Bicho de Sete Cabeças

Neto is a teenager. He's quiet, doesn't seem to care about anything, and is tight-lipped with his mother, father and sister. He hangs out, drinks, smokes pot with his friends, and gets arrested for spray-painting graffiti. He even gets into a pushing fight with his father when they argue.

When his father finds a marijuana joint in his clothing, the family thinks that he has a drug habit. They decide to practice tough love to help him. Do they talk to him about what they've found? No. Do they put him in a drug-counseling program? No.

This is where the title, Bicho de Sete Cabeças (animal with seven heads) comes in. It's a Brazilian term that loosely means, 'making a mountain out of a molehill,' 'blowing something way out of proportion' or 'something horrible.' The action that Neto's family takes when they find that he's been smoking joints is drastic. Convinced that they are doing the proper thing, they commit him into a mental institution. They have every faith in the staff to help their loving son and brother.

Neto's nightmare begins, when it is evident that he is in the wrong place. The Institution staff is corrupt and mistreats its patients. In order to keep him docile and to restrain him in the ward to get more government funds, they give him drugs and shock therapy.

This film is based on the real life experience of Austregésilo Carrano who has made it his mission in life to expose and fight abuses that can take place in Brazilian mental institutions. While watching the film, I thought the entire situation would end in a tragedy, but I was happy to see that something positive came out of the experience.

The entire cast gives a heart-wrenching performance. Rodrigo Santoro, who plays the role of Neto gives a very strong performance. My heart ached for Neto as I watched his father trick him into going to the mental institution and then finding himself trapped in a nightmare, where he was sane among the other patients.

The sister (played by Daniela Nefussi) and parents (played by Othon Bastos and Cássia Kiss) give convincing performances. I could understand their actions, although clearly misguided and drastic.

Bicho de Sete Cabeças is the story of something horrific that ends well.

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!

Bicho de sete cabeças is a kick in the gut. Documentary style scenes constitute the skeleton of the movie, and makes the movie approach the status of masterpiece. The acting of Rodrigo Santoro is really good. I've seen him on Abril Despedaçado before, and I can say I see a bright future ahead of this guy. He's handsome and talented. I hope to see such great movies of his in the future. The madman called Ceara in the first mental institution is also showing signs of a PERFECT acting. I've never seen any actor that can act a crazy guy so well before. I was absolutely stunned by his performance! It's really sad how a young man is turned into a wacko by his revolting father's stupid strategies. What's worse is that, he experiences all that just because he doesn't take his father's tyranny, and smokes weed occasionally, like loads of people at his age. And what's even worse is that, this is a real life experience. I'd really like to sit down and have a coffee with that guy one day, and listen to his experiences in his own words. The movie made me want that.

The Brazilian cinema is the rising star of these days, and I sure hope it'll keep up the good work. A country with such a diverse culture, people experiencing extreme incidents in different walks of life, and great filmmaking skills to show those things to us. For this particular film though, I strongly doubt only Brazilian mental institutions are like this. Most likely, several terrible places like that exist all over the world. It's not certain that you're mad if you go there, but as this film depicts, it's almost certain for you to leave mad, if ever. Also make sure to see Abril Despedaçado with the same actor if you can. Brazilian movies rule!

9/10 for this all in all great movie.

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.