Deus é Brasileiro

I am English, trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese as I want to live in Brazil. I bought the DVD of this movie because the synopsis sounded like my kind of film and I thought it might help me with the language. I'm not sure if I have learnt much, but I really enjoyed the film and it just seems to be better every time I watch it! It's not exactly hilarious, but it's not boring or too predictable. Whilst the plot is necessarily far-fetched, it is well acted and I found all the characters totally convincing. It is a gentle comedy that rolls along nicely and I am happy to watch it again and again. It's the sort of film that will cheer you up when you're having a bad day.

Carlos Diegues, the Brazilian director, takes us on a trip of enlightenment, when he invites us to come along in this road movie, in which God, taking the form of a man of a certain age, appears to a young man who doesn't believe in anything. Taoca, the young man, decides to accompany the God figure in a trip which will make him watch, first hand, what this larger than life figure has in store for him.

Mr. Diegues is a director that always surprises. In this film, he is playing with our credibility as Taoca and God travel through the back roads of that vast country that is Brazil. In the process, Taoca goes from being skeptic, to a complete understanding about what this God is all about and what he is capable of doing. Mr. Diegues' films have a great look because of the director's sense of color that must be evident in the places where his movies are set.

The film is made more enjoyable because of the interplay of Antonio Fagundes, who plays God, and Wagner Moura, an actor who shows great promise. Mr. Fagundes is perfect as the God reincarnated. Wagner Moura, who we had admired in "Caminho das Nuvems", brings the right blend of skepticism and humor to the situation he is thrown into. We also see Paloma Duarte, who plays Mada, a young woman with a sad past, who goes along with two strangers, leaving her dreary life behind.

"Deus E Brasileiro" will delight Mr. Diegues' fans.

A visit of God to Earth is used as pretext to take the viewer into a journey across northeastern and northern Brazil. Although the action is placed in Brazil, it could well be a journey across the world, the world outside the great cities of the northern hemisphere.

The film has the quality of being simultaneously profound and a pleasure to watch. It is very modern (or post-modern) in this attempt to target a wide audience but still taking that audience into feelings and thoughts quite outside the thoughts of everyday life; into the things people tend to forget or overlook. Like the films of Kusturica, it is the opposite of the prototypical "intellectual" film: it is not boring, this film appeals to everyone. It also doesn't attempt to conclude with a satisfying, but reducing, statement.

I disagree with the comment of Ernesto Lopes. Fagundes' portrait of God is not at all boring, it's more a portrait of a bored, and imperfect, distracted and Brazilian God. I would also consider very good the "irritating" performance of Wagner Moura and the performance of Paloma Duarte a bit more fragile; but, most of all, I think that the story is not broken up at all -- the cut doesn't focus the details of the pretext story, it does not invite the viewer to pay attention to details, instead, it merely takes the viewer into a simple sequence of scenarios.

I think this film is much more than just amusing. It is often that films intended for wide audiences start off with a very interesting proposal and, in the course of development, loose their sense completely by attempting to fit the standards of normality (take "Meet Joe Black", for instance). This film never looses its sense, the intelligent proposal of the beginning is never betrayed.

Taking into account the relevance of the argument, taking into account that even renowned directors like Polanski often have stories of little relevance, and taking into account that 10 is reserved for Bergman and Fellini; I would rate this film with a 9 if I were allowed.

I've visited most of the places in this movie, beautiful places surrounded by the not so beautiful poverty. This is a light-hearted movie that essentially shares the same message that other Brazilian movies portray. It shows the bad sides of Brasil, and it shows the good and beautiful sides of Brasil. It does this not directly, but with the use of play-full storyline, God on vacation.

There are times in which you are shocked with the problems, and times which you are amazed with the beauty of nature. The movie does an excellent job at doing that, showing us the entire picture, not just showing the good side or just showing the bad side.

The story in itself is mildly entertaining. I saw the movie in Portuguese, I don't know how some of the dialog is translated. Some people might not understand some things. Like the main character's name, his name is a combination of his mom and dad's first names, something commonly done in the "Nordeste" (Northeastern Brasil).

I would give it 7 stars. It was nice seeing some of that beautiful nature that GOD created. Break free from all conveniences and luxuries hat surrounds most of us.

P.S. I know I spelled Brasil with an S, Thats the way I learned how to spell it and that's the way I will keep spelling it.

I watched this movie with the English subtitles, and found it to be a pleasant, if disjointed, Brazilian comedy. The translation was fairly good, but if you are fluent in Portuguese you'll notice several goofs in translation. The plot of God taking a vacation has been done before and I'm sure that it will be done again. But God taking a vacation in poor, but scenic Northeastern Brazil has not been done and could not be done anywhere else and look as eye-catchingly beautiful. The only thing missing is a side trip to the island of Fernando de Noronha.

See this for the enjoyment of touring a most beautiful and scenic part of the world on the cheap !!!