Bocage - O Triunfo do Amor

Extraordinarily poetic visuals make this film almost perfect. The only drawback is that the translation conveys the content of his poetry but the English fails to show why he is a great poet. Certain sex words are especially unpoetic. Artfully composed scenes and stirring music compensate.

"Bocage" is a movie about a poet, but also about the language he used to write. The Portuguese language is an important character in the plot, spoken with a variety of accents by people who have it as a native language (in Portugal, Brazil, Angola etc). There's a lot of nudity on it, because Bocage was considered a pornographic artist, but also because the movie is a celebration of freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of form, freedom to love. It has the most beautiful cinematography, and the costumes are astonishing, made by Lino Villaventura, a respected brazilian fashion designer. It makes you sense the meaning of the words. The script won a prize on HBO Brazil. I saw it when it was first aired, years ago, and never saw it again, but it made a very good impression on me.