The Rundown

During the colonial period, European explorers were convinced that the legendary gold city called El Dorado was real. Desires of finding that promising place full of gold inspired numerous movies such as “Aguirre, Wrath of God” (1972) and the animated movie “El Dorado” (2000), among others. These fantasy stories recounted adventures of imperialist explorers looking for hidden gold mines in the Amazon rainforest. But how would life look like if the legend of El Dorado was not a tale, but a reality? It is that possibility that Peter Berg presents in The Rundown (2003). Berg creates another treasure-hunting adventure in the dystopic reality of a village called “Hell Dorado” (indigenous from the Amazon replace El by Hell expressing their opposition to the gold mining companies looking for their village).

Beck (Dwayne Johnson) goes to the Brazilian Amazon looking for an American guy (Travis) that should take back to the United States. The huge Amazon rainforest is shown in a wide shot accompanied by the lyrics of a soundtrack shouting “don’t bring guns home”. This shot establishes a romantic view of nature, a beautiful place that has not been touched yet. However, on the way to El Dorado, there are a lot of contradictions that make the idealization of nature fall apart. Beck is warned to stay away from the jungle and from a group of rebels that will otherwise kill him. Once in El Dorado, Beck is introduced to the owner of the biggest gold mine in the area, which is also a source of political and economic power over all the Brazilian people, especially over the poor families living from their work in the mines. For foreign mining investors, the once celebrated source of gold is still a promising way to become rich, however, for the Amazon communities that gold was only the source of an eternal slavery and destruction of nature.

In the middle of the mission, Beck and Travis are caught in traps of the rebel group. After some time coexisting with the group, Beck realizes that the foreign company has influenced him and many visitors in the are with a wrong perception about the intentions of the so-called “rebels”. Indeed, they are rebelling but against oppression. This group of native Amazonians fight against the mining company that even though has provided with some infrastructure and “modern” lifestyle, it has also brought instability, poverty and ways to keep the village under dependency. Both the company personnel and the “rebel” group start a search for a golden statue shaped like a cat that is hidden in the Amazon. Such object will provide the local community with freedom from the monopoly of gold mines, and reform the economic system with practices such as agriculture, among other ones that would go in accordance with their ancestral traditions.

The movie ends with the successful searching of the golden item, and the expulsion of the mining company from the Amazon. The dystopia is eliminated from the plot and the Brazilian Amazon becomes a land ruled by Brazilians. Nevertheless, the fight was not to come back to the previous indigenous lifestyle but to improve the conditions in which modernity is imposed. Because of coloniality people's culture and beliefs are shaped and it is almost impossible to decolonize them. For example, the mine owner insults the natives for being unthankful since he gave shoes for the barefoot indigenous and hired them to buy things they want. Even though natives reject everything that comes from the mining business, they will not stop using clothes or shoes, instead, this is adapted to their own lifestyle.

The visual dichotomies proposed throughout the plot between the beauty of the jungle and the social injustices of people taking advantage of its resources are shocking. The ways in which Latin America, its people, and the people looking for its treasures (natural resources) are portrayed make a call to reflection, especially in the negative environmental and social impacts that resource-extraction monopolies could cause.=

A Date with Judy

A voice-over begins A Date with Judy (1948) by commenting on the characteristic features of the ordinary town of Santa Barbara, California. The voice mainly focuses on two men: Mr. Pringle, a successful tycoon who has very little time for family life; and Mr. Foster, who may not have as nice a house as Mr. Pringle, but who always finds time for his family. The scene then shifts to a performance rehearsal where Judy Foster (Jane Powel) is practicing a song to sing at her parents’ wedding anniversary. Her boyfriend Ogden Pringle (Scotty Becket) is leading the orchestra and staring adoringly at Judy, until his sister Carol (a stunning, young Elizabeth Taylor), who is also Judy’s best friend, interrupts to say that Judy is singing the song a little too joyfully and should be more seductive. Judy agrees, as Carol is her idol, but Ogden thinks the song is good as is, innocence and all. Judy then heads home to get ready for the high school prom that night. Carol’s power over Judy is again illustrated when Judy changes from her new blue dress to an old pink one upon Carol’s insistence (seeing as Carol was already wearing a blue dress). Carol then privately tells Ogden (or ‘Oogie’ for short) that he should play hard-to-get with Judy by sending another friend to collect her for the dance. Judy is devastated when Oogie doesn’t show. She decides to phone him to give her a piece of her mind, but must do it from the local soda shop because her younger brother is occupying the phone at the house. After telling Oogie off, Judy sits dejectedly on a stool until the owner of the soda shop, Pop Scully, offers to have his handsome nephew, Stephen Andrews (Robert Stack) take her, as he is just starting his shift at the shop. Judy is elated and attempts to act as mature as possible (but to no avail) because Andrew is considerably older than herself. At the dance, Stephen is embarrassed to be among high school kids until he spies Carol in the corner while Judy is on stage singing a song. The two are then introduced by Judy, who is immediately ushered away by Carol to go greet the guest performer Xavier Cugat (played by himself). Xavier hits it off with Judy’s parents, who are also at the dance, and takes her mother on the dance floor to rumba when her father good-naturedly refuses. Carol and Stephen also begin to dance as Judy and Oogie have a spat over why Oogie did not pick Judy up himself. Judy is determined to stick with Stephen through the night, even if he’s not interested in her, if only to spite Oogie. When Stephen walks her to her door after the dance, she unabashedly kisses him; much to Oogie’s disappointment, who was watching from the bushes. Oogie tells this news to Carol, who promises to take care of everything for Oogie, if only to get Stephen for herself. The brother and sister then sadly remember their deceased mother and pine for a father like Judy’s who is there for the family, instead of their own Mr. Pringle.

