South American movies

[FelipeSobreiro 54]

I've yet to hear you guys discuss a South American movie. There's a lot of stuff from Argentina, Brazil and other countries that could be fodder for good episodes. City of God, Nine Queens, The Second Mother, Embrace of the Serpent, Pixote...

[Head Spin 112]

I'm super ignorant about South American film, but I just want to chime in that I really love City of God.

[JonHillman 40]

I think Black Orpheus could be a great episode.

[Llewellyn_Wells 47]

I think Black Orpheus could be a great episode.

 

They brought this up on an episode a while back, can't remember which, but they both liked the movie a lot. I'll add it to my watchlist and hope they'll do it!

[Marsellus_H 118]

Just out of curiosity, what did you guys think of the Motorcycle Diaries?

[FelipeSobreiro 54]

Just out of curiosity, what did you guys think of the Motorcycle Diaries?

I think it's a good movie, very beautiful but sort of leaves your mind after a while.

[Head Spin 112]

Some of the films I hadn't seen from this thread made it on my "to-watch" list, and I just finished watching Black Orpheus. I'm kind of conflicted about it.

 

On the one hand it's gorgeous, it's beautifully musical, and it stands apart. I think it's multicultural at its core; it feels like Camus is going out of his way to show how the substance ancient Greek myth are universal in a culturally-affirming way, especially how they use that Brazilian religious reverie to stand in for the Greek underworld at the climax. And it enjoys its character, giving them a humanity and inner life that you don't except from a 50s movie about a black culture.

 

On the other hand... it still feels like an "exotic" movie. Obviously the movie luxuriates in the sights and sounds of the Carnival, but even in the way shots terminate by panning off to enjoy the natural beauty of Rio feels gawking in a way that falls just on the uncomfortable side of appreciation. And I just find it hard to enjoy thought-free all the time the movie spends trying to get me to enjoy how sensual the Brazilian are of this white guy's depiction. I know it's meant to be magical fantasy, but either ins pite of that or even in part because of it, it just creeped me out a bit.

 

I don't know Camus' politics, but it definitely has the feeling of a well-meaning liberal movie. I imagine Camus as a nice, progressive guy trying to be culturally inclusive, but who also falls into his own pitfalls of exoticism. There's just this "gawking white man's vision of black culture" element that's hard to get over. It doesn't mean that the movie still isn't really good, but it did sort of keep me from enjoying it as viscerally as I think it wanted me to. If anything as a message to the present, it shows the difference between white people trying to be nice and depict minorities and empowering actual minorities to do it themselves. That is to say that it's great for white people to branch out, but it can't replace the real thing.

 

With the Rio Olympics and all the more-POCs-in-pop-culture thing being super topical at the moment (especially with Bendis writing his new 15-year-old black female Iron Man lead), maybe Black Orpheus is a perfect film to discuss on the Canon.

 

In any case, I did really enjoy it, I want to thank Felipe for the suggestion, and I'm curious to know what other people thought about it. Am I totally off base? I thought it was great, but what I loved about it also held me at arm's length.