing about their relationship is that we never figure out why he needs a woman since he whenever she reaches for him, she gets ignored becaus he's too concentrated on his book. Speaking of this book, I couldn't understand the point of it: was the doctor trying to reveal in a sort of confessionary way the reasoning why he took part in those fake reports and even "took care" of those tortured prisoners making sure they were alive for the next beating? Was he trying to show that he was on the right side of the history by supporting his nation's government saving it from the lefties/communists? We keep seeing this man babbling wordy things of which he's never so certain of how to write it down.

Anyway, there's so many wrong things about this, a lack of interest by the part of everyone involved that it's really hard to find something worth seeing about this film.

There were, probably, four or five enjoyable sequences but neither are worthy of mention. The filmmakers have an interesting storyline to work with yet they messed out by creating pointless moments (such as the doctor spying on his pretty neighbor and her boyfriend, no purpose given) or not giving the necessary tension when needed (such as the scene where he visits a beaten prisoner or the whole persecution against his daughter). Had it been a film about the crisis of conscience from the main character or maybe some sort of people who want to bring him into justice this could turn out a better movie.

And all I can say to close this is that not even Lima Duarte could save this mess of a movie. He's a true master of an actor with a long distinguished career but he's completely wasted in such a thankless role. He has the usual charisma but the character is so dead that we don't care. But maybe it's a problem of direction. After all, the man behind this movie only directed this piece and vanished from the world of cinema. My advice: do not waste your precious time over this. 2/10.