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I've heard a lot about this movie. It's good as cinema, with a beautiful photography, good art direction and fair script and rhythm. There are funny and sad moments. But I can't see this movie as a Oscar-winner, or even as representative of a great Brazilian production. It's great for the fans of the singers; I can imagine them crying all the time... I'm sorry, but it doesn't go farther than a good soap opera, or an Indian Bollywood hit.

Any Brazilian movie with good budget is pointed as a Oscar-winner. It happens every year. Come on, let's face it: this movie is good, but not good enough.

A documentary is not only a report through the eyes of the producer. It's also a report through the "eyes" of the subject. And when you want to tell a story, you need to engage yourself in it. This is not the case with "A Cobra Fumou". This documentary was aired some months ago by The History Channel, and unfortunately is bad, very bad. The producer focus his work based on two points: the ridiculous and the tragical. So you laugh or you cry. Any analysis of the Brazilian Army campaign in the lands of Italy in WWII, their reasons or consequences? Forget it. In a scene the producer shows a veteran, dressed with his old uniform, stood beside a swimming pool, in the back of his house. The producer asks him: "So you dated many Italian girls there, huh?"... In another interview, an officer poses with his picture in hands. "But this thing will look ridiculous, don't you think?", the officer says to the producer. "No, no, it won't"... The highest point is an interview with a nurse, a little bit extravagant with her coiffure, probably the only concern of the crew.

Another stereotype explored is the "social conflict" between enlisted and officers. In an attempt to contrast with the old man in his (small) pool, some enlisted are interviewed at the doors of their simple buildings in Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazilian campaign was very important not only to the military, but to the course of war in Italy. Important points were taken, like Monte Castello, in despite of low resources and lack of experience from the soldiers (so-called "pracinhas"). But the documentary is skin-depth, insisting on stereotypes of any Brazilian soap-opera: the fun, the drama and the "social". This important chapter of Brazilian history really needed more respect.

(I strongly recommend Erik Castro's "Senta a Pua!", a very sensible and well-produced documentary about Brazilian aviation campaign in WWII.)