A mysterious family slaughter that happened in Goiânia in the late 1950's where only a small child escaped and the patriarch's brother was considered guilty
of the murder, after being tortured during questioning but the man was innocent, this tragic real life story is strong enough to make viewers with their stomach churning
and immersed in being informed about the events or knowing about what happened in the following years, if the case was reopened or maybe some future confession on
deathbed. Pity that "O Caso Matteucci" is a very disappointing, ugly-looking and tedious filmmaking that I'm really shocked to see the acclaimed filmmaker João Batista
de Andrade as the commander of this. He never failed with anything he made, the most I've seen so far, from the 1960's to more recent years, but this one was a real
waste since it has no purpose to exist.
Andrade tells us right from the get-go that this is an experimental project captured through video techniques. Fine. Problem is that it very ugly, cheap and
awful to look at it and since he does not show any archive images or newsreels, it's all about interviewing locals from Goiânia, who might have lived during the actual
crime and the camera just captures their faces in a weird manner, from below or from above, which makes them all looks like old gargoyles. And half of the movie is all
about the people saying they remember the crime but they don't want to talk about for fear of reprisal (do those folks watch "Cold Case" or anything similar? Why believe
the killer(s) would come to return to them? Or maybe the police force who tortured the innocent brother. Perhaps).
Nothing new is dug, no opening of the case, except for a book published at the time of the film and later on was adapted by Andrade himself a few years later, "Blood
& Wine" (2006) - yet to be seen. Basically all we have comes from those with good memory or some news clips, where some details about the crime is revealed and that's it.
The most intrguing and moving parts comes from a family member (the son of the tortured guy, I think) who talks about how the tragedy affected him or his relatives for
several decades - the topic is a local taboo just as much as the radiation accident with the Césio 137 in 1987, which happened around the same neighborhood (Bairro Popular).
Yet for such an unsolved case that attracted attention, the movie doesn't revolve around possible killers, possible motive or why such a respectful family would
be murdered in such brutal way. Most of the time is just Andrade asking people if they knew about the crime and how it affected them. Emptiness at its worst, it doesn't
aspire to ask more or to be more. A bitter and depressive experience that I can't recommend. A Google search on the topic is more interesting than this. 2/10.