The next morning, both girls are swooning over Stephen and go to the soda shop to see him. Carol tells Judy that she has landed her a radio program at her father’s station and asks her to go see her father about sponsorship. When Judy leaves hurriedly, Carol invites Stephen to dinner at her house; which he accepts. Stephen thinks that Carol is beautiful, but also sees that she is spoiled and egotistical. Meanwhile, at Mr. Foster’s work, he has enlisted the help of Rosita Cochellas (Carmen Miranda) to teach him the rumba so he can surprise his wife at their wedding anniversary; however, when Judy arrives to speak to him, he must hide Rosita in a closet to keep the dance lessons secret. The dancing is rather sensual for Mr. Foster, but he perseveres. That night, at the dinner Carol has planned, Stephen shows up with Judy, in hopes to get her back together with Ogden. When Ogden shows up, Stephen requests that they do a performance together, to which Judy reluctantly complies. Oogie and Judy prove sensational as a duo and they plan to do the radio show together, but only as business partners, as Judy stresses. Oogie then reveals to Judy that he would like to marry her one day, to which she replies that she is far too mature to consider marrying him; while Stephen tells Carol that she tries too hard to impress him which makes her furious. Carol later tells Judy to never trust men because, like her father, they will one day forget about you. Judy is still swooning over Stephen later that evening and tells her father that she wants to marry him, to which Mr. Foster quickly replies that he will sponsor her radio program, if only to keep her from eloping (even though he doesn’t realize that Stephen isn’t interested in marriage).

Carol wakes up early the next day to tell her father about Stephen, but he barely listens between phone calls. The butler later tells him about the love situation his daughter is in, and Mr. Pringle immediately enlists the butler to investigate Stephen. Meanwhile, Judy and Oogie go to get Mr. Foster to sign a contract for the radio program, and happen to arrive during the dance lesson. Rosita quickly hides, but Judy spies her dress in the closet door, leading her to suspect that her father is having an affair. At the radio rehearsal, Judy is despondent and then reveals to Carol the ‘tragedy’ that she had ‘witnessed’. Carol accidentally reveals that she’s in love with Stephen, to which Judy replies that she’d be very angry if she wasn’t already through with men. Judy decides to make her home as pleasing as possible for her father, but when Mr. Foster hints to his family that he has a surprise for them at the anniversary party the next night, Judy fears the worst.

Carol’s butler attempts to covertly interview Stephen but is immediately exposed as an investigator, causing Stephen to storm into Mr. Pringle’s office and berate him for being a terrible father. Mr. Pringle takes this to heart and immediately attempts to reconcile a history of neglect between him and his children. Oogie then goes to serenade a miserable Judy, but is rejected. And so Oogie turns the tables by declaring that he is too old for her games and promptly leaving. The next day, Rosita gives Mr. Foster his last lesson before the two of them go to the hotel in preparation for the night; unknowingly being watched by Carol and Judy who agree that they can’t say anything of the affair until after the celebration. But when Rosita sings a song that night with Cugat’s band and focuses her attention on Mr. Foster, Judy is outraged. She confronts Rosita afterwards and demands to know why she is fooling around with a married man who has children. Rosita herself becomes furious as she confuses the allegations with her fiancé, Xavier Cugat, whom she pulls from the stage to answer questions as to why Judy is claiming he is married with children. The dance lessons are finally revealed and apologies are made once Mr. Foster takes the dance floor with Mrs. Foster to show off his rumba moves. After much arguing, Judy finally forgives Oogie and Stephen arrives with Mr. Pringle to tell Carol that he wants to be with her. A happy ending is finally achieved as the guests at the party all join in a sing-along to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Foster’s happy marriage.

A Date with Judy is another one of the many Hollywood films which showcase America’s fascination with Carmen Miranda. Her ticket into these pictures has always been her passionate way of song and dance, but the comparison between her Brazilian rhythm and the plain, childlike ways of Judy in this film present a stark contrast between American and Latin styles of performance. Mr. Foster comments that the rumba appears to be a vulgar dance; that is, until he learns it and begins dancing around the house and wearing colorful new ties, demonstrating exactly how Americans want to be caught up in the Latin craze, but are at most times too conservative to try.

In the film, Rosita is engaged to Cuban Xavier Cugat, but the interesting aspect of this couple is that Carmen Miranda plays the unknown singer while Xavier is celebrated in the film as a celebrity band leader. Rather than this being seen as a machismo view of Latino male performers, it should be noted that at the time of the film’s release, the casting of Carmen Miranda as an unheard of entertainer would only be considered an act of irony, as the Brazilian star could be recognized in any role due to her swaying hips, flashy attire, and brilliant smile. During one song, she sings “I’m the zootiest chick this side of Brazil”, a line which strangely emphasizes her immigrant status during the time of the notorious Zoot Suit Riots. It must be suggested that perhaps such a statement was meant to bring a sense of class and prestige back to a term which had recently taken on a somewhat threatening connotation in the United States.

