Questions for Lopez, "The São Paulo Connection"
1. Why was nationalism so important to the Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz? How did foreign involvement affect the films that were released by Vera Cruz? How does the concept of cosmopolitanism relate to the Brazilian nationalism the company was trying to represent?
2. How does the film O Cangaceiro relate to the idea of Brazilianness as promoted by Vera Cruz? Did its international reception contribute to its national popularity? Discuss the relationship between regional and national identities in the film.
2. How does the film O Cangaceiro relate to the idea of Brazilianness as promoted by Vera Cruz? Did its international reception contribute to its national popularity? Discuss the relationship between regional and national identities in the film.
posted by Elise Dietrich at
12:26 PM
2 Comments:
Response to Question #1:
O Cangaceiro, the 9th completed film from Vera Cruz studios, was something of an anomaly of the time. This was a time of the chanchada, what was considered a low form of entertainment and would not garner acclaim from an international audience. Vera Cruz believed if they took a different approach to filmmaking, they could gain credence and become globally respected. The studio was attempting to make a Brazilian national cinema, and to do this they imported talent. This talent was used to make early Vera Cruz films and teach Brazilians how to operate the technology and use various techniques to become a more polished cinema industry. However, the films began to look “too European” and received a great deal of criticism. Despite O Cangaceiro being shot like this, with a crew of almost entirely foreign talent that was used to depict a very Brazilian cultural icon, it received a lot of attention. It was an anomaly because despite its production being similar to the other films in Vera Cruz’s repertoire, in that it was enormously successful. Brazilians praised it for showing its nationality to the industry, and it was well received in Europe, the U.S., and throughout Latin America. When it was introduced at the Cannes film festival it was received as one of the best and most surprising films of the year, and the first film worthy of the festival to come from Brazil. O Cangaceiro depicted “Brazilianness” in a way that was accessible to the internationally audience, and was therefore the first film to successfully cement its place in a Brazilian national cinema.
The film was popular in Brazil, and had strong ties to the region of the northwest. However, it did run into numerous regional errors when trying to depict sertao as the paulisto altiplano. Actors had accents that did not correspond to the region in which they were supposed to be in. This is where we have a junction in the difference between regional and national cinema. This was a film that was intended for the annals of Brazilian national cinema. Therefore, it took a story, with characters that were uniquely Brazilian, and turned it into an overview of Brazil as a whole. It did not attempt to make it more regionally authentic, through hiring local actors or filming exactly where the story takes place because that was not the point. It was a business venture with a clear goal as to be Brazilian, not northwestern sertao. They did their best to depict the types of characters correctly, not necessarily ever aspect of them or of the space in which they existed.
Response to Question #2
O Cangaceiro is well received by European, US and Latin American countries, but it is also very controversial. The national popularity does contribute to the international reception, but it is not the only reason. According to Braulio Padrosa, there is no international formula of success. The success of O Cangaceiro is due precisely to the fact that it reacted against such as an internationalist leveling. O Cangaceiro had the great merit of revealing its real nationality to Brazilian Cinema. Yet, we also can see some elements which belong to the typical US Western genre; many details which don’t belong to the Brazilian identities. However, to mix all the elements together, they make a harmonious picture. O Cangaceiro was one of the final productions of the Vera Cruz Studios. On some level, it represents one of the great disillusions of the Brazilian film industry. Many of the crew members are not Brazilian, they may not catch the Brazil identity precisely in the movie, ironically, the hybrid of culture is one of the reason of O Cangaceiro’s international success.
O Cangaceiro illustrates a chaotic era in Brazil gracefully. There are full of contradiction in this film. There is a clear contrast between modern life and rural life, peace and atrocity, poor and rich, devil and love, etc. It is portraiture of O Cangaciro’s life, and also a precise portraiture of Brazil in 1930s. The national identity was modernization; however, the northeastern region of Brazil is still under developed. The region of northeast represents for the wild life.
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