A special report from Globo Repórter, this documentary covers the career and life of Cinema Novo filmmaker Glauber Rocha, at the same time
it covers his funeral in 1981. An almost surreal experience the latter part since Glauber filmed the burial of Di Cavalcanti which was turned into
a controversial short film that was censored by the painter's family at the time of its release, and now Glauber is the one who has his corpse
being shown before the actual funeral and then during the funeral. I don't know what to think of it, if it is disrespectful to his family or it was
an idea he wanted and asked his family to comply - for the appearance and the interview with the artists who knew the man nothing hurtful happened
there.
We get the chance to see a couple of interviews of Glauber talking about his movies, his ideas on cinema, and at times even having a hard time
trying to answer the reporter while his own child keeps playing around, moving all the time. It was an amazing presentation about his career, in a
chronological order showing from the very beginning of his career with the short-film "Pátio" (1959), then the first feature "Barravento" (1962),
followed by the classics "Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol" (1964), "Terra em Transe" (1967), "O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro" (1969) - for
which he received the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, to date the only Brazilian director to win the award - all the way until his
final movie "A Idade da Terra" (1980). There's some jumps from his underground European phase but it's understandable since most of those movies
aren't so accessible to audiences - even today.
In between the clips and interviews with Mr. Rocha (also appearing on the behind the scenes of some of his own films), there's interviews
with countless artists which includes writers Jorge Amado and João Ubaldo Ribeiro - the last men to see Glauber succumbing to his strange disease back
in Portugal - and also there's actors who worked with the man such as Maurício do Valle, Geraldo Del Rey, Hugo Carvana, - and his Cinema Novo friend
and director Arnaldo Jabor. It's all short clips but they present nice stories and make a nice tribute to the director.
But I guess the main point of the film where our curiosity is taken to extreme levels is to see Glauber's funeral. It's not like seeing
gigantic funerals of giant celebrities or some important politician. He was a famous film director, possibly the very first in Brazil to have his
movies being shown around the world and getting awards and showing how great our cinema could be. For what we see here the man was loved and had
plenty of admirers. But there's two haunting takes in those moments: 1) when we see Glauber's body inside the coffin some moments before being
displayed for the public view. The coffin is on the ground and we can get a full view of the man. It's kinda morbid. And 2) when his mother is
saying goodbye to him and she says some tearful words to him and it's a hard moment to watch. Since she also appeared being interviewed I guess
she wanted for the TV crew to be there and shoot the documentary.
For cinema lovers who don't know much about the man and his works, this is a special film to be seen. You will be following his career from
then on. 9/10.
