For years, the footage of Welles' Brazilian adventure was thought to be lost. It was found in 1985, in the archives of the studio. That gave place to a fascinating documentary, It's All True
. It narrates the story of Orson Welles trip to Brazil and the disaster it became. It is also a great insight into the politics of the time, and Hollywood attitude towards Latin America. The last 45 minutes is a B&W silent documentary titled "Four Men on a Raft", the only part of Welles footage that was recovered almost intact. You get the sense that, if he had been allowed to complete the project, it would have been very different from other European and American directors incursions into Latin America (including Einsenstein and Mexico).
Thank you for posting this. Now I have another film to investigate. I lived in Brasil between 1989 and 1991 and I was completely unaware of Welles' Brasilian adventure. The disconnect between Carmen Miranda & Desi Arnaz's "Flying Down to Rio" that I saw as a kid and the social & political reality when I arrived was as great as my shock on hearing Brasilian Portuguese spoken for the first time after practicing with the "Foreign Service" Continental Portuguese tapes.
ReplyDeleteI don't why I had Desi Arnaz as the lead in "Flying Down to Rio". It is a Fred Astair & Ginger Rogers film. Senility setting in, I guess.
ReplyDeleteAnd you should go to Brazil now, ten years of Lula have changed the country a lot!
ReplyDeleteDiego at work computer:
ReplyDeleteMost of my friends in Brasil were doctors and members of the PCB. I spent much of Carnival of 1990 in the barraca of the PT in Olinda (beach suburb of Recife) and we had a great time. Lula was all the rage and I was very disappointed, but not surprised when Collor won. I am so pleased that Collor was chased out of office; the stories friends who had grown up with him told were horrendous! And I was ecstatic when Lula finally won. It has been so great to see a left wing govenment succeed in Latin America, be economically responsible and not be as corrupt as most. I realize that it will take many years before the culture of "um jeito" goes away, but Lula made a great start. I have high hopes for Rouseff continuing his work, as do most Brasilians. But for once the old saying “O Brasil ê o pais do futuro, e sempre será” seems to be fading in significance.
Diego at work computer:
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the corruption problem in Brasil and then I read about demonstrations against corruption in the Folha de São Paulo. It gives me even more hope for the future.
“A Marcha contra a Corrupção, movimento que ocorre paralelamente ao desfile de 7 de Setembro, reuniu milhares de pessoas em Brasília, segundo a Polícia Militar.
A Secretaria de Segurança Pública do Distrito Federal calcula em cerca de 60 mil o público na Esplanada dos Ministérios durante a manhã desta quarta-feira. Destes, entre 45 mil e 50 mil assistiram ao desfile militar. O público da marcha foi estimado pela secretaria em 12 mil --sendo que parte dele assistiu ao desfile e se integrou ao protesto depois.”
I also have great faith in Dilma. I was in Sao Paulo in July, 2010, right before the elections. It's true that Sao Paulo is a "bastion" of the opposition party, but I was really surprised at people horrified that they had had a president without a college degree for 8 years. When I pointed out that Brazil seemed to be doing fine with such a president, and that business seemed to be up and thriving (so Lula wasn't exactly Hugo Chavez), they replied that it still sends a bad image to the world. Classism is still alive and well in Brazil, but I'm happy that Dilma had no problem being elected.
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