Four Days in September

Four Days in September (1997) is based on Fernando Gabeira's book O Que E Isso, Companheiro? (What is this, Comrade?), which tells the true story of his involvement in the kidnapping of American Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick in September of 1969. The kidnapping was an act of resistance to the military regime that had been in power since 1964, and Gabeira's involvement in it has left him unable to acquire an American visa and enter the United States since '69. After the kidnapping, Gabeira was exiled from Brazil until the regime ended in 1979. He is now an active Brazilian politician who helped found the Brazilian Green Party and is a federal deputy for the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The film begins with a montage of black and white pictures of Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s, with the song "Garota de Ipanema" playing in the background. The viewer is informed of the 1964 military coup and the subsequent suspension of civil rights and freedoms by the junta in 1968. The first scene shows the streets of Rio full of protesters, yelling for the end of dictatorship. Among them is young Fernando Gabeira. Following this are scenes of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon and the celebration at the American Embassy in Rio, where Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick cuts a cake in the shape of the moon and is congratulated by Brazilian diplomats. Fernando and his friends Cesar and Arturo are watching the space transmission on T.V., pointing out critically that the United States is using their space program as a weapon in the Cold War. It is clear that these three young men are Communists, the very kind abhorred by the military government. When the T.V. is turned off, Cesar and Fernando inform Arturo that they are joining the armed resistance against the military government, and that they would like him to join. Arturo refuses, saying he does not want to risk his life. The following scene shows members of the official resistance movement blindfolding Fernando and taking him to a safe house, where he is introduced to his fellow recruits in the radical leftist MR-8 organization. They are all introduced under false names. The group consists of a pretty young woman, Renee, and three young men, Julio, Oswaldo, and Brandao. Oswaldo is Cesar's false name, but Cesar and Fernando pretend not to know each other. The leaders of the group are the beautiful tough-talking Comrade Maria and the muscular Marcao. Fernando falls in love with Maria at first sight. The revolutionaries' job is to forget their old lives, their friends and family, and fight the military dictatorship by creating civil unrest using guerrilla tactics. Their first job is a bank heist, which is successful except for the fact that Cesar is captured by the police after being shot in the leg while trying to escape. He is tortured and interrogated by secret service agent Henrique, but since he knows only false names, the interrogation is useless. The members of MR-8 are frustrated with the lack of media coverage their bank heist has received, and realize they must do something of more consequence to get attention for their cause. Fernando comes up with the idea of kidnapping the American Ambassador, which is sure to get international media coverage.

Experienced guerrilla fighters Jonas and Toledo join the group and help plan the kidnapping. Renee makes a contact with the head of security for the American Embassy in order to get the necessary information for the job. When the group has set up a safe house and been provided with the necessary supplies, they execute the kidnapping, blockading the Ambassador's limousine and taking him blindfolded to the safe house. Their demands to the military government are the release and transport to Mexico of 15 political prisoners, including Cesar. If these demands are not met within 48 hours, the ambassador will be killed. The following hours are stressful and strange for the kidnappers, who sit silently in the house, sweating, and waiting. During this period, Maria gives in to Fernando's advances and they have a passionate encounter. The Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick is revealed to be a very educated, kindly, and courageous man, for whom Fernando and Renee especially have much sympathy. He is treated kindly by all the kidnappers, who wear black hoods over their heads so that he cannot see their faces. Elbrick is allowed to write a letter to his wife to prove that he is alive, as well as being given food and drink. Fernando spends some time talking with him about politics, a conversation which convinces Elbrick that his kidnappers are just young kids caught up in an ideological fervour, and fundamentally good people. Jonas and Toledo question Elbrick, using Fernando as a translator, and ask him if the U.S. supports the military government. Elbrick answers that the United States does not support any non-democratically elected governments, and that military juntas are supposed to be in place for a short time only. This answer pleases the kidnappers. The news reports MR-8's actions favourably, reading out their demands to the public. This makes the group very happy, their political message finally being transmitted country-wide. When Fernando goes to get some food at a nearby pizza place, the taxi driver who gives him a ride tells him that the kidnappers are heroes for the Brazilian people.

Unbeknownst to Fernando, the purchase of a large number of pizzas raises suspicion, and the police are informed. This leads the secret service to discover the location of the safe house. They do not, however, invade, because they are afraid the Ambassador will be killed. As the deadline for the ransom approaches, the kidnappers must decide who will kill the Ambassador, and none of them wants to do it. Jonas, who hates Fernando, instructs Fernando to do it. Minutes before the deadline, the authorities contact the group and agree to their demands. Fernando and the Ambassador are relieved that no one has to get hurt. The following day, television footage of the 15 political prisoners arriving at a Mexican airport convinces the kidnappers that their work is done. They prepare the Ambassador for his release. Renee has washed his clothes and helps him get dressed. When he is ready, they drive to the Maracana Stadium, where a soccer game has just taken place, to release him. On the way, the secret service follows them in a car, but a police vehicle cuts the secret service off, insisting that the Ambassador return home safely. Elbrick is released among the crowds of soccer fans, and the kidnappers escape unscathed. In a touching scene, Elbrick is reunited with his wife Elvira, who is sick with worry. For the following month, the kidnappers must remain completely in hiding, but Fernando is so desperate to see Maria that he goes to her house to spend some time with her. At this point, the police barge in and capture both young people. Eight months later, however, another resistance group kidnaps the German Ambassador and demands the release of Fernando and his comrades. The demands are met, and Fernando, Maria, and the rest of the kidnappers are sent to Algeria. They are granted political asylum in Britain. Democracy returns to Brazil in 1989.

The Communist ideology that pervades this film portrays a very leftist-oriented Brazil. The leftist movement in Brazil is strengthened and intensified by the opposite reactionary traits of the military government, a strength that has remained in Brazil until today. The backlash against the military government in the film is a stronger foundation for this Communism than is the Cold War; in no part of the film do the revolutionaries allude to the Soviet Union or Marxism. Theirs is a unique Latin American leftist movement. However, in order for this movement to gain a voice, it must involve itself with a main actor in the Cold War, the United States. Unexpectedly, the capitalist pig that the young communist kidnappers expected in the Ambassador turns out to be a dignified, kind, and intelligent man with whom they can discuss their ideological views. And so the Cold War is shown to be an absurd concept in Latin America, a war that is largely irrelevant to the social and political dynamics of its nations and only causes damage with its rhetoric. The film shows a Latin American left which is not related to the Cold War, but to the nature of its people.

