HISTORY
REPEATS ITSELF. WITH POLITICIANS, MOSQUITOES AND TROPICAL
DREAMS.
Even
in the digital era, cinema is still ahead of TV in present
time matters. André Sturm's first feature, "Sonhos
Tropicais", opens next week and brings the public health
question in Brazil to surface at a moment when the number
of people infected by the dengue fever virus, transmitted
by the mosquito Aedes Aegypti, totals up to almost 100 thousand,
only in Rio de Janeiro.
"Sonhos
Tropicais" brings the saga of the sanitarian doctor
Oswaldo Cruz, who fought to bring hygiene consciousness
to the population and to convince the politicians of the
benefits of a mass vaccination campaign. Reluctance of a
wing of politicians against the vaccination, plus the manipulation
of the poor consciences of then, originated the bloody episode
historically known as 'Vaccination Rebellion'.
Nothing
stops us from thinking, especially in this uncertain election
year in Brazil, that political interests once more worked
against the people to mine a strong candidate to President
of the Republic. The sanitarian late-effect bomb was started
at a moment of disregard by the states' and cities' governments
when it was known that responsibility was to be taken to
the Health Ministry, involving then especially minister
José Serra's image, the candidate of the situation.
Back
to André Sturm's film, even though we see a historical
film, with all of its re-creation merits, costumes and details,
it is unavoidable to keep a present-time prism. Increasing
cinematographic interest, Sturm enriches narration with
the story of a young Jewish-Polish woman 'imported' by the
owner of a brothel to be a prostitute instead of, as she
thought, getting married to a prosperous fellow countryman.
"Sonhos
Tropicais" would be an excellent TV series based on
the same book by Moacyr Scliar that inspired the movie.
Luckily for the film. Its present-time quality is unique
at this moment of not-assumed dengue epidemics in Brazil.
Exactly like in 1899...
FROM
THE READERS
'Jornal
da Mostra' n° 77 has one mistake:
Herbert George Wells was British.
Edelmar Cabral Ziegler
Mesmo
na era do digital, o cinema continua na frente da televisão
em questões de atualidade. Estréia na próxima
semana "Sonhos Tropicais"(foto dir.), primeiro longa
de André Sturm que traz à baila a questão
da saúde pública no Brasil e em um momento em que
se contabiliza perto de 100 mil pessoas infectadas pelo vírus
da dengue, transmitido pelo mosquito Aedes Aegypti, somente no
Rio de Janeiro.
