O título da reportagem --The Boys From Brazil-- é irônico. Refere-se ao título de um filme trash famoso de 1978, "Os Meninos do Brasil" na tradução local, que era a alegria da Sessão da Tarde e jogava com a hipótese de Josef Mengele ter desenvolvido uma "fazenda de pequenos Hitlers" na floresta amazônica... Não custa lembrar que o autor, Larry Rohter, é o mesmo que escreveu recortagem sobre o "problema de bebida" do presidente Lula, que "preocupava o país" --e, num ato de truculência do governo, quase acabou expulso daqui.
For foreign viewers, "Two Sons of Francisco" offers a glimpse of a Brazil that is little known outside the country's borders. The world of "Two Sons of Francisco" is neither the sophisticated salons of Copacabana where the bossa nova was invented nor the violent urban slums, but a more placid, rural Brazil where traditional values and a simpler way of life still reign.
The actor José Dumont, who plays Miranda, the brothers' unscrupulous first manager, comes from that background: he taught himself to read while living out in the hinterlands and eventually made his way south. He has appeared in nearly 50 movies, almost always cast as an uneducated peasant or migrant, but said that the script of "Two Sons of Francisco" reflected his own past more than any other he had read.
"This story is the synthesis of the Brazilian experience, and it's good for our self-esteem as a people," he said. "These are folks who come from nothing, but end up on top, not because they've trampled others but because they have battled hard and honestly and followed their dream."
Both stylistically and in its tone "Two Sons of Francisco" is strikingly different from the last two Brazilian films that made a mark internationally. "Central Station" and "City of God" both had a bleak outlook on life, with "City of God" also winning attention for its dazzling visual innovations.
In contrast, the director of "Two Sons of Francisco," Breno Silveira, has deliberately chosen a style that he describes as "dry, simple and direct." Nor, he said, did he dwell more than he needed to on the Camargo family's poverty. "People always talk of misery but I don't believe in that," he said. "We are a happy, hopeful people, and I wanted to reflect that."
To give the movie added authenticity, most of "Two Sons of Francisco" was shot around the brothers' hometown of Pirenópolis, where Zezé di Camargo first sang at church feasts and county fairs as a little boy not much bigger than the accordion he toted. More than 300 child country duos auditioned for the roles of the brothers as children, and while all the youngsters eventually chosen could sing and play, none had really acted before.
Though Brazil is usually associated with bossa nova and samba, the music that Zezé di Camargo and Luciano and other duos like them play - known as "musica sertaneja," or "hinterlands music" - is just as popular, if not more so. Over the past 15 years, the brothers have sold an estimated 22 million records, starred in television specials and packed concert halls, rodeos, fairgrounds and even soccer stadiums around the country.
"The real strength of this country, economic and cultural, still comes from the heartland, which is the same place that we and our music come from," Zezé di Camargo said. "Our style of music is not something invented or imposed by the media, but is in the blood of the people. It descends from songs that our parents and grandparents heard and has the genuine flavor of country life."
For Americans, one reference point might be country music. The brothers in fact occasionally use pedal steel guitars and fiddles in their music, have recorded an album in Nashville (in Spanish) and are familiar with artists ranging from Vince Gill and Garth Brooks to Reba McIntyre and Shania Twain.
But here, as in the United States, sophisticated city folk traditionally have had a tendency to look down on the music of their rural brethren. People who don't like the hinterlands style, and they are legion, usually complain that its lyrics are too romantic or saccharine and its melodies too simple and repetitive.
"When I first told people that I was making this movie, a lot of them wrinkled their noses," Mr. Silveira said. "There are a lot of barriers and prejudice, and that was one of the things I hoped this movie would overcome."
Born in Brasília, Mr. Silveira, 43, is the son of an architect who was part of the team that designed the Brazilian capital, and he spent part of his youth in exile in Algeria and in France, where he eventually studied film.
He began his career filming documentaries in the slums here, then directed music videos and commercials and also worked as a cinematographer on 10 feature films. He had sought to buy the rights to the book version of "City of God" and was working on another project set in the slums. Though it would have been his first feature film, Mr. Silveira was not initially interested when approached about "Two Sons of Francisco."
According to Luciano Camargo, 32, the Brazilian branch of Columbia TriStar Films had been looking to make a live concert film that would be aimed at the duo's existing audience. "But we wanted a story that would last, that people would still be talking about in 50 years," he said. He ended up working with a pair of screenwriters in developing a feature that clocks in at two hours.
When Mr. Seveira was persuaded to look at the original script, he was captivated and signed on to direct the film.
After five months in theaters, "Two Sons of Francisco" has been seen by more than five million people, making it both the most widely viewed Brazilian movie here in more than 25 years and the highest-grossing film, Brazilian or foreign, here in 2005. The DVD version, issued just before Christmas with documentary and concert scenes added, has also broken records, with nearly 500,000 copies sold legally and 400,000 pirate copies estimated to be in circulation.