The fact that the Ambassador's kidnapping is the main cause for attention to the resistance movement in Brazil shows that the United States is of central importance to politics in Latin America. Brazil's plight seems to be ignored by the world until America is involved. The film puts emphasis on the validity of the Brazilian struggle, and of Latin American politics in general, with or without the United States' involvement. The fact that the Ambassador is truly external to the Brazilian political conflict of the 60s and 70s implies that the United States does not belong in Latin American politics because it too is fundamentally external to Latin America's political environment.

Four Jills in a Jeep

The US war propaganda film Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) is introduced in the opening credits as a tribute to the performers who had the privilege to go overseas and entertain troops during WWII. The story is based on the actual experiences of Hollywood actresses Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair, who all play themselves.

The women are at first in Hollywood doing an exclusive live radio show for troops overseas. These actresses sing and swoon over men they haven’t met, as the soldiers ‘over there’ gather around their radios, listen intently, and reminisce about being back home. After the show concludes, Kay talks to jazz band orchestra leader Jimmy Dorsay (also played by himself) behind the scenes and they realize that they are both to be stationed in London within the next few days. Kay sadly reveals that she can only go if she puts together an ‘entertainment unit’ to help her cheer-up the troops; however, all problems are solved when she overhears Martha, Mitzi, and Carole telling Colonel Hartley that they’d be keen to go overseas and help the men. Kay recruits the three beauties and they fly to an American camp just outside of London.

Living the life of a soldier isn’t quite what the Hollywood actresses had expected as they get introduced to 5:30 am wake-up calls, canons, rain, and helmets. While walking to the Mess Hall, Carole loses her boot in the mud and enlists a passing soldier to help her regain her boot. The officer, Ted, immediately falls for Carole, even though he cannot understand why he finds her so familiar. After she leaves, he realizes that it was Carole Landis and nearly plants himself face first in the mud with a silly, star-struck expression on his face. The women are faced with the business of a working war camp as they attempt to brighten the men’s spirits. Their efforts are commendable and they try their hardest to support in any way they can. At one point, Mitzi runs into her ex-performing partner Dick Ryan, now a lieutenant, and they begin a loving bicker like old times. Carole encounters Ted again and the two promise to meet up once he is back on a 24-hour leave. A few days later, the girls all receive a bout of letters and Kay breaks protocol by letting them know that their beaus can meet them tomorrow night in London where they are all scheduled to perform. The ladies relish the elegant concert as Dick performs with Mitzi, Kay flirts with Colonel Hartley, Carole passionately kisses a persistent, but charming, Ted, and Martha convinces several high-ranking officials that she would love a chance to be stationed with the men on the front lines in Africa.

The next few days find Carole eagerly awaiting Ted’s return from his mission during a Christmas concert. The troops all gather in the Mess Hall to listen to the live radio broadcast from Hollywood which features a swooning song by Betty Gable and a hip-knocking, singing and dancing number by Carmen Miranda. The soldiers in the camp then allow the ladies a little rest and relaxation while they perform songs and musical numbers in their honour. Unfortunately, the performance is cut short when a siren sounds to announce that there is a plane about to make an emergency landing. Carole rushes outside just to see the plane hit the ground and explode. She fears the worst, until Ted appears at her side wishing her a merry Christmas and the two embrace. The next scene is at Ted and Carole’s happy wedding. Everyone is happy and enjoying the celebration until some telegrams arrive telling the ladies that their request to be posted in Africa has been granted and they must leave immediately. This spoils the newlyweds’ honeymoon plans, but Carole insists that she is a valid member of the U.S. Army and must obey orders at all times.

When the ladies arrive in Africa, the troops can’t believe their eyes. This camp is far more dangerous than the previous one in London, and the ladies soon find themselves lending a hand in the casualty unit, from sterilizing instruments to scrubbing floors. At one point Mitzy feels faint, but Kay tells her to imagine she’s back in Hollywood working on a motion picture. Love follows the ladies to Africa as well as Kay runs into Colonel Hartley once again and Dick tracks down Mitzy in order to profess his love to her. The women are tired after a long day of volunteering, but still muster the strength to do a stunning performance when the soldiers request it of them. Suddenly alarms sound and bombs begin dropping which sends everyone to the trenches to hide. The women are terrified as the troops are ordered to counter-attack. As the noises and lights of the fighting slowly fade away, the four actresses are offered a chance to return to a safe country while they can, but these determined females instead all opt to stay and see the boys through their tough times away from home.

During WWII, Brazil was seen by the American population as a perplexity among the allies. For all intensive purposes, the South American country was certainly a huge asset to the US, but it’s true relationship with Germany still remained hazy in the popular eye. On this note, Carmen Miranda’s minute role in Four Jills in a Jeep is also portrayed in a light which lends an image that is very foreign, despite the fact that she is in support of US troops. From the palm tree back-drop to the customary Carmen Miranda attire (complete with extravagant head-dress), this legendary Brazilian performer is depicted as a tropical illusion in the midst of blonde songbirds and American soldiers. Her appearance in the film, which seems to be completely unnecessary, raises the question of ‘Why?’ Could it be to give the men overseas the sensual thought of spinning hips? Or perhaps a peek into the tropical vacation that the soldiers can look forward to when they go on leave? The most obvious detail about Carmen’s performance is that she remains in the US while the American stars are overseas and in direct contact with the heroes that they support in the war. And so it appears acceptable to have a foreign performer give a show, but not to send her over to be with the troops in person; a fact which shadows the reality of America and Brazil maintaining good relations during WWII, but with Brazil always staying quietly out of focus as a friendly face on the sidelines.

