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Vidas Secas (1964)

Posted By: Someonelse
Date: 18 Jul 2011 08:56:06
Vidas Secas (1964)

Vidas Secas (1964)
DVD9 | ISO | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:39:55 | 7,75 Gb
Audio: Portuguese AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English
Genre: Drama | 1 win | Brazil

Filmed with a strong sense of compassion for the impoverished and an underlying hatred for the injustice which forces them into the lives they must live, this is one of the first works from Brazil's Cinema Novo. A poor Brazilian family struggle to earn a living when they take a job overseeing the livestock of a wealthy rancher. They move into an abandoned house, and their fortunes begin to take an upward turn. The father is duped into a card game with a crooked local policeman. The ranch hand protests, and a fight ensues that results in his beating by the cop. Despite being the victim of injustice, the man believes there should be some semblance of law and order and makes no protest about the incident. A severe drought has the man moving on from the ranch with his family to earn their living elsewhere.

In 1963 Vidas Secas won the OCIC Award (granted to director Nelson Pereira dos Santos) at the Cannes Film Festival.

IMDB
DVD Beaver

Nelson Pereira dos Santos's 1963 film is more overtly political than his later How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, more restrained, and because of this more terrible in its evocation of the cruelties of life in the wilderness of northern Brazil. One of the best of the early Cinema Novo films.
Don Druker, Chickago Reader
Vidas Secas (1964)

The illiterate migrants Fabiano (Átila Iório), his mate Sinhá Vitória (Maria Ribeiro), their two sons and their dog Baleia drift in the country of the Northeast of Brazil, fighting for their survival. They are hired by a farmer (Jofre Soares) in a slavery condition to take care of his kettle.

"Vidas Secas" is a classic of the Brazilian Cinema and the first movie of the "Cinema Novo" ("New Cinema"), a movement of the Brazilian filmmakers in the 60's that proposed to make low-budget movies with social concerns and rooted in Brazilian culture, which had the following slogan: "A camera in the hands and an idea in the head".

Vidas Secas (1964)

Nelson Pereira dos Santos made a masterpiece, certainly on of the best Brazilian movies ever. Based on a classic novel of the Brazilian literature of Graciliano Ramos, the reality and cruelty of the story is stunning. The black and white photography and the performances of the cast, including the dog, are very impressive, recalling the Italian Neo-Realism of Roberto Rossellini. This movie was made in 1963, the story happens in the 40's and presently the situation of the drought in the country of the Northeast of Brazil remains exactly the same, being one of our greatest national shames. My vote is ten.
IMDB Reviewer
Vidas Secas (1964)

A fascinating look at the life of a poor Brazilian family in search of a better life Vidas Secas a.k.a Barren Lives (1963) is a film of unusual visual contrasts. Based on the novel by Graciliano Ramos, a work heavily compared to Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and shot in glorious black and white this rather unknown in America film offers a glance at the legacy of one of South America's most prolific film directors. Vidas Secas plays out as part-documentary feature part silent exploration of the unprivileged in rural Brazil.

Vidas Secas (1964)

Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, one of the front runners of the Brazilian Cinema Novo movement, Vidas Secas looks much more contained than what I assume the film was perceived to be back in the early 1960s. The long shots of Fabiano (Atila Iorio) and Sinha Vitoria (Maria Ribeiro) walking mile after mile in a sea of dry weeds and strangely looking dead trees transform this film into an almost meditative journey. In it there is also very little dialog which is only used when Nelson Pereira dos Santos needed to shift the allure of Vidas Secas from being a visionary experience to a film with a heavy social context.

Vidas Secas (1964)

It is hard not to think about Vidas Secas as a film heavily influenced by the Italian Neo-Realism. Intentionally or not, while I was looking at the troubled face of Fabiano and the breathtaking Brazilian landscape I kept seeing images of Rossellini's early films. There is something very indicative about the style in which Vidas Secas was shot particularly because of the fact that the film was intended as a revealing social satire.

As it is the case with Cinema Novo where there is hardly a unifying link between the films associated with the notorious movement Vidas Secas is a highly individualistic work. The unusual filming style which Nelson Pereira dos Santos conveys is a product of a cultural and political frustration with the social ordinance of the Brazilian society which manages to entice and anger both at the same time. There is a scene in Vidas Secas where the main protagonist Fabiano finds himself in a treacherous card game with a village policeman and is unceremoniously exposed to what I can only describe as public harassment. Indeed, at least to me the social message which Nelson Pereira dos Santos had in mind speaks loud and clear.

Vidas Secas (1964)

As Nelson Pereira dos Santos also admits European Neorealism had a profound experience on his reincarnation as a film director (a natural continuation of the impact which Russian cinema and French realism had on him). He quotes Glauber Rocha noting that "a camera in the hand and an idea in the head" was what Brazilian cinema needed at the time. With Vidas Secas in particular I would certainly conclude that it was more than just an idea in the head that Nelson Pereira dos Santos had to entertain. He had a clear vision as to how he wanted to adapt Graciliano Ramos' novel and plenty of talent to make it possible.

Vidas Secas (1964)

Despite the array of different influences which Vidas Secas conveys this unique film certainly sheds some light at the enormous potential of a director whose works are considered amongst the best examples of Cinema Novo–a movement that allowed generations of young Brazilian directors to begin their careers. And while time has certainly left its mark on this, until recently forgotten masterpiece, its reemergence on the planning sheets of film distributors will make those interested in Brazilian cinema quite happy.
Svet Atanasov, DVD Talk
Vidas Secas (1964)

Edition Details:
• Discussion: Robert Stam (12:21)
• Short Film: Baleia the Dog (19:54)
• Various Trailers
Vidas Secas (1964)

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