O País Da Pornochanchada

The documentary is a mix of four different things, which perhaps are not very balanced, but its outcome is nice anyway: it is a movie about 1) the quest of director Adolfo Lachtermacher to find a never released pornochanchada (Brazilian sexploitation genre) movie by his father Saul Lachtermacher ("Com minha viúva, não!", also known as "Com o Sexo na Cabeça"), 2) Saul's filmography in general (which also included "Deixa, Amorzinho... Deixa", "O Marido Virgem", and "Com Minha Sogra em Paquetá"), 3) Adolfo's personal experience growing up close to the cinema environment of his father, and 4) an analysis of pornochanchada age in general in Brazilian cinema. Off course the four parts are connected, and Adolfo used Saul's movies (including "Com minha viúva, não!") to discuss the traits of the very genre. The almost absence of other films, however, is certainly the greatest drawback of the documentary, which did propose to investigate the last 50 years of Brazilian cinema. Anyway, the qualities overcame the problems, as Adolfo's text is very good, with a quite intelligent analysis of what pornochanchada meant, without either attacking it or being complacent. As Adolgo says, it reproduced the prejudices which existed in Brazilian society, but also its strong sexism somehow also meant more authonomous and free female characters than the passive ones in previous decades. Sex appeared in a quite exploitation way with profit intentions, for sure, but also it was not something comfortable for extremely moralist and old-fashioned military dictatorship, bringing to the screen important cultural changes in society. Adolfo also presents interestingly how commercial cinema in Brazil evolved from the stage-made naive comedies Chanchadas towards sexploitation outdoor-made Pornochanchadas (while Cinema Novo existed in parallel antagonising it with contempt, and Glauber Rocha said that they created Brazilian cinema), and then to increasingly unsophisticated and politically incorrect cheap comedies and to actually pornographic films. I also liked to know that a single graphic artist made a great number of the painted posters of pornochanchada films: Benício. To resume, I liked the documentary and am very happy that Adolfo could also release his father's movie, 41 years after it was shot.