A Verdade

This supposed biography of the famous Argentine writer's last years is flawed and confusing. The film deals with the author's last years in exile in Rio, but with a heavy hand on his sex life. While that may be one of a person's most defining aspects, anyone (and many did) who accompanied his life and work here in Rio, knows the film does not do justice to his life; it does not make sense. This was where KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, just to name one play, first became a hit, and later made into a movie (also here in Brazil, though with American English dialog).

One wonders how the author depicted in this film could be the same one who wrote wonderful plays, and socially was pretty much a recluse here, until his death. This view, by the way, has been echoed by the critics who have seen it here at the Rio Film Festival, as part of the Gay World Sidebar. The film itself is not too bad, but the facts aren't straight (pardon the pun).

This film, mostly shown outside Russia in gay film festivals, is not mainly a gay film, but rather a statement on diversity in Russia today. Having said that, it is also very stereotypically Russian in its length, cinematography, and in relying on subtleties to tell the truth. The exception to this is sex and nudity. These are not subtle, not very explicit either, but enough to say to the audience "look, how modern we are" while "hotter" issues (homosexuality, inequality between racial groups, economic and political crisis) are self censored.

Still, this is a step forward in free expression for Russian cinema. They still have to masquerade homosexuality as bisexuality (though foreign executives, corrupt politicians, and young hustlers can be gay - this shows where Russian society, at its most liberal level, accepts sexual diversity). It's OK as long as the "normal people" in society aren't gay - bisexual at most. Likewise, the huge socio economic gap existing between "ethnic Russians" and the eastern, more Asian looking ones, is glossed over with cute prejudice and cultural clichés.

We see a very stylized "Sex and the City" -like Moscow: one where, for the most part, people live in luxury apartments, drive expensive cars, and are sexually liberal, even between races and sexes, and threesomes. But hey, it's a movie. Enjoy!

The title of this film expresses well what you´ll get from this documentary. It is about a twenty five year long massacre/genocide of the East Timorese people. East Timor was annexed by Indonesia after independence from Portugal in 1974, followed by a planned genocide of the people, not limited to mass killings and provoked- civil war, but included the sterilization of East Timorese women by the Indonesians to reduce the population of East Timor´s native ethic group. A third of the population, it is believed, was killed.

Brazilian actress, Lucélia Santos, has done an excellent job in creating a documentary about a country which is virtually in shambles. After her long stay in East Timor, in appalling conditions, and using interviews from experts, and archival footage, Ms. Santos has given us the definitive documentary of the plight, and hope for this long suffering people