Out of the Past - KVIFF 60/80 / Barravento / Brazil 1962
“A political film must not only be revolutionary and radical, but also artistically and culturally enriching”, stated director Glauber Rocha, a key figure of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement. His debut, awarded in Karlovy Vary in 1962, thus brings us an array of magical scenes of rituals performed by the inhabitants of the Bahia fishing region; at the same time, it nevertheless raises a critical question – how can mysticism maintain its relevance in the fight against oppression and exploitation? Rocha’s loosely structured narrative, drawing on the documentary film aesthetic, is rhythmically and conceptually akin to the sea, whose calm surface can at any moment be roiled by the barravento, a sudden, violent and destructive wind.
Tomáš Hubáček
81 min / Black & white, DCP
Director Glauber Rocha
/ Screenplay Luiz Paulino, Dos Santos, Glauber Rocha, Jose Teles
/ Dir. of Photography Tony Rabatoni
/ Music Canjiquinha
/ Editor Nelson Pereira dos Santos
/ Art Director Elio Moreno Lima
/ Producer Braga Netto, Rex Schindler
/ Cast Antonio Pitanga, Luiza Maranhão, Lucy de Carvalho
Glauber Rocha. Selected filmography: Barravento (1962), Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, 1964), Entranced Earth (Terra em Transe, 1967), Antonio das Mortes (O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro, 1969), The Lion Has Seven Heads (Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças, 1970), The Age of the Earth (A Idade da Terra, 1980).
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