Moro No Brazil

Moro No Brazil, "I Live in Brazil" (2006) is a documentary musical journey that delves deeply into the heart of Brazil. Finnish writer and director Mika Kaurismaki covers 4000 miles of Brazil's musical terrain looking to discover and expose its musical diversity and richness. It begins in Helsinki, Finland, in 2000, with a bleak scene of a snow-covered city with a lonely Kaurismaki standing outside, wind whipping all around him. The following scene shows an open jeep bouncing through the Brazilian bush under the hot sun, a smiling Kaurismaki in sunglasses and a sleeveless shirt at its wheel. Kaurismaki is in Brazil to make a documentary about samba, from its roots to its modern manifestations in funk and rap. He begins in Pernambuco, in the northeast, the poorest region of Brazil. There the Fulni-o indigenous group shows Kaurismaki the origins of the samba. To them, music is a way of keeping alive their history; all the songs tell of their people's story, from genesis to colonization to the modern era. Many of the Fulni-o mourn the fact that modern "white" Brazilian music replaces the indigenous music in many young people's lives. The Fulni-o's entire social structure is based upon music, something that is demonstrated by the fact that the small village has 14 musical groups. Kaurismaki leaves Pernambuco behind and heads to Caruaru, the capital of forro music. Forro elaborates on the samba of the indigenous people by adding many different wooden percussion instruments as well as flutes, accordions, bells and whistles. There, a young musician Silverio Pessoa tells Kaurismaki of his childhood and how his music is based on growing up in a Brazilian village with his grandmother. He explains that music makes the poor people of the region strong and courageous, and gives them a livelihood. The experience culminates in a big nighttime concert where Silverio and a famous forro singer Jacinto Silva perform a great concert and all the people of Caruaru dance the night away.

On the way to their next stop is Silverio Pessoa's home, where Silverio relives his childhood and the music that permeated every element of his and the other villagers' lives. They stop in a village outside Recife, where the black cultures of the coast have developed Maracatu, which is a secret, mystical song and dance that becomes a profession for those who perform it. The colourful costumes that go with the Maracatu are clearly African-inspired. Kaurismaki and Silverio head into Recife, where they meet Antonio Nobrega, who explains to them the perfect symbiosis of Brazilian music with dance and physical movement. He plays a specific style of samba called the frevo, which incorporates the fiddle and the tambourine. Another character they come across is Ze Neguinho do Coco, who plays the samba do coco, inspired by Africa, the Indians, the forests, and the fisherman of the north Brazilian coast. He makes his money by teaching children, educating them in the essential cultural value of music. The music he plays has given him his name; it defines his identity. When Kaurismaki finally makes his way into the heart of Recife, he interviews a duo of brothers, Caju and Castanha, who play the embolada, which they claim is the basis for all modern rap. They have played together since they were children, improvising all their lyrics from the scenes they see in everyday life. Also in Recife among the favelas (shantytowns) the documentary-maker and Silverio find dancing schools where children learn to sing, dance, and play drums and instruments since they are tiny. One of these is called "Comrades in the Struggle", a group that gives poor children from the shantytowns a sense of solidarity and belonging. The other is Maje Mole, a girls' "ballet" group which rescues young girls engaged in prostitution and drugs and tours them around the country to dance their unique "ballet". In Recife, people are primarily black, and they claim that "Brazil is black".

The next stop is Salvador Bahia, where they sing and dance the Condomble, created by the African slaves who originally populated the city. They are inspired by the African god Orixas, which is a combination of all the different gods that each African brought from his or her tribe back in Africa. In Bahia, the people have mixed their gods, their religions, their influences, and their music. The samba means something different to every person, and through hybridization, is a constantly changing style. Kaurismaki also shows us the Capoeira, the martial-arts dance of Brazil. It is also danced in Rio de Janeiro, the next and final stop of the Finnish director's journey. In Rio, samba is a "state of mind", especially for Walter Alfaiate, a tailor and samba composer whose style is based on love, inspired by all the loves he has had and lost, the experiences that shaped his heart, and the ultimate lack of permanence in love. His protege is Seu Jorge, a young man who began living in the streets of the favelas and was launched into the world of music by Alfaiate and other samba-composers who saw his talent. In Rio, samba educates the young and the old alike. Rio's largest favela is Mongueira, where the people, although poor, keep the samba alive. An old woman, Dona Zelia, sings of her long lost love, her dead husband, and his guitar. The most famous samba school in Rio is here, a huge room full of young men and women with drums, making a resonant, multi-dimensional and energetic sound. Scenes of the Carnival are shown, in all its extravagance and noise. Kaurismaki's last focus is Ivo Meirelles, a young man from Mongueira who has created a funk group, Funk n Lata, with his friends. Instead of leaving the favelas like other successful musicians have done, he sets an example for the people there and remains, embracing his roots and offering music as a positive alternative to drugs and gang violence that are part of everyday life in Mongueira. The film ends with a lovely Brazilian woman singing "Juizo Final at a club in Rio. It is revealed that this club belongs to Kaurismaki, who after his musical journey throughout Brazil decided to remain there and make Brazilian music his life. His club gives opportunities to the numerous Brazilian music acts to showcase their talents and the Brazilian musical tradition.

The focus of this film is the vast diversity of Brazilian music, which reflects exactly the vast diversity of Brazil's people. The indigenous people with their painted faces and their grass skirts, singing and dancing in the jungle, are just as much Brazilians as the more Portuguese mulattoes of Rio or the blacks of Recife. Between these lies a spectrum of ethnic and cultural mixes that produce a dazzling array of musical styles which are expressed both in song and dance. And each region's music has been inspired to varying degrees by these different cultures. This heterogeneity is not only ethnic or musical, however; it is also economic. Highlighted in the film is the great inequality that Brazilians face. Poverty and lack of access to resources and education are portrayed as almost ubiquitous, with scenes of garbage and insecure living conditions in every place. Constant mention of drugs, prostitution, and crime reminds the viewer that life in Brazil is not all music and happiness; people's difficulties are made lighter by music, but suffering is deeply entrenched. Kaurismaki makes a point to highlight the issue of inequality in Brazil.

