Cristiano Burlan's "Fome" ("Hunger") is a curious experiment on the life of a man who leaves everything behind in order to achieve a certain sense of
freedom in the streets of São Paulo. Walking around the town with his cart, the nomad Joaquim (Jean-Claude Bernardet, also the film screenwriter) spends his
days collecting garbage and other materials and lives his life as a beggar on the crowded city of São Paulo, most notably the downtown where he walks by
near all the historic places of the city. One night he's interviewed by a documentarist who has a project about people living in the streets - later on the
film cuts away to interviewing real street people which is included as part of the woman project.
Who is this man? Why he leads such a life of ordeals, hunger and no promises of goodness? Further away we discover that he had a life before the streets as
a college professor, and in one pivotal moment he has an interesting debate with a former student who graduated and become a successful professional on his
field and he had the highest regard for his master. The past seems to not have any importance to the old man, who prefers to spend his time pushing his cart,
sleeping wherever he can and at times having the luxury of turning down food passers by offer to him. He's too proud to accept help, living on his own bubble
and sometimes he finds comfort when he bumps into a friend.
"Fome" presents beggar's life as it is, and it's challenging project for Jean-Claude Bernardet who really spent some time living on the street, he's all in
rags and you can notice people looking at him in a disgusting, odd way whenever he's walking down the streets of São Paulo's center. He's all lost, confused
and has plenty of work with his supermarket car. Definitely not the kind of life one would pursue but Joaquim feels destined to it and enjoy his current
situation. In some brief moments he steps down from his pedestal and accepts help from strangers, and in one of those moments comes the glorious moment where
he takes his first shower in ages and he's truly delighted, enjoying himself being clean. Or when he bumps into a musician, of whom he flirts a little, and they
walk and sing along a sad tragic music.
Burlan films everything with style and a great sense of darkness which reflects the main character's life and state of mind, no grey areas in this black-and-white
world. The cinematography is hauntigly beautiful, artistic and poetic, and a nice way to capture the streets of São Paulo. It was really great watching the
many known locations from my city, I could identify many places and really attest that the film follows a reality, it's very realistic and gritty. And for those
reasons and more I can truly suggest "Fome", it is indeed one of the greatest Brazilian films ever made, a true and pure state of art reflecting life as it is. 9/10.
