Poetry enthusiasts and fans of the great Cecília Meireles will find in "O Sereno Desespero" ("The Serene Despair") a commendable and interesting work of art where some
excerpts from her work are performed by actress Isabel Ribeiro in a voice-over while images that seem to match with the words appear on the screen. It's a fine collage of
medias and some audiences enjoy this kind of junction and many people learn better about poems and his effects while seeing images rather than just reading on a book. I'm
somewhere in between with those descriptions since depending on the words I tend to get distracted, sometimes it works with perfection.
But how did I got here with this rarity, anyway? A search on a known, almost mytical, figure of pop culture of Brazil of the 1980's and then came this credit, his one and
only known filmed register of all time: the surfer José Arthur Machado, better known as Petit, immortalized on the verses of another poem the hit song "Menino do Rio". Like
many of the personalities who silently appear in the film while Cecília's works are presented, he's in the movie for a brief sequence while coming out of the sea and then
laying around on the sand as the waves keep washing him again and again, and the poem presented somewhat match with this imagery. He was still in his teen years and it was shot
back when he still didn't had the dragon tattoo on his shoulder which made him popular in the following decade and one of the many memorable descriptions of his that appears
in the song. A pity he does not appear surfing since that's why he also got famous in Rio beside his great looks.
This was just an extremely random thought on how I got here, and since I love seeing things that are rare or very obscure, going under the radar of many people, I'm just
glad I found it. As said, this might be the only filmed register of Petit except for a couple of photographs available elsewhere and I get fascinated by the man's mystique,
someone who had a brief share of fame and life, and left us too soon in a tragic way in 1989, being the last two years of his life something very painful to him.
As for Cecília's poems they talk about the human condition, the poet condition, the incofident movement in Minas Gerais where a couple of scenes from historical places
of Minas are shown, it's all good to see and hear. I wish more Brazilian poets had similar projects made - or maybe I need to search better. Since the main topic is subjective
depending on the viewer/listener, I won't express thoughts about the author's work. Some will be here just to appreciate her talents as a poet and she was one of the true
greats. 6/10.