Samba is in every part of a Brazilian's life. Tiny children sing and dance in the streets, playing instruments with amazing skill for ones so young. Everywhere that music is played, people are listening, watching, dancing, and commenting. Making music is a collaborative process which includes everyone in the community and is a culmination of the region's history. Samba educates the people, many of which cannot get a formal education. It gives people a chance to lift themselves out of suffering, poverty, and crime. It includes every age level, from babies to young people, to the middle aged, to the very very old. No age group is excluded from musical life. In the streets of the favelas, impromptu concerts bring the whole community together to sing and dance at any time of day. It seems the entire country is buzzing with sound, movement, and rhythm; never is there an absence of music. To Kaurismaki, a synonym for Brazil is samba.

Wild Orchid

Wild Orchid, a 1989 erotica film, begins with Emily Reed (Carré Otis), a ‘whiz-kid’ lawyer and translator of several languages, obtaining a job with a prestigious law firm in New York City. The only catch to accepting the job is that she must leave for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the following day with fellow lawyer Claudia (Jaqueline Bisset) to try to close a deal with Chinese investors regarding the construction of a resort and hotel complex. Claudia proves to be a confident and ambitious woman who takes charge of her life. Thus, when Elliot (the construction site consultant) isn’t in Rio when they arrive, she takes it upon herself to fly to Buenos Aires to collect him; leaving Emily the task of taking Claudia’s place at a dinner date that night. Before leaving the construction site, Emily explores the ruined hotel, climbing through dark stairways with dripping water, until she inadvertently comes upon a local couple having passionate sex in one of the empty rooms. At first she is stunned by the spectacle, but then their absolute rapture proves too much for her meek demeanor and she races away.

Emily dresses glamorously for her dinner date with the mysterious and extremely wealthy James Wheeler (Mickey Rourke), who is instantly mesmerized by Emily’s beauty. They walk through the street markets at night, James’ bodyguards in tow, as Emily takes in the sights and sounds of a culture that captivates her. They end their stroll at a lavish restaurant teeming with tokens Brazilian ethnicity. There they play a game of guessing the different lives of all the guests. They choose one seemingly unhappy couple and Emily tells the made-up story of how they met, which eventually leads to the wife cheating on her husband in an old run-down hotel, much like the scene Emily had witnessed earlier that day. James is bizarrely perceptive of Emily’s discomfort with the subject of sex, and so he leads her into the adjacent ballroom where the guests wear extravagant masks and dance extremely provocatively to the tribal beats. Emily is enthralled by the spectacle until an unknown guest slips behind her to nibble at her neck, causing her to bolt back to the hotel. The next morning, she awakens to James sitting in her room. He attempts to make amends on the previous night by taking her for a motorcycle ride with the unhappy couple, Hanne and Otto Munch, they had seen the night before, to whom James had introduced himself and discovered that Emily’s ‘made-up story’ wasn’t too far off the mark. During their motorcycle ride, they stop at a road-side dance. While there, Hanne is accosted by several drunken US sailors and then has her top ripped down as someone attempts to steal her elegant necklace. The four of them run for James’ bodyguard’s car, and as Otto attempts to cover-up Hanne’s breasts, she surprisingly becomes emotionally distraught at this ‘insult’. Safely in the limo, James then acts as marriage counselour to the Munches as he helps them to overcome their troubled past together and find their passion in the moment. Much to Emily’s revulsion, they mount each other right there in the backseat of the limo. Emily quietly pleads with James to ask them to stop, but James replies that he couldn’t if he tried. The Munches have given in to their primal emotions, and where Emily sees them as only having filthy sex, James sees it as them making love. The car then stops at the construction site, and James walks Emily up through the stairwells, all the while commenting on his own make-believe story of her life. His account is inexplicably accurate and causes Emily to become emotional. She reaches out and holds James, who immediately stiffens and explains that he can’t handle being touched.

Emily returns to the hotel and sits naked in front of the mirror, reconsidering the visions of passions she had seen in the last two days. This excites her and she returns to the restaurant from the night before, mask in place, to try to find James. Sitting at the bar, she orders a drink in Portuguese and is then approached by an American named Jerome who thinks she is a local. He offers her cash for sex which insults her. She coldly walks away and comes across James who eerily explains that she is only feeling insulted because the prospect excites her. With this she goes to Jerome’s room and at first is frightened by his forcefulness, but then gives into the sensations of this sexual encounter and overcomes her emotional barriers. The next day when Claudia returns, she and Emily begin negotiations for the construction site and coincidentally Jerome ends up being the opposing lawyer. He believes that due to Emily’s nervousness he will win the deal, but as soon as Claudia is informed of their situation she coyly reminds Jerome of his wife and kids back in America, causing him to back down and the women to win the negotiation.

Claudia then reveals to Emily that she has always had an obsession with James, who used to be a stuttering orphan in Philadelphia before constructing his empire of wealth from scratch. Then, just before Claudia and Emily go to the contract signing with the Chinese investors, they are informed that Jason has bought the old hotel on the construction site. This enrages Claudia as the old hotel was the deal-breaker for the Chinese. She decides to go ahead with the contract signing anyways, even though Emily advises her that this is misrepresentation. The deal goes through and then the crowd of investors begins to celebrate as Rio’s famous festival of Carnival kicks off. The next morning, Claudia decides to get rid of her obsession with James as she invites a handsome Brazilian into her hotel room and gets Emily to translate for them. Just as the sexual tension in the scene is at its climax, James suddenly appears in the room and glares at Emily as he throws down the Brazilian. Emily chases James out of the hotel and he rides away on his motorcycle to ponder his actions. He then, in an act of reconciliation sends to Emily the deeds to the old hotel, which saves the misrepresented deal just in time. That night, James again appears mysteriously in Emily’s hotel room with orchids and she attempts to coerce him to touch her, but he continually refuses. Finally, as she turns away from him in disbelief, he grabs her body and the two of them finally both feel the hunger for each other. As they make love, they finally understand the passion that permeates the city of Rio.

