Agosto

"Agosto" ("August") chronicles 24 days of that fateful month back in 1954 when Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas had to deal with a critical crisis in his government, going from the assassination attempt on his most significant and loud opponent Carlos Lacerda, the suspicions and evidences that pointed out that someone on the corridors of power were behind the attempt, all that were culminated with the presiden't suicide - a man who eliminated his enemies when he took over power for a period of 15 years but couldn't handle the public massacration he was dealing in a more democratic state. Vargas entered history as being one of the greatest figures to ever live, loved and hated on the same measure but on that August, he stop fighting and succumbed to adversity. Politics and history were never the same. This miniseries presents the facts intertwining with some fictional adition of elements that gives us the historical context in which the nation was living at the time with scandals, extramarital affairs, corruption, killings, sexual scandals behind a towering facade of ethics, morality that simply wasn't there as much as we like to believe there was.

Expenses weren't held back for the production of this show which takes us back in detail to Brazil of the 1950's, from the luxe and class of the wealth to the more simple and ragged of places from the miserable people. The story follows detective Mattos (José Mayer) investigating the mysterious murder of a businessman, which takes a great effort for him already suffering from a problematic stomach and also balancing two lovers at the same time: a rich woman from his past (Vera Fischer) and a poor woman (Letícia Sabatella), who happens to be the mistress of an important figure of Rio de Janeiro's social/political circles. As the investigation moves on, Mattos meets all sorts of characters from possible witnesses of the murder to influential people who knew the dead man, and some of those characters are his associates, business partners, crooks and dealers; some who get along the way; others with connection with a powerful allie of the president (Sérgio Mamberti); and the mysterious Lomagno (José Wilker, excellent) who not only takes over the dead man's company business along with his wife, but he's also married with Mattos affair, the woman played by Vera. First, as a backround for this case there's the whole Lacerda and Vargas historical thing; later on it becomes apparently the detective case might have as a possible suspect the president's personal bodyguard Gregório Fortunato (brilliantly played by Tony Tornado), as the Black Angel.

It's fair to say that "Agosto" gets down and dirty to reveal a period of time of shady secrecy between not only government but also people, with the morality and virtues being questioned time again - highly evident by the whole corrupt police department except for our trouble hero, a hard man whose ethic is unquestionable when it comes to his job, facing down on the way countless people who want him dead because he's getting too close of exposing their wrong deeds, murders and secret affairs. As for the hero, his only problem is to decide the matters of heart. He's so turn apart by those two problematic beautiful women that it's hard to see where the line between love and or lust goes. There's a whole war of conflicts going on the outside when one side is fighting against the president and others supporting him at the same time Mattos is so distinct from the crowd that it takes an awful lot of time for us to discover who he trusts more: Vargas or Lacerda. The series presents in a nice way the existing conflict between the public at the time but to understand it as a whole it's highly suggested a little search about the Toneleiros Street incident, and the whole campaign against Vargas beginning ever since his return to power.

It's really interesting to see how the series destroys the idea of a honorable nation by presenting its social and economical contrasts as it was then and is even now. The clash between different backgrounds, races, sexuality (I was quite surprised this was a huge deal in the show, despite being presented on a negative level) and in the end it's necessarily the good ones who conquer all. But to all of that it comes a question: was it done all deliberately when it comes to the actors casting as well or a flaw from the creators? Must admit that while our hero isn't so interesting to follow, he's too bland and one may wonder what does this man has to attract so many women around him? (the same can be asked for José Mayer as well, I simply don't understand what women saw on him, and I use this in a long distant past since his career was killed some decades after the show due to assault accusations); and going back on the track, if the hero doesn't generate much sympathy from audiences it's because we have villains of whom we feel a certain closeness - Mattos best friend, a corrupt cop greatly played by Carlos Vereza is an example just as Lomagno, Gregório, just to mention a few. Marcos Winter as the wimp business partner of the dead guy is an exception to the rule but his death scene was a highpoint in between the murders surrounding the mytsery. It's not like we're rooting for the bad guys, but they act in such intelligence and wit that it's hard to imagine how they're not gonna succeed with their plans.

A dark, somber, hardly ever humored neither romantically acessible, "Agosto" is far from being one of the most memorable things from the network due to its excessive reality, never cynical or too filtered and that's why some viewers will have difficulty in watching the whole thing. It's a must-see for history fans who enjoy that period of time because you're gonna see a spectacular historical recriation of locations, costumes and all; or fans from cast members (that also Lima Duarte, Lucia Verissimo, Elias Gleizer, and Norton Nascimento playing a sinister guy, way against type, was a great shock to me). As for the story it drags way too much to finally culminate with the presiden't suicide - I was disappointed that he's not a character since we only get to see the detective story, the 1954 setting was just a background to reveal Brazilian society of the period. I enjoyed the idea of mixing both worlds but time and again I was tired by its execution, it didn't translate all too well. It's good but it could go out as great. 7/10