Brazilian Western (Faroeste
Caboclo)
(Brazil, 105 min.)
Dir. René Sampaio, Writ. Marcos Bernstein, Victor Atherino
Starring: Fabrício Boliveira, Isis Valverde, Felipe Abib,
Antônio Calloni, Flavio Bauraqui
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema (Canadian Premiere)
Is this film a gangster pic or a western? Well, it’s both
and smartly so. Providing a protagonist who is both a noble lone hero and a
rugged outlaw, the lawlessness of the Wild West meets the tensions of gangland
Brazil in Brazilian Western. Our
hero, João Santo Cristo (Fabrício Boliveira), becomes both a radical and a
symbol for a greater cause in his quest for freedom and retribution. René
Sampaio’s Brazilian Western is an
exciting fusion styles and tropes and an exhilarating exercise in the fluidity
of genres and national cinemas.
João, a black Brazilian, winds up in Brasilia where his
Argentine cousin provides him with some carpentry work on the condition that he
also peddles drugs on the side. Drug running in the dense, violent streets of
Brasilia gives João an even greater insight into the cultural divides running
through the nation. White junkies and cops alike spit “nigger” at João between
drug deals and beatings.
Sampaio alternatively flashes back to João’s childhood
during some of the film’s most intense and pivotal moments. A run-in with the
cops, for example, reminds João of the day he saw his fathered murdered in the
street by a lone police officer. João had revenge and went to prison for
killing the cop in turn, but this new chapter in his journey refuses let the
system continue. Like a rugged street-smart cousin of John Wayne, João vows to
avenge the Brazil that has fallen before him. He’s a symbol of the nation
himself, for he is a child of the impoverished favelas that border the city. Losing his mother to hunger and his
father to violence, João is a stand-in for Brazil’s outcasts.
There’s a positive outlook on the horizon for João when he
takes refuge in a girl’s apartment during a run from cops and crooks. Maria
Lúcia (Isis Valverde), the daughter of a senator and a citizen of Brazil’s
fair-skinned upper class, takes an instant liking to the mysterious Romeo who
pops in through her balcony window. The currents of racial prejudice are still
plain, though, in Maria Lúcia’s effort to conceal their relationship from her
father.
The love story nevertheless drives another layer of
cultural fusion in Brazilian Western.
The affair between João and Maria Lúcia is passionate and sexy. Sampaio
provides several rough, fiery love scenes between the two as they cast
prejudice aside and come together. Brazilian
Western even offers a symbol of hope for the future, an expected child, but
the ballad of “Faroeste Caboclo”
ensures that the ill-fated love triangle rejects the easy closure one sees in a
Hollywood ending. João and Maria Lúcia ride not into the sunset together,
but offer optimism for new beginnings. It’s the demise that a gangster usually
meets as well as the westerner’s typically heroic final of paving the way for
the future.
The exciting flavour of fusion rings throughout Brazilian Western. Indebted to the folklore
of one popular Brazilian song, the soundtrack is also peppered with popular
American tunes of classic rock. One particularly memorable sequence sets João’s
rise through the drug trade to the beat of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are
Made for Walkin’” and the familiarity of the tune situates the urban jungle of Brazilian Western as a war zone à Full Metal Jacket.
Aesthetically, the film should please many
cinephiles that have discovered Brazilian cinema in the wake of City of God and the Elite Squad films. Shot by Gustavo Hadba, the film affords
the landscapes and urban spaces a life of their own and captures the João’s
tale with a poetic eye for social surrounds. The editing by Marcio Soares is
kinetic and vibrant: Brazilian Western
is an adrenaline-charged adventure until its violent final.
The style of Brazilian
Western has ample nods and inflections of American cinema, but Sampaio
gives it a voice of its own that remains unique and faithful to the cinema of
Brazil. Investing the fable with a substance that’s usually absent in Hollywood
cinema, Sampaio uses this violent tale to convey a parable about the greater
viciousness—racism, class, and poverty—that breeds such violence. Rather than
merely imitate the success of Hollywood, the accessible familiarity of Brazilian Western brings to life a voice
of political urgency. It’s a western done in the vein of Cinema Novo as it depicts the poverty of Brazil’s poorest classes
in need of a hero. Sampaio’s careful integration of João’s backstory ensures
that the poverty and discrimination he faces is both felt and understood as the
hero moves towards his destiny. It’s a highly entertaining and smart, socially-relevant film. Brazilian
Western affords just the kind of discovery one hopes to
see at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Brazilian Western screens:
Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 6:45 pm at Scotiabank 4
Thursday, Sept. 12 at 8:45 pm at Scotiabank 2
Saturday, Sept. 14 at 4:00 pm at Scotiabank 4
Please visit www.tiff.net for more information on this year’s
festival.