Wild Orchid displays striking similarities to Blame it on Rio. In both films, the characters discover sexual impulses which they never would have dreamed of before coming to the fervent city of Rio. The theme of facades is etched into the plot of Wild Orchid as the wealthy foreigners constantly don masks, literally and figuratively, in order to release their pent-up passions. These tycoons may be enjoying Carnival, but it is their living of double lives which is the true masquerade. Rio de Janeiro is seen as a constant party of music and dance which always leads to sex. It’s as if this formula is threaded into the culture and the foreigners yearn for that liberation. Ultimately, Rio stands for a place of distraction which escorts its revelers to happiness by means of sexual arousal.

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals

The 1977 soft-porn horror flick Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals begins in an American insane asylum with the plot’s heroine Emanuelle (Laura Gemser), a star journalist posing as a crazy woman on the female ward in order to get the exclusive story about the young, white cannibal girl from the Amazon who had just arrived. The first scene’s slow survey of the ward’s inhabitants is abruptly interrupted by a nurse, half-dressed, running down the hall screaming. The bloody stump that was her right breast is shown quite graphically as the orderlies blatantly explain that such a vicious act was the work of the new cannibal patient, whom they try to restrain with a straight jacket as she munches on a chunk of flesh in the corner of the room. That night, Emanuelle sneaks into the cannibal’s room and attempts to ask her some questions. When the girl becomes frightened, Emanuelle displays her unusual methods of journalism by reaching under the girl’s skirt and pleasuring her to calm her down. While doing this, Emanuelle notices a tribal tattoo on the girl’s midriff and proceeds to snap a photo of this “white child raised by a wild tribe of the Amazon” to bring back to her editor. The next day, Emanuelle is sent by her editor to Professor Mark Lester (Gabriele Tinti), a leading expert on cannibalistic tribes. The pair watch documentaries on tribal customs, plan an expedition to the Amazon to study the girl’s near-extinct tribe of Apiaca cannibals, and then indulge in a session of wild sex (which was obviously well-deserved after such difficult research).

The following day, despite warnings from co-workers of the dangers they may encounter, Emanuelle and Mark jet off to the Amazon. They meet with Mark’s old friends, who are part of a religious organization, and decide to bring Sister Angela and an acquaintance named Isabel on their journey to the organization’s Mission, located deep in the jungle. The night before the group departs, Isabel spies Emanuelle and Mark having sex and as a result proceeds to touch herself. The next day she tells Emanuelle that she had seen them and the three then begin exchanging sly sexual glances while traveling up the Amazon River in a motorboat. When the expedition stops to make camp, Emanuelle has a close-encounter with a snake, but is saved by avid hunter Donald McKenzie who miraculously appears without a moment to spare. He advises that the group join his camp set-up, with his wife Maggie, native assistant Salvador, and several others, because the cannibals had massacred everyone at the Mission. It is soon realized that Maggie is not completely faithful to Donald as she sneaks off with Salvador into the jungle. Donald secretly spies them together, but when he confronts Maggie as a tramp, she calls him impotent and the fight apparently dissolves. Mark gets nervous about being out in the jungle with the cannibals and Donald steadfastly refuses to go back to civilization with them, up until a half-eaten body is found on the beach by their boat. He then whispers to Maggie that they’ll travel with the group to safety and then continue the search. What they are searching for remains a mystery.

Their escape route proves dangerous when Angela ventures into the bush to relieve herself and is captured by the cannibals. Her naked body is then ripped apart as her search party can only listen to the blood-curdling screams. The next day when Donald is supposed to be keeping watch, he and Maggie slip off into the jungle to finally find the site of a small plane crash, the one which they had been searching for. They uncover a case with two small, leather pouches full of diamonds. Donald then apparently overcomes his impotency as they immediately have celebratory sex on the jungle floor. The cannibals take this chance to wound Donald and carry Maggie away. The rest of the group then comes to Donald’s rescue, salvages a blow-up boat and some flares from the plane crash, and sets off towards the cannibals’ island. The rescue mission splits into two groups and soon Emanuelle and Mark look on from the trees as Salvador is killed and Isabel and Donald are taken hostage. The final scene takes a turn for the worst as the nauseating cannibalism continues. Isabel is quickly drugged, while Maggie is gouged in the genitalia and the cannibals ravenously pull out her insides. Donald, who is already faint with what he has witnessed, is then sliced in half by the pulling of a taut rope around his waist. Watching from the trees, Mark quietly explains to Emanuelle that what they are witnessing is probably the annual Feast of Fertility on the full moon, and the tribe will use Isabel as their pregnant sacrifice to the Goddess of the Waters. Just as Emanuelle interjects that Isabel isn’t pregnant, the first of the cannibals has his way with Isabel’s drugged body. Unable to watch the succession of rape, Emanuelle and Mark sneak away to the river where Emanuelle gets the idea to paint the tribe’s tattoo on her belly and then rise naked from the water just as the cannibals are about to sacrifice Isabel on the sacrificial stone at the water’s edge. The plan works perfectly and Emanuelle ushers Isabel to the safety of the water in front of the astonished cannibals. But as the women begin to swim hurriedly away, the tribe becomes wise and chases after them in canoes. Tension mounts as Mark tries in vain to start the motorboat and the cannibals paddle closer, but the motor soon roars to life and the three foreigners speed away. Now out of harm's way, Emanuelle takes a moment to ponder the events and the carnage of the last few days, and realizes with dismay that a journalist will do almost anything for a story.

