"BEHIND
THE SUN"
THE FILM THAT ENRICHES CINEMA'S ANTHOLOGY
Think
of Nicholas Ray and his great "Johnny Guitar";
of the equally obstinate characters created by Sergio Leone,
the master of the creative westerns-spaguetti; think still
of the good influences that a movie fan can have from the
monumental work by John Ford. "Behind the Sun",
the new feature by Walter Salles, has the good influence
of these masters who enriched the westerns' anthology and
their epics that are landmarks in cinema's history.
"Behind
the sun" reassures Salles as one of the best Brazilian
filmmakers in the domain of a universal, beyond borders
cinematographic language. From private to general, the Albanian
universe of the writer Ismail Kadaré becomes the
Brazilian hinterlands; the breaking of a revenge cycle,
the atavism of a poor boy rebelling against the blindness
of wars, comes to or becomes the sea. A Glauber Rocha with
the finesses of the modern cinema languages. A dense and
easy-to-understand film that overcomes the book in its emotional
charge. And which goes home with the viewer and will be
forever with him, unforgettable. Like a John Ford or his
master-piece "The Searchers", apparently an "entertaining"
film with the historical violence in the American formation
as background, but with all the wisdom in the traits that
form the generations' characters.
Walter
Salles signs, thus, his third masterpiece for Brazilian
cinema, after "Terra Estrangeira", co-directed
by Daniela Thomas, and "Central Station". He is
our universal filmmaker, with all the modesty to confess
his influences by the master Abbas Kiarostami, with a movie
baggage widely recognized in the international circuit.
His steps are followed from close by international producers
and his projects are already born with wide world distribution
guaranteed. Still in the process of releasing "Behind
the sun", he is already finishing the pre-production
of a new film: "Diários da Motocicleta",
the real story of the trip taken by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
and Alberto Granado through Latin America in 1952. An initiating
trip that changed young Che's world perception. The film
will be produced by Robert Redfofd through his Sundance
Institute. On the next days Walter Salles will be in Cannes
as a juror with the uncanny task of deciding which of his
masters in competition will take the Golden Palm from the
festival. Among them, Manoel de Oliveira, Alexander Sokurov
and Abbas Kiarostami.
DANIEL
SCHMID IN BRASIL
The
Swiss filmmaker Daniel Schmid arrives today in Rio de Janeiro
to take part in the Swiss Cinema Festival promoted with
the support of the Swiss cultural organization Pro-Helvetia.
The festival is dedicated to Swiss film in the 90's and
is entitled - The search for identity in a Multicultural
Society.
Daniel
Schmid, considered to be the greatest Swiss-German filmmaker,
will show his last film "Beresina or The Last Days
of Switzerland", a controversial satire about Switzerland,
which was released at the Locarno Festival two years ago.
Several
films by Daniel Schmid have been shown at the São
Paulo IFF, among them "The Written Face". 60 year-old
Daniel Schmid studied cinema in Germany, where he met Fassbinder,
with whom he worked as an actor, in two films- "The
Merchant of Four Seasons" and "Lili Marleen".
The
Swiss showcase will present films by two other filmmakers
known in Brazil -Alain Tanner and Richard Dindo, also known
by the São Paulo IFF audience. The Swiss films, 24
in total, will be shown between May 2 and15.
FROM THE READERS
I
think the new Asterix film can really have influenced the
result of the last elections - at least, some citizens'
behavior - for subliminal propaganda is an extremely subtle
resource, but it is very powerful. In France's case (I don't
think it is too much to think in terms of globalization)
could be a mere coincidence…
Rose Fonseca
Listen,
I even think you were too light in the article on 'Le Penix'.
I think these elections are a good lesson to the French
to stop being hypocrites and realize there are also very
racist. In fact, I haven't seen Asterix yet, but I don't
doubt that it, among other things, contributes for the French
nationalism. And this was somehow appropriated by FN, showing
that any one can show resistance against the foreign threat
- whether it is the Empire (USA) or the barbarians (Arabs,
Blacks, Latins etc.)
Pierre Colmann
Pense
em Nicholas Ray e o seu grandioso "Johnny Guitar"; nos
personagens igualmente obstinados de Sergio Leone, o mestre dos
criativos westerns-spaguetti; pense ainda nas boas influências
que um cinéfilo possa ter da obra monumental de um John
Ford. "Abril Despedaçado/ Behind the Sun", o
novo longa de Walter Salles, tem a boa influência destes
mestres que enriqueceram a antologia dos westerns e de seus épicos
que marcaram a história do cinema.
