Bicho de Sete Cabeças

Shocking. This is how I felt when watching this movie. It is a raw picture of the mental institutions system of Brazil and the ignorance by the parents and relatives about dealing with the subject of drugs. Is the act of putting someone in public mental institution the best solution or the easiest ? The madness of our society leads the family to take the easiest solutions instead of giving love. Medicine instead of friendship. This astonishing movie shows us all these kind of conflicts. Conducted by a fantastic music composed by Arnaldo Antunes.

Until I watched this movie, I considered Rodrigo Santoro to be a gorgeous, yet average talented soap opera actor. Today, after being forced to admit to my mistake and recognize the extent of his gift, it even upsets me when people give more emphasis to his looks than to his performance. Santoro is clearly a star on the rise, and the sky is the limit.

If for nothing else, "Bicho de Sete Cabeças" would be worth watching simply to witness Santoro's performance. But there is more to this movie than its Leading Man. Based on the autobiography of Austregésilo Carrano, this is a courageous, heartfelt move about a young man's journey into the Hells of public Mental Institutions and his struggle to maintain his sanity. A must-see to all of those who have ever feared losing their minds... and all of those who haven't!

I went to the cinema expecting to watch a good movie with strong dialogues,but it was much better!!!Bicho de sete cabeças is not a good movie ,it is just fantastic.Rodrigo Santoro plays Neto a young boy who lieves taking drugs,disturbing people and having a dangerous life. When Neto's father discover that he take drugs ,his parent dicide to put him in a mental imstitution where he receives eletric shocks and many drugs to turn him in a "normal" guy.He goes in a deeply hell. The movie brings you to the reality of this kind of institute , the horrible relashionship of the father to his son , and the world of drugs. Rodrigo Santoro will surprise you with the best performance of the year,Othon Bastos and Cassia kiss are the parents that have a lot of disturbing behavior.You have never seen anything like this movie. Be prepeared for a strong movie ,for crying scenes and Excellents performances.

Brainstorm aka Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2000) - Seven Heads Animal - an expression that means "a very hard obstacle to fight or a complex thing to do" is also the name of a song written by Arnaldo Antunes, whose songs were used as soundtrack in the movie. His lyrics are great - he is a recognized writer, lyricist and singer in Brazil - and fit perfectly the movie plot and atmosphere, as well as the instrumental part of the songs. The atmosphere is full of darkness and sadness. This is not an easy movie to watch. I can't say much about the plot, but I can tell that it's about the asylum system in Brazil. For you to have a picture of how bad some places were, there is a famous book about one asylum called "Brazilian Holocaust", by Daniela Arbex... The film portrays with an astonishing realism the routine on an asylum with focus on the life of Neto (Rodrigo Santoro). The technical features are great. The locations, the make up, the costume design and the cinematography make the film disturbingly real. In addition to all of this, the acting also helps a lot making the movie believable. Rodrigo Santoro is fantastic in this film. He totally embraced the character and brilliantly showed his behavior changes through the story. The movie seems short when we notice the length, 74 minutes, but the editing is great and helps with the pace. It's not fast nor slow and I really liked it. The editing also helped creating an escalating narrative, with a suffocating climax and a great ending. A very worth watching movie directed by Laís Bodanzky.

Alternative (and artistic said) direction is a tradition among Brazilian movies, and Bicho de Sete Cabeças does not escape from it. The first thing you notice when watching it that the image is not of a very high quality; a cheaper type of film was used. That can be explained by the fact that the movie industry is not very sponsored in Brazil, forcing some cuts on the budget. But that can also be a consequence of the constant fight of Brazilian moviemakers to never do things in the conventional way. That is also noticed on the unusual takes and camera movements.

Normally, that is the exact reason why Brazilian people themselves dislike Brazilian movies. It is rather unpleasant to watch. Some scenes even create a certain dizziness. And for that reason, this alternative direction is a nuisance for the beginning of the movie, where we see Neto living his everyday life. It may not be an ordinary one, but his personal decadence could have been shown using modern filming techniques, that wouldn't create in the audience the feeling that they're watching an amateur movie, something homemade. However, when it comes to the scenes that occur inside the madhouse, this alternative directions fits exactly with the horrible climate that fills the place. It transmits to the audience the point of view of the character; a normal person who's under the effect of heavy drugs and is surrounded by mad people. That uncommon filming enters the audience mind, as if they were there, living that situation. It makes them feel uncomfortable, but that's the purpose.

The poison for some is the balm for others. So the lesson here is that nations should exchange their techniques and use them to best fit their movie, instead of keeping fighting against what is foreigner.