AQUARIUS C+
Brazil France (142 mi)
2016 d: Kleber Mendonça Filho
A long, infuriating, and seemingly epic portrait of
Brazilian strife, as seen through the eyes of an aging, iconic actress, the
brilliant Sônia Braga, now age 66, who was the epitome of Brazilian films
during the 70’s, with films like DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS (1976) and I
LOVE YOU (Eu Ye Amo) (1981), where she seemed to rejoice in a liberated spirit
that allowed her to display a healthy attitude towards nudity and sex (again
here in her 60’s!), where without a doubt, she was always the most interesting
person in the room. Retaining that same
rejuvenated spirit, she remains a life force, inhabiting the central character
who dominates this film, where she is viewed with such love and adoration by
her family and friends, not to mention the filmmaker, that she becomes
synonymous with THE GODFATHER (1972), not from any ruthless tactics or
unscrupulous business practices, but the way people come to worship her, as do
many in the viewing audience as well.
While she gives a blistering performance, the film itself does not live
up to its potential, remaining flat and indistinguished, with a story that
never really goes anywhere, leaving an exasperated audience that wants so much
more. Outside of the lead, the rest are
one-dimensional characters who are not really explored, where the interest in
the excessively long journey dissipates over time, becoming more of a social
portrait than a film, where the power of real estate developers target a lone
hold-out in a building that is otherwise empty, who refuses to move, as her
storied life took place in this building, yet the powers that be wish to
demolish it in order to reconstruct something new, something very
profitable. In this case it’s not
pitting the rich against the poor, but the super rich against an eccentric
older lady who happens to be wealthy herself, who could easily move elsewhere
but chooses to remain where she is, feeling more like an exploration of her
personal memoirs. The film has a storied
past coinciding with its release at Cannes, as the director and cast denounced
the coup d’état against the Brazilian government where Dilma Rousseff, the
democratically elected president, was being impeached, where there is good
reason to believe this was to stop a corruption investigation into the business
practices of the country’s right wing faction, the very same who were
initiating the impeachment and who would assume power afterwards. The conflict of interest is staggering, yet
there it is, that’s Brazilian politics.
Dilma
Rousseff's impeachment was led by the white, wealthy men who ... Manuel Barcia from The Independent, May 15, 2016
Brazil
minister ousted after secret tape reveals plot to topple President ... Jonathan Watts from The Guardian, May 23, 2016
New
Political Earthquake in Brazil: Is It Now Time for Media Outlets to ... Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept, May 23, 2016
Additionally, Brazilian film critic Marcos Petrucelli, who
was part of the special selection committee choosing Brazil's foreign-language submission
for the 2017 Academy Awards, made negatively biased remarks on social media
about director Mendonça Filho’s politics, which was viewed as an attempt to undermine
the film’s potential in representing Brazil at the Oscars. Many directors subsequently withdrew their
films for nomination in protest, claiming the fairness of the selection process
was violated, so a little unseen film Little Secret
(2016) was chosen as the country’s submission, where its chances are basically
null and void. To be fair, however, this
film is really not very good, despite its laudable intentions and a towering
central performance by Braga, arguably the best in her career. Part of the reason is that it seems the film
was written exclusively with her in mind as a showcase for her wondrous
talents, but they failed to create an equally compelling drama, as it’s filled
with a supporting cast that all seem to be playing to this one central
character, as if the moon and the stars revolve around her. In the end it’s all too much, where there’s
not enough of a developed story surrounding her, where it ends up being a
one-note film, one woman pitted against sinister corporate interests wishing to
make a quick buck at her expense, where the film tries in vain to provide something
of a back story. Told in three parts,
set in Recife, the filmmaker’s hometown, in an apartment overlooking the lengthy
beach, the film begins in 1980 with a family reunion, seen in flashback, where
they all pay tribute to Aunt Lucía (Thaia Perez), the matriarch of the family
who broke new grounds in literature and the law, serving time in prison during
the 60’s for her beliefs, described in glowing terms as a “firecracker.” While there is plenty of Brazilian music and
dancing and tribute songs, including that oldie but goodie, “Another One Bites
the Dust” by Freddie Mercury and Queen, Queen - Another One Bites
the Dust (Official Video) - YouTube (3:42), in this segment, Clara (Lucía’s
neice), Braga’s character, is a young girl played by Bárbara Colen. While speeches and accolades compliment Lucía,
Clara’s husband also pays tribute to Clara, who has survived a very rough year
overcoming breast cancer. By the second
segment, Clara’s husband has died and she lives alone in the same apartment,
attended to by her longtime housekeeper and cook Ladjane, Zoraide Coleto. With a knock on her door, she is enticed by a
small committee of men to accept a new proposal for selling her apartment to developers,
as all the rest of the units in the building have been sold, though she is
adamant about refusing to sell, indicating it is her intention to live the rest
of her remaining years in this apartment, as it is filled with all her family
memories, AQUARIUS - Kleber Mendonça Filho
Film Clip YouTube (1:23). That will
not deter them, however, from resorting to unscrupulous methods in trying to
wear her down.
While there are glimpses of Clara’s day-to-day life in
Recife, gossiping and going out with girlfriends, receiving loving visits from
her adoring children, spending time with her grandchildren, occasional evenings
with available men, going to the beach nearly every day, where she is
repeatedly warned by the safety conscious lifeguard Roberval (Irandhir Santos)
not to go further than waist deep, as there are ferocious rip currents, we also
see her playing music at home, as she is a former music critic who prefers
listening to LP records that line her living room, along with a hammock by the
window where she naps, along with a large Barry
Lyndon poster, where the film could easily be considered a musical for all
the selections included in the film, where Braga has a memorable scene dancing
alone in her apartment. One of the more
curious aspects is the picture of class divide, where the rich and poor are
separated in Recife by a sewage drainoff that runs across the sands into the
ocean, “This is where the rich part of the town ends and where the poor part of
the town starts,” where we’re fortunate enough to visit Ladjane for a birthday
celebration with her own family, which has an entirely different feel, as
there’s less space and more people, creating a picture of congestion and
claustrophobia, yet this is the everyday reality. In a telling moment, as Clara is showing
family photos in her spacious living room with her own family, Ladjane feels
like one of them, pulling out a picture of her own child to share, where at
least in Clara’s home this is not out of line, as there are no real boundaries
between them. While the developers try
to make Clara’s life miserable, which is a concern to her children, she insists
upon not letting it bother her anymore than the cultural shift from LP records
to MP3’s, where she adjusts to the times, even if those around her don’t. While she is a force of nature, as much the
face of Brazil as Sophia Loren is Italy, the film becomes a study of a woman
under duress, where more than just buildings are being stripped from the
landscape, as Brazilian society is losing much of its traditional values in its
race to the future, where money and expediency are changing not only the look
but the values of a nation. Brazil has
always had a heartwarming charm, a country that embraces its beaches, its
soccer team, and a quality of life, even as it experiences social turmoil,
where Clara wants to stay in her apartment out of a sheer love of the place and
all it represents to her, where that’s something you can’t replace. She is a charismatic figure and a free soul
that cannot be bought, yet the developers resort to egregious underhanded
methods that seem to reflect what they’re willing to do for money. Perhaps the divide between good and evil is
simply too broad and exaggerated here, becoming something of a compressed time
capsule of all that’s good in Brazilian society, as the moneyed interests of
the future make plans to strip it all away.
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