A Marvada Carne

It' was one the best successful movies from the eighties, "A Marvada Carne" (That Dammed Meat) is a proposition utterly grounded in Brazilian mystical folklore stablished by years of foreign colonization blended with African culture, that had inserted in imaginary popular thru the centuries, so upon this premise is built a fabulous story of main character Nhô Quim.

A young illiterate yokel guy Quim (Adilson Barros), living alone with a dog in a small shack in the backlands working of your own sustenance as corn, rice, bean, eggs, vegetables, chickens and just occasionally meat for hunting at nearby forest, however he never had eaten bovine meat, upon this desire he decides moving forward in order to at last try taste this desirable delicacy, the striver yokel soon reaches in another small farmer community which has a teenager girl Carula (Fernanda Montenegro) that has been hardly prayed for the famous matchmaker Saint Anthony to send to her a handsome and wealthy applicant.

In this provincial life unfolds this enjoyable story among an upcoming marriage, many weird happenings come over as a kind of knowledge test aiming for to certifies if the contestant is enough able to marry her, also a hard and funny jargons from countryside are fully applied in their speeches, almost indiscernible by mostly, also many characters from Brazilian folklore are expose along the movie as "Curupira" a kind of mystic being that protects the forest, also a folkloric bargain with the alleged "Cussaruim" a sort of "Devil" due this spoken word brings bad luck for whom says, Quim advised by an older Witch to offer a black chicken in late night in a haunted spot to try a haggling with devilish being.

Although the outcome in a modern city spoils a fine offering, quite sure it stands the test of time, it's still fresh and original, developed by André Klotzel with a fabulous supporting casting as the veteran actor Dionizio Azevedo, the eternal Mazzaropi's wife Jeny Prado and the young Regina Casé, among others.

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First watch: 1988 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 8.

The human heart and its insatiable desires of fullfillment form the movie's main idea of two lonely souls who'll find ways and means to get what they desire the most. In "That Damned Meat"), a hungry hick (Adilson Barros) has a constant desire to eat beef after spending ages just eating rice, beans and flour. And there's a young woman (Fernanda Torres) who devotedly prays to Saint Anthony to get a husband, but since he doesn't attend her requests immediately she keeps on cursing his statue, throwing it away or putting under water yet the statue keeps coming back intact and "reacting" to everything.

But it all changes when those poor desperate souls finally meet and thanks to a scheme from the girl she finds a way to get married with him and help him with his request of having the most wanted beef, even though both of them are not the smartest people you'll meet and that's when confusion sets in.

I was amazed that this in fact was an original work, cause since I remembered hearing about some plot details of the movie I was reminded of the folklore legend of Bumba Meu Boi which also deals with the insatiable need of eating ox meet (in that story, it's a pregnant woman who convinces her husband to get the meet by killing his boss ox and then as a revenge the poor man was turned into an ox himself). And the movie also uses of some supernatural and folklore elements as well - with the presence of Curupira early on - which makes for a surreal experience at parts, very humored.

It's an OK movie, greatly acted by all members of the cast, being Dionísio Azevedo as the absent minded girl's father being the most enjoyable and funniest character in the picture. It's a funny movie but not spectacularly hilarious or highly memorable, it's mildly amusing and it really knows how to present a story without any excesses or absurdities; and gotta admit I was a little lost with the countryside slangs. There's so many of them used plus the poor quality of sound made the film a slightly difficult experience at times.

Other than that, I had a good time with it and felt a great deal of relevance when it comes to reveal the human nature and its desires when one doesn't have much means to get what they want and what they need, yet one can fight for such desires, dreams and needs, get exactly what they want and don't feel disappointed afterwards. It was fun to see the misadventures of such good-spirited poor characters. 6/10.