António de Alcântara Machado wrote a remarkable book called "Brás, Bexiga e Barra Funda" which dealt with those three important places in São Paulo during
the Italian immigration in the early 1900's, some real stories about how people evolved in those places and some funny anedocted as well. In the 1970's the state's
government comissioned short films about those exact places in their current state (1970's); and of those I could only find two, the one from Barra Funda I can't
say if it was made or not. "Brás, narrated by the great late actor Armando Bógus was the best of its kind and the one I can evaluate better since it's a place
I know best and live near (as of now). It tells about its early promising beginnings and the then striking evolution.
Like many major places in São Paulo's downtown, Brás was founded by Italian immigrants in the early 20th century where they brought industries and business
that are still present there today - thought not completely in works. Fabrics, steel work and food industry all came from them and the place flourished as one of
the best places to create business and find work. By the late 1960's, with many administration changes and government crisis here and there Brás wasn't so appealing
to its founders - already established in other places - so, what's left was plenty of abandoned places and the ones who resisted had to count with labor force
coming from other Brazilians coming from the Northeast, all people desperate to find a new way of life outside their home. They flocked by the thousands and went on
to work on construction sites or the same jobs already existing; difference being that they lived in poor conditions or places they could afford since the price
for living there were really cheap - but the old constructions such as the Matarazzo's industries were still there, though not operating fully due to a family
dispute when the old baron has died (the film doesn't mention them, I'm just mentioning so you can form a wider view of how places like Brás, Belém had disintegrated
very fast). But as the movie states, the outsiders from other states found their way, got their underpaid jobs and managed to keep their culture and traditions
thorough parties and events located near Brás train station.
And Brás is a place that always keeps on changing. For the past years, the new arrivals and workers consists of African refugees and other poor Brazilian
who sell clothes, objects and stuff occupying whole sidewalks and corners, and everyone who wants to buy things for a cheap price must come down there and face
the crowd - which is huge to the point is barely possible to walk down there. So, why this movie is important to me? I got a glimpse of what was the idealist past;
then move to a different reality that seems close to the current one and see how some things never change through the years. Obviously the nostalgia factor also
hits me in seeing Brás at a time I haven't live and comparing it to how it is now it changed very little: the old constructions are still there; the train station
is a matter of shame as being one of the most busiest ever (scary walking around there; the movement never stops) but the multitude of cultures, languages and works
never change. I guess one can say Alcântara Machado would feel completely lost with the current Brás (or even Bexiga as well, which got downhill over the years) and probably would write something less humurous than his famous short stories collection. 9/10
