[❕Severe spoilers below]
In the post-screening communication session, a Brazilian audience asked a question. He has been in Shenzhen for more than a year, but he has not seen much about Brazilian culture. I wonder if China does not know Brazil well, or Brazil does not know China well?
The understanding between people still needs to cross mountains and seas, not to mention the understanding between unfamiliar countries? But this Brazil Film Festival is to provide a window for Chinese audiences to see Brazil's past and present from a small entry point of the current Brazilian film industry.
Going back to the movie itself, the story takes place in Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s, when a pair of sisters are prevented from seeing each other because of "a mistake." Because of the lies of the parents, only a thick stack of unsendable letters conveyed their thoughts, and if the recipient did not discover it by accident, he might not know the existence of the letter for the rest of his life.
The two sisters, although living in different classes, both faced common problems. In the society at that time, how could a woman pursue the life she wanted? Compared with the more prosperous life of the younger sister, the life of the elder sister who was kicked out of the house was miserable and even tragic. The problem faced by a single single mother is not only how to ensure the survival of the mother and son, but also the pressure of the society - without the authorization of the father of the child, he cannot apply for a passport for his son. Women should go to work elsewhere”…
At the same time, the younger sister, who married according to her father's expectations, has always wanted to go to Vienna to attend the conservatory. She planned to have no children first, so as not to delay the exam. But in the end, the child was born and raised, and he never gave up on his dream. However, when she passed the exam in first place, her husband blamed her for not being a good housewife at home. Before that, when she was pregnant, her younger sister always wanted to find her older sister. Her husband almost collapsed and said, why can't he think more about the children and family, and worry about "a dead person"?
The sisters all have their own hopes for life, but because of various real shackles, the sister did not become the pianist known to the sister in the end, and the sister did not meet her sister until her death. In the parallel and invisible life of the two, the letter is the proof of the sister's existence and the testimony of the friendship between the two. It's a pity that my sister will never know, and my sister has been looking for her.
Writing this, you may find that if you only make a movie with the story of the sisters, it will be somewhat of a routine in urban dramas. Therefore, the presentation of Brazilian society in the 1950s and the struggle of individual women in the play is particularly valuable. If there is no social background at the time, no telling of the individual, the story lacks tension. It would be better if the film could focus more on the Brazilian social environment (political, economic, cultural, etc.).
One of the bad things about watching the movie is that the timeline of the story of the two heroines is not clearly arranged in the film. Often, as soon as the camera is turned, it will be a few years later. In fact, the letter from my sister to my sister was a good reminder of the time, but it felt underutilized. Another point is unavoidable. During the live screening, two places were muted and masked. The main creators were also on the scene. The atmosphere was awkward, and the audience applauded... I remember watching TV shows with my parents when I was a child. When the men and women are mainly ready to kiss, the parents pick up the remote control to change the channel, haha.
How can I better understand the film? Curator Marcos said that the scene where the two sisters go from the seaside to the mountain at the beginning and end of the film is a good summary of the film. On the mountain, the two sisters got separated and called each other anxiously. After a period of no response, the two finally found each other. Just like those letters that cannot be sent, the two of them are still connected in the end.
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