Here's an intriguing and unusual idea that seems to go nowhere but the more it progresses the more evident it gets when it comes to make its social denounce against
the then establishment of the military regime. "Retorna, Vencedor" ("Come Back, Winner") introduces us Thomas Going as a man on a boat who arrives at his destination, jumps out
of the boat and returns to the place he used to live. Some fun here and there when he's at the city park, feeling amused and all until the arrival of a group of strangers who
act in a strange fsahion, at times they are opposed to the man and in other times they seem to invite him to their plays, of which he refuses and another strange event happen,
this time with the inclusion of more people.
Chaotically random but not to the point of making you turn off the film, this project seems to be designed to tell a story about people who feel they don't belong in
certain places anymore. The parallel given is of the political turmoil of which we were living back in the 1960's, so I'm considering this guy was probably out of the country
and simply couldn't accept what was happening. An early hint that this is a political film comes when the strange group perform raising their hands just like the Nazi used to do,
marching through the park to which our leading man rejects accepting. And then when the other situation takes place, it all comes back to haunt the main guy but this time with
authorities coming their way for unknown reasons. Cut to some moments later, there's a social event with a large crowd and out of the blue comes president Costa e Silva smiling
all around - this was on the same year of his signature of the Institutional Act 5 (AI-5) which restricted countless liberties.
So this is basically "Brazil: Love or Leave it" program before the program being used by the government. The main character is completely clueless to the world around, not
knowing that the slightest criticism can make of him an enemy of the people, an enemy of the government and he will be stopped at any costs.
Aloysio Raulino's film is a quite curious one but you have to take into consideration the time in which was made and the best way he could deliver such strong messages was
with a great deal of metaphors and innuendos. It works but if you just see the movie as it is told you won't get any experience, anything of value and will probably find a mess
of a movie. There's brilliance here but it lacks in a great sense of appeal and interest, just becoming something watchable at the end of the day. 7/10.
