"The Claudia Case" got a rewatch from me this year after almost 20 years later, mostly because a) it didn't get a review and b) a
current real-crime binge. It was a mess back then, it's still a mess later on but it got slightly better. But truth be told Miguel Borges
film was a major disservice to people curious in knowing about the murder of young 21-year-old Cláudia Lessin Rodrigues in 1977. At the end of it
all, it claims it was a fictional story, even though initially you feel like you're watching a re-enactment of events (it's slightly
factual though) and then changes to tell a fictional longer story about another girl (Kátia D'Angelo) who could fall for the same
entraptment that the real Cláudia went for. It was completely disrespectful to Cláudia's family and it was made way too soon.
The first half covers the murder of a girl named Cláudia and it follows the facts quite accurately, with an investigative reporter
(Carlos Eduardo Dolabella) and a police investigator (Roberto Bonfim) joining forces to track down the killers. Then there's the rich kids
(Jonas Bloch and Luiz Armando Queiroz) trying to dodge things as it becomes clear they had something to do with the murder. Bloch's character
was inspired by Otto Frank and you could research about what happened to him.
Then comes the other half where another girl becomes acquainted with a fake-rich type (Nuno Leal Maia) who seduces her and that's where
the film breaks down, moving a litte away from the investigation and following those two. And it's so weird because this guy is connected to
other folks whose main goal are to seduce and drug girls, yet they never meet the other rich kids. And it gets to such a down point with pointless
scenes which includes one of hers with a tough guy inside of a refrigeration truck packed with meet.
Basically, it worked well for the first 30-40 minutes, and when it got back to the investigative parts, it also works, but the whole other
part of the story of showing predatory characters and dark scenes, the movie doesn't succeed. What's telling us? What's the urgency? And the
ultimate message that killing "clients" is good for business just makes me no sense.
The actual case taught us many things about how young women and girls were treated, and there's so little that could be done to keep them
from harm. It didn't change much, but the debate continues.
As for the movie, two thumbs down means no redemption (it's joined by two other films as of now). I'm not watching this again. 3/10.
