When you see countless documentaries on the military coup of '64 in Brazil there isn't much of new things to discover, except for
a few facts here and there. The usual faces and names who lived the period and acted on both sides (right and left) are shown here, they
provide nice interviews but for those who read about the topic or had seen other projects they won't find much enlightnement with it. The
main attraction is the fact that one of the film directors was actor Guilherme Fontes, and he composed the piece in between the making of
his infamous long delayed biopic "Chatô" (filmed from 1996 and onwards, but released in 2015).
Marcello Antony is the host/narrator of the episode - I think this belong to a series related to Brazil history, as shown some evidence
of that on the video I watched, but I don't know what are the other entries in the series. A curious device used along with the archive footage
covering the coup d'etat origins and the surviving key witnesses, is the presence of two fictional radio hosts (Ana Borges and Augusto Xavier)
talking about cultural and social events from the period - a memorable moment is when they discuss the upcoming release of "controversial" Italian
film "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" and the talk of nudity from the film (if only that generation knew how tame it was compared to what came
later on, specially since they compare with Ruy Guerra's "Os Cafajestes"). Those brief recreations from the period were fun to watch.
The factual stories weren't so news to me and didn't attracted me all that much, though it makes a very summarized presentation going from
the final days of the chaotic Jânio Quadros administration and the nation under control of Jango, another tumultous period with society marching on the streets, both to support his politics and others to get him removed from office, critical of his socialist projects. Journalist Marcos Sá
Correa and his interview on American ambassador Lincoln Gordon (the main responsible for getting the coup being sponsored by the U. S.) is very
insightful.
A fine short documentary, very didatic in its format and very easy to follow. It's the kind of things one can easily show in schools
without problems. 6/10.