Whether the movie can come anywhere near that kind of success abroad remains to be seen, of course. But with its emphasis on talent overcoming adversity, "Two Sons of Francisco" contains echoes of recent Hollywood biopics about the lives of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, and those involved in the making of the movie are optimistic - as Brazilians usually are.
"This is a very Brazilian film, but it's a universal story that could easily have been told in the United States," Luciano Camargo said. "I know people always say that, but in this case it's really true."
NYT
The actor José Dumont, who plays Miranda, the brothers' unscrupulous first manager, comes from that background: he taught himself to read while living out in the hinterlands and eventually made his way south. He has appeared in nearly 50 movies, almost always cast as an uneducated peasant or migrant, but said that the script of "Two Sons of Francisco" reflected his own past more than any other he had read.
"This story is the synthesis of the Brazilian experience, and it's good for our self-esteem as a people," he said. "These are folks who come from nothing, but end up on top, not because they've trampled others but because they have battled hard and honestly and followed their dream."
Both stylistically and in its tone "Two Sons of Francisco" is strikingly different from the last two Brazilian films that made a mark internationally. "Central Station" and "City of God" both had a bleak outlook on life, with "City of God" also winning attention for its dazzling visual innovations.
In contrast, the director of "Two Sons of Francisco," Breno Silveira, has deliberately chosen a style that he describes as "dry, simple and direct." Nor, he said, did he dwell more than he needed to on the Camargo family's poverty. "People always talk of misery but I don't believe in that," he said. "We are a happy, hopeful people, and I wanted to reflect that."
To give the movie added authenticity, most of "Two Sons of Francisco" was shot around the brothers' hometown of Pirenópolis, where Zezé di Camargo first sang at church feasts and county fairs as a little boy not much bigger than the accordion he toted. More than 300 child country duos auditioned for the roles of the brothers as children, and while all the youngsters eventually chosen could sing and play, none had really acted before.
Though Brazil is usually associated with bossa nova and samba, the music that Zezé di Camargo and Luciano and other duos like them play - known as "musica sertaneja," or "hinterlands music" - is just as popular, if not more so. Over the past 15 years, the brothers have sold an estimated 22 million records, starred in television specials and packed concert halls, rodeos, fairgrounds and even soccer stadiums around the country.
"The real strength of this country, economic and cultural, still comes from the heartland, which is the same place that we and our music come from," Zezé di Camargo said. "Our style of music is not something invented or imposed by the media, but is in the blood of the people. It descends from songs that our parents and grandparents heard and has the genuine flavor of country life."
For Americans, one reference point might be country music. The brothers in fact occasionally use pedal steel guitars and fiddles in their music, have recorded an album in Nashville (in Spanish) and are familiar with artists ranging from Vince Gill and Garth Brooks to Reba McIntyre and Shania Twain.
But here, as in the United States, sophisticated city folk traditionally have had a tendency to look down on the music of their rural brethren. People who don't like the hinterlands style, and they are legion, usually complain that its lyrics are too romantic or saccharine and its melodies too simple and repetitive.
"When I first told people that I was making this movie, a lot of them wrinkled their noses," Mr. Silveira said. "There are a lot of barriers and prejudice, and that was one of the things I hoped this movie would overcome."
Born in Brasília, Mr. Silveira, 43, is the son of an architect who was part of the team that designed the Brazilian capital, and he spent part of his youth in exile in Algeria and in France, where he eventually studied film.
He began his career filming documentaries in the slums here, then directed music videos and commercials and also worked as a cinematographer on 10 feature films. He had sought to buy the rights to the book version of "City of God" and was working on another project set in the slums. Though it would have been his first feature film, Mr. Silveira was not initially interested when approached about "Two Sons of Francisco."
According to Luciano Camargo, 32, the Brazilian branch of Columbia TriStar Films had been looking to make a live concert film that would be aimed at the duo's existing audience. "But we wanted a story that would last, that people would still be talking about in 50 years," he said. He ended up working with a pair of screenwriters in developing a feature that clocks in at two hours.
When Mr. Seveira was persuaded to look at the original script, he was captivated and signed on to direct the film.
After five months in theaters, "Two Sons of Francisco" has been seen by more than five million people, making it both the most widely viewed Brazilian movie here in more than 25 years and the highest-grossing film, Brazilian or foreign, here in 2005. The DVD version, issued just before Christmas with documentary and concert scenes added, has also broken records, with nearly 500,000 copies sold legally and 400,000 pirate copies estimated to be in circulation.
Whether the movie can come anywhere near that kind of success abroad remains to be seen, of course. But with its emphasis on talent overcoming adversity, "Two Sons of Francisco" contains echoes of recent Hollywood biopics about the lives of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, and those involved in the making of the movie are optimistic - as Brazilians usually are.
"This is a very Brazilian film, but it's a universal story that could easily have been told in the United States," Luciano Camargo said. "I know people always say that, but in this case it's really true."
NYT
Escrito por Sérgio Dávila
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