VIDAS SECAS - DVD review

The most obvious comparison for "Vidas Secas" (1963) is "Grapes of Wrath" (1940), but Nelson Pereira dos Santos' bitter film about impoverished workers in rural Brazil makes John Ford's adaptation of Steinbeck look positively cheerful by comparison.

Fabiano (Atila Iorio) is an itinerant cowhand who travels with his family from ranch to ranch in pursuit of work, any work. The job search is no easy task itself, and one of Fabiano's sons nearly dies from heat exhaustion as they trudge through the dusty, sun-baked land. The boy is only saved by the alert barking of the family dog Baleia, who also provides dinner for the family whenever she drags home the stray rodent or two.

Fabiano convinces a penny-pinching ranch owner to hire him, and the family's situation improves… for a while. Fabiano's wife Vitoria (Maria Ribeiro) dreams of saving enough money to buy a leather mattress so they can be "like normal people." The rare pleasure of a roof over their heads and regular meals seems too good to be true, and it is. Fabiano runs into trouble with an abusive policeman, and barely escapes imprisonment. The ranch owner shortchanges him on his salary and an angry Fabiano is powerless even to protest. The dream quickly crumbles, and they are forced to set out in search of work (and food) once again, no better off than they were before. The title translates as "Barren Lives" and it only a barren life that poor workers like Fabiano can aspire to in a country that provides no justice for its most needy.

"Vidas Secas" was one of the defining films of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement. More a collection of talented and like-minded filmmakers than a coherent movement, Cinema Novo was inspired by Italian neo-realism and, at least in the 1960s, was primarily concerned with representing the poor and disadvantaged members of society. Glauber Rocha was the firebrand of the movement, but Pereira dos Santos may have been its most successful on an international scale. In 1965, Rocha issued a manifesto known both as "The Aesthetics of Hunger" and "The Aesthetics of Violence." Rocha argued that people who are kept perpetually hungry are victims of systematic violence by the society that creates such conditions. Though "Vidas Secas" was released two years before Rocha wrote his manifesto, it very much embodies this idea. Fabiano and his family are victims, not victims of an uncaring world, but of an actively cruel government that empowers wealthy land-owners at the expense of the poor. Unfortunately, the film cannot promise revolution from this desperation; there is no burgeoning union movement like in "Grapes of Wrath," and Fabiano doesn't get to play the hero like Tom Joad. He's too busy scrounging for enough food to keep his family alive one more day.

The film is bathed in a nearly constant swath of harsh light; the sun beats down with a special ferocity on this barren region of Brazil, and Pereiro dos Santos doesn't compensate with any studio lighting techniques to make his characters look more glamorous. Many overexposed and high contrast shots make this depressing film seem almost impossibly grim, though the desiccated landscapes still yield an austere beauty.

"Vidas Secas" is adapted from a well-known novel by Brazilian author Graciliano Ramos. The chapters in the book are told from the points of view of different characters, and one chapter even relates the story from Baleia the dog's perspective. This would seem to be nearly impossible to adapt to film, but Pereira dos Santos transforms it into the movie's most memorable and grueling sequence. As the food runs out, Fabiano realizes they can no longer feed their faithful dog and must dispose of her. Pereira dos Santos forces us to watch through Baleia's eyes during this brutal sequence. If you thought the ending of "Old Yeller" was tough to watch, you can barely imagine how heartbreaking this scene is. In fact, it was so disturbing and realistic it sparked a controversy at Cannes when an outraged viewer (and animal-rights supporter) became convinced that the film-makers had actually killed a dog (I discuss this more in the Extras section below).

"Vidas Secas" is one of the most depressing movies you will ever see, but it is also a vital work from one of Brazil's most important and gifted filmmakers. I strongly recommend it.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 full-screen aspect ratio. Many shots are overexposed, and the film often looks washed-out as a result, but that is by design. Some debris from the source print is visible in many scenes, and a fully restored transfer would be appreciated, but I don't have any major complaints about this one.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the Portuguese audio.

Extras

There are two very entertaining extras included on this New Yorker release.

First, NYU Film Professor Robert Stam discusses the film in a brief interview (12 min.), talking mostly about its approach to adaptation but also discussing the movie's relation to Cinema Novo. His discussion is concise and enlightening.

The second feature is the short film "Baleia the Dog" (2002, 20 minutes; original title "Como se Morre no Cinema"), directed by Luelane Correa. As I mentioned above, one clueless viewer at Cannes protested when she believed that Pereira dos Santos had actually killed Baleia the dog in the film. Even when the director brought Baleia by plane to the festival, the outraged woman refused to believe him, certain that the dog was an imposter. Correa's screwball short takes a satiric look at the event from the vantage of yet another animal allegedly harmed during the filming. I enjoyed this immensely.

Closing Thoughts

"Vidas Secas" grabs you by the short and curlies and never lets go. Politically charged and actively engaged with social realities, "Vidas Secas" is anything but escapist cinema. If you don't shy away from the challenge, I believe you will be richly rewarded by this film. Regardless, I doubt you will soon forget this angry, bitter lament for the oppressed.