I wasn't expecting much from "Cinema Thieves" yet I gained so much with it, in spite of its simplicity and naivety, that I was easily conquered
through the whole thing. The cast itself is attractive enough to get audiences seeing it, with talents such as Milton Gonçalves, Antônio Pitanga,
Wilson Grey, Ruth de Souza, Grande Otelo, Lutero Luiz, Léa Garcia and others, but considering the period in which it was made one could have some second
thoughts. Trust me on this one, the movie is pretty fun, decent and it has something really positive to show.
Fernando Coni Campos is a very humorous film that dares us audiences to ask themselves if they could put themselves in those
characters shoes and creating their own movies inside their own communities. If today such reality is possible without proper equipments since smartphones
and computers can basically do everything, imagine the scenario that happened with our heroes in this movie, where they steal a camera and an audio recorder
from a Hollywood company making a movie about Carnival on the slums of Rio de Janeiro. After getting the material, it comes the idea of creating their own
personal movie inside their poor community and they decide to make a historical film about the life of the tragic hero Tiradentes (and the idea comes very
quickly since the man was the theme of a samba school during the Carnival so the idea is to just re-use the materials, costumes and make some search about
the historical facts on Tiradentes and his fight for making Brazil independent from Portugal in the late 1700's).
Obviously that none of those guys are trained in the movie-making art, except for the Wilson Grey character who knows how to operate the machines, but they
make the best efforts to make a movie with zero money, lots of support from the community and work with the best of what's available to them. While the
filming goes quite right and almost zero obstacles (and that's what audiences must keep in mind as a form to aceept that the impossible can be possible
rather than focus on which actions would be likely to happen or impossible. The movie is about dreaming, so let it flow as a dream where everything works
for the best), the stone in the crew's shoes comes from an infiltrated actor (Lutero Luiz), friend of theirs but he's only in it because a) no one in the
place would want to play the part of Joaquim Silvério dos Reis, the man who traited Tiradentes and the Inconfidência Mineira movement; and b) because he's
trying to save himself from money he owes to an acquaintance (Grande Otelo) who is willing to forget the debt if they film crew produce his original script,
of which no one wants to make.
The majority of "Cinema Thieves" isn't exactly about the making of another film, it's actually telling about the story of this other film about
Tiradentes. And as amazing as it may sound, they deliver an actual good film with obvious artistic licences since they film it on the slums and hallways,
zero budget, but it's a movie with heart and soul and a factual good story to tell. For those who struggled through the verbose and highly accurate "Os
Inconfidentes" (1972) and its recreation of trials of the movement, this one tells the story in such an easy manner that audiences never get lost, even
if you don't know Tiradentes story you'll understand it.
It's a little noisy and confusing at the early minutes but once the movie's idea is created and the group begins to make it happen, it all becomes
funny, adventurous and interesting to see. And to the creative minds in the audiences comes the challenge and the questionings: would you ever attempt to
try something like this, to create your movie with family and friends despite not knowing much about to make a movie? Or if you do know the technique and
have the means could you deliver a good material worth seeing? The characters in the movie had all the reasons to stick with their poor situation and get
some bucks by selling the camera and the recorder, but instead they just wanted to make something new, just for themselves. At no point in their quest, they
talk about releasing it and getting some profit which would be the obvious route. To make truthful artistic representation truly means that money can be
put aside since the goal comes in the actual challenge of making such art and spreading through the world around you - if it cross barriers, the better.
Coni Campos certainly made such film that fit such idea, and for that I can only salute him. 9/10.
