Casa Grande

I saw this film at the Rotterdam film festival 2014 (IFFR), where it was programmed as part of the official Tiger Award competition. I neglected my earlier resolutions to not see any coming-of-age story again, as this one seemed different and I booked tickets nevertheless. And it indeed turned out different in the positive sense. A well-to-do family with ample staff gradually falls apart due to financial problems, and (of course) the father tells his family too late what is going on. Staff is dismissed one-by-one, accompanied by many lies to uphold appearances. The coming-of-age as a topic is important only in the first half, and it includes the usual problems with school, looks and girls. Luckily, the story line moves on to something completely different.

During the final Q&A with the director I learned that the film title comes from a classic book (in English translation known as "Masters and Slaves"). The director took advantage of its basic idea, but made a translation to a contemporary situation. Many things have changed in comparison with the book: middle class is growing, being poor is not that poor anymore as it was, and servants need not to be servants as desperately as before. The opening scene with the big house is on purpose, where we see the father turn out all the lights one by one, apparently to save on costs. Immediately after that, the attention moves on to the son, who stays the focus for the rest of the running time.

A special hefty scene with father and son is amplified from the director's own youth, including all the bad words that are uttered, though the director admits to a bit of exaggeration and having made it into a caricature. Another recurring topic is an affirmative action law (quotas for minorities) that was passed just before he shot the movie, and we see several hot discussions pro and con. A final remark from the director was about soap opera's that usually play in similar well-to-do houses, but it seems that the décor is always taken for granted and never discussed. Here the role of the "décor" is very different, and indeed important for the story. There is a second link with soap opera's: the actor playing the son had roles in soap opera's before, and never got a chance for a serious role.

All in all, I was happy having set aside my prejudice against coming-of-age stories. The stories of the different main characters keep our attention throughout the running time, probably due to the fact that there is more than a single main character to follow. Yet, the son gets the most attention, due to his open mind and thus interacting with everyone in spite of them being a "master" or a "servant". This film ranked a 42nd place (out of 200) for the audience award in Rotterdam, average score 4.15 (out of 5).

Good plot, but bad acting. The film adequately addresses the dynamics of the Brazilian upper middle class.

This is a slow moving drama that is awful and pointless. It's as if the director strung together a series of scenes in some random fashion in the hope that it would gel into a movie. It did not! The story is a coming of age one but set in Brazil against a backdrop of changing economic fortunes. The story seems to go on forever without actually getting to the point or making its meaning known. The film might have some appeal to a local market or to a mainly Brazilian audience but I doubt it would have much in the way of global appeal. One might watch this for the backdrop of landscape set in Rio de Janeiro, or to see if the movie picks up the pace or gets better. It does not! The ending is just a silly and non-contributory one! Just a very disappointing viewing experience overall.

In my reviews quite a few times I have mention deja vu, because of encountering similar films. As for this, it was another Brazilian film that came after this, but I saw that one first. It was 'The Second Mother', the Brazilian entry for the 2016 Oscars. Quite similar in narration, particularly about how Brazilian rich families function, but lots of sub-topics too were covered. It's like a mixed flavour, a slice of everything.

Still, the film was fascinating. You know drama films are usually predictable, as well as unpredictable. For instance, a few events resembles to that of our life or that happened our surroundings. And sometimes for taking place in a different country, if you are not familiar with that culture, it becomes a reason to show our interest while we proceed watching it. Seems it was a coming-of-age theme, and it remains that way, but in between the gaps, like I said you will witness the variety.

If you had already seen the film that I mentioned earlier, you would feel you had already seen around ten per cent of this film. Like you only need a brief intro to understand the film characters and what follows does not need to get used to the atmosphere in the story. Its about another rich couple with two teenagers and their domestic workers. These characters are the centre of the story and focused each others' bondage, as well as the other side of the their lives like encountering their friends, business, society et cetera. It was a neatly folded film, except I felt the daughter remained a bit mystery.

"No boss ever wins a labour lawsuit in this country."

The major part of the story was preferred to tell from the boy's perspective. Hailing from a rich family, he was given a very protected life from his father. But he decides to experience the reality of society and that gives him an opportunity to meet a girl. So there's a romance in it, but a small part. As he's a teenager, his sexual curiosity too was explored, but in a most possible decent way. Because if you see the film poster, it gives a different impression, just like the film 'Marina'.

In some parts, the film was slow, but considering it is more than a hundred minutes long, the overall pace was good to stay with it till the end. All the actors were excellent and the director did his job decently. But the surprising part was about the topic of racism. I always thought Brasil was one of the tolerant countries when it comes to ethnicity and social classes. Though nothing serious, everything was mostly verbal discussions that ended both ways after those involved expressed their views. Overall, it was a bit different, unlike what we see in American films. Mainly because it arose after an argument with another topic, 'quota', for the socially backward classes.

I usually enjoy watching this kind of realistic portrayal. It's like witnessing a different culture and lifestyle, in a cinematic way. If you are a film fanatic like me, you will get the point. The structure of characters and plot, all looked fine. The writing must be appreciated, it will work for the majority of the viewers, but still not appealing enough for some sections of the audience. Otherwise the film would have been recognised equal to the other Brasil film I compared with. This is a 'go for it' film. Not just for entertainment, but to understand how life takes turns that's not yours. So I think it is worth a watch.

7/10

Casa grande e senzala, film very well represents the rise of public policies, the implantation of quotas, on the subject excellent discussion and defense of the girl Luiza, the hypocrisy of the bankrupt elite, with quotes even to Eike, a work so representative and forgotten. Wonderful, charming and well-produced film ... National cinema doing beautiful ...