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Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) (1963); Gold Mouth (Boca de Ouro) (1963)

Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) (1963)
May 6, 2013 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater

Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) (Brazil, 1963)

"A powerfully emotive portrait...this seminal film of the [Cinema Novo] movement is as naturalistic and heartwrenchingly earnest as any Vittorio De Sica weepie." — Premiere

Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos

A foundational film of Cinema Novo, Vidas Secas follows the struggle of a migrant family for work and dignity in the midst of a devastating drought in Northeastern Brazil. As in the 1938 novel by Graciliano Ramos on which its based, Nelson Pereira dos Santos' adaptation takes up, in turn, the perspective of each family member, including the dog, to build a heart wrenching kaleidoscopic vision of grinding rural poverty, economic injustice and a harsh natural world.

Producer: Luiz Carlos Berreto. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Based on the novel by Graciliano Ramos. Cinematographer: Luiz Carlos Barreto, José Rosa. Editor: Rafael Justo. Cast: Atila Iorio, María Ribeiro, Orlando Macedo, Jofre Soares.

35mm, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 100 min. 

Gold Mouth (Boca de Ouro) (Brazil, 1963)

Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos

The story of a notorious murder, assumed to be the work of Rio's most infamous gangster, Boca de Ouro, is recounted Rashomon-style by the gangster's girlfriend to a journalist writing the crime lord's obituary. Based on a novel by a reactionary author, "Boca de Ouro" was a commercial assignment that the leftist Nelson Pereira dos Santos nevertheless adapted into a pulpy expression of populist urban mythology.

Herbert Richers Produções Cinematográficas. Producers: Jarbas Barbose, Gilberto Perrone. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Cinematographers: Amleto Diassé, Jose Rosé. Editor: Rafael Justo Valverde. Cast: Jece Valadão, Odete Lara, Ivan Cândido, Daniel Filho, Maria Lúcia Monteiro.

35mm, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 100 min.

Part of: 
Cinema According to Nelson Pereira dos Santos