Chez moi à Copacabana

The title of this film in Portuguese was Fábula (A Fable). I saw it a long time ago. I wasn't prepared for what was in store for me - I hadn't read any comments about the film.... I was walking down the street and happened to pass in front of a movie theater, the title on the marquee struck my curiosity - it was FÁBULA. I went inside. When I left the theater I was deeply touched.

"Fábula" ("Mitt hem är Copacabana" in Swedish) is about the homeless children forced to live on the streets in Rio de Janeiro. I don't remember much about the film. I remember that it was not a political film (in the strict sense of the word), nor a documentary film.

It shows the miserable and hopeless life of these children, but even so it's not a desperate film - after all they are children, play games and live their lives day to day. There is even a touch of poetry and fantasy in "Fábula" (the film honors its Portuguese title). I remember in particular one scene near the end of the film where a poor balloon seller, taken by his balloons, floats in the sky (?!!!). Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but still the image remains whenever I remember the film.

I would like to see the film again to reappraise it. Anyway it left a lasting impression on me. This film should be released on DVD.

This film is about homeless children.

In the main titles it's something like this: "This film is based on taped histories by the children in the film and their friends". Arne Sucksdorff is one of the greatest and most famous directors here in Sweden. He does documentary films. I have seen two films that he has done: This and "The great adventure". "The great adventure" is great but the child-actors is not so good in that film but in this it was much difrent. Maybe because they act so natural.

This is a film that perfectly shows their joy in the hopeless situation. It's very frightening and it will make you think deep. The children still has the hope but the problems goes on and on. You get very close to the four main children. Technical this film is perfect, the cinematography, editing and of course the direction. And let's not forget how beautiful this film is. A masterpiece that I highly recommend to watch. It's hard to rate this kind of films but it deserves the highest rating on any level.

Jorginho, his white friend Rico, Lici and Paulinho are homeless best friends living in a slum in a hill in Copacabana. They spend their hopeless life playing with kite; trying to survive getting food from the street market or the fishermen; learning how to pickpocket; working on the streets polishing shoes. Rico escaped from an institution in Caxambu that symbolizes hell on Earth for them. When he gets ill, he decides to return to the place because he does not want to die on the streets.

"Mitt hem är Copacabana" looks like, but it is not a documentary as indicated in IMDb. The Swedish director Arne Sucksdorff came to Brazil in 1962, and he introduced new equipment and gave a cinema course in 1962 for the first generation of the Brazilian "Cinema Novo" filmmakers. He brilliantly shot this movie based on the screenplay of the Brazilian writers John Bethencourt and Flávio Migliaccio. The performances of the children are simply amazing. The cinematography is fantastic. The direction is awesome. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Fábula" ("Fable")