Ep #19 - Brazilian Cinema Novo in the 60s

In the 1960s, while European cinema was riding out multiple waves, Brazil was inventing Cinema Novo. Emerging out of Brazil’s populist movement of the 1950s and influenced by Italian neorealism and French New Wave, Cinema Novo was a political film movement that served to both warn against and highlight problems plaguing the rural Brazilian everyman. But the dream of social betterment through intellectualist filmmaking sadly stalled when, midway through the 1960s, Brazil experienced a military coup. Echoing the political climate, Cinema Novo quickly turned cynical and violent in its chosen topics, sharply criticizing what they had once hoped would bring about true social equality. By the end of the 1960s all bets were off, as the movement took a turn for the surreal and Tropicalist–rejecting all forms of nationalism and embracing avant-garde mysticism.

Bart and Jenna, simple Americans they are, were initially a bit confounded and mystified by Cinema Novo’s indulgence in political allegory, magical realism and dry satirical humor. But in the end they were, of course, won over by all of those very same things–not to mention its deeply empathetic sense of humanity. In this episode, they lay all of the groundwork for you to have an easier time comprehending these fascinating films than they did.

The following films are discussed:

• The Given Word (1962)
O Pagador de Promessas
Directed by Anselmo Duarte
Starring Leonardo Villar, Glória Menezes, Dionísio Azevedo

• Barren Lives (1963)
Vidas Secas
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Starring Átila Iório, Maria Ribeiro, Orlando Macedo

• Black God, White Devil (1964)
Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol
Directed by Glauber Rocha
Starring Geraldo Del Rey, Yoná Magalhães, Othon Bastos

• The Guns (1964)
Os Fuzis
Directed by Ruy Guerra
Starring Átila Iório, Nelson Xavier, Maria Gladys

• Entranced Earth (1967)
Terra em Transe
Directed by Glauber Rocha
Starring Jardel Filho, Paulo Autran, José Lewgoy

• The Red Light Bandit (1968)
O Bandido da Luz Vermelha
Directed by Rogério Sganzerla
Starring Paulo Villaça, Helena Ignez, Pagano Sobrinho

• Macunaíma (1969)
Directed by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
Starring Grande Otelo, Paulo José, Jardel Filho