Stemming from the fact that this genre of film is a blemish on the face of the movie industry, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals certainly doesn’t do much in terms of promoting the Amazon as a tourist destination. From quicksand to cannibals to poisonous animals, the characters encounter at every turn the dangers which they’ve been warned about. The film portrays the all-male tribe as mindless and flesh-obsessed, and gives them the erroneous title of ‘the last cannibals’. Emanuelle’s editor continues this inaccuracy by classifying the cannibals’ traditional tattoo as Aztec; even though the Aztec Empire was located in Central America, not Brazil. It is also left hanging as to why the blonde, white woman from the first scene would have been raised in the care of such flesh-eating men. Such blunders make the statement: “True story as reported by Jennifer O’Sullivan”, which appears in the beginning credits, laughable. Perhaps Miss O’Sullivan had been actively indulging in opana, the same narcotic that allegedly triggered the tribe’s cannibalistic nature, when she reported such an account.

The Mission

The period piece The Mission (1986) is set in the 18th century of what is now southern Brazil, when the struggle for territory surged between the Portuguese and Spanish colonists and an even greater war was waged between Jesuit missionaries and slave traders over the lives of the indigenous people populating the area.

The death of a priest at the hands of the Guarani, an indigenous tribe, is the first event to set in motion the main plot of the film. Due to the guilt of sending the previous priest there to encounter his death, Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) treks to the Guarani village above the majestic, but treacherous, waterfalls, deep in the heart of the jungle. There Father Gabriel meets the Gaurani and at first is accepted as an oddity as he quietly plays his flute by a stream and the tribe’s hunters silently surround him to listen. The Guarani then accept him as one of their own as he teaches them about Christianity and begins to build a mission. Alas, this realm of harmony does not last. While out in the jungle, several Guarani hunters are captured by the slave hunter Captain Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) and brought to the settlement of Asunción to be traded to the Portuguese. This troubles Father Gabriel because these slave hunters have never before ventured above the falls. Back in Asunción, Rodrigo’s life slowly spirals out of control as finds out that his girlfriend, Carlotta, has fallen in love with Rodrigo’s brother, Felipe, during Rodrigo’s absence. Rodrigo’s jealous rage leads him to slay his brother in a duel. Seeing as the law can not touch him because the death occurred in a consensual duel, Rodrigo retreats to a cell-like room of the church to seek the penance of being his brother’s killer, a penance which he can not achieve through civil law. It is here that Gabriel comes across him and agrees to bring him back to the Guarani village to help him overcome his grief. Rodrigo physically carries the burden of his brother’s death in the form of a sack of metal armour which he laboriously lugs up the mountain. He has now taken upon himself the role of that which he once hunted: a slave. Upon reaching the village, the Guarani hold a knife to the throat of this known slave-trader, but when Gabriel motions for them to let him live, they instead cut the rope to the sack of armour which attached Rodrigo physically and metaphorically to his shame. This act of compassion brings Rodrigo to tears as the tribesman, the priests, and Rodrigo all embrace and join in a bout of joyous laughter.

The power of the indigenous people’s kindness soon permeates Rodrigo and he commits his life to being a Jesuit priest. The priests work side-by-side with the Guarani as they construct the San Carlos Mission, learn the indigenous language, and convert many to Christianity. But again this harmony does not last as His Eminency, Altamirano (Ray McNally) of the European Papacy, arrives in Asunción to try to decide through the power of the Church what is to be done with these indigenous people, causing all the priests in the Guarani village to return to the colony. There they lobby against the transfer of Guarani territory to Portugal as this would invite the Portuguese to enlist all the Guarani people as slaves. The Spanish support this land transfer as, unbeknownst to the Church, they secretly take part in the slave trade. The decision rests with Altamirano and so he decides to visit several of the surrounding Jesuit missions to see how the conversion to Christianity is progressing. His findings are impressive: indigenous people living on the morals of the church and discovering their own unique talents via the arts and music. Yet, the tremendous pressure from greedy Spanish and Portuguese colonists, who desire the Guarani territory and its inhabitants, still weighs heavy on Altamirano, and so Gabriel invites him to journey to the San Carlos Mission to help him clear his head. Here, Altamirano is overwhelmed with the spiritual and cultural ‘advancement’ of the Guarani but, much to Gabriel’s dismay, he still decides to give the territory to Portugal though the historic Treaty of Madrid (1750), which would cast the Guarani out of the protection of the Church. His Eminency asks the Guarani to retreat from the mission back into the jungle, but the Guarani accept the mission as their home now and choose to fight instead.

The decision of the Church ignites a fire of hostility in all the priests as they revoke their vows of obedience; all except Gabriel, who chooses, after much deliberation, to fight this decision with love instead of with brute force. The other priests are led by ex-mercenary Rodrigo in a plan that would attack the advancing Portuguese forces from the river and the jungle. Scenes of the brutal and heartless round-up of indigenous slaves in the colonies prophesize the same cruelty about to befall the Guarani. Although the priests lay several clever traps and catch the Portuguese troops by surprise, they still fail to defeat the advancing threat. Several of the priests are killed among the multitude of Guarani during the preliminary fight scenes. At a crucial moment in the battle when Rodrigo is about to blow up a bridge, he instead turns to help two small Guarani children get to safety. This demonstrates his complete transformation of compassion from mercenary to Jesuit priest, but also allows the Portuguese to invade the village. The Guarani women and children, led by Gabriel holding a gold crucifix, walk slowly through the burning village as arrows fly through the air, piercing bodies randomly. Rodrigo is shot and shortly after an arrow kills Gabriel. Rodrigo’s last vision is of Gabriel collapsing to the ground and the Guarani crowd picking up the crucifix to continue their slow march to certain death; an image which shows the moral accomplishment achieved by the priests, but also their epic failure as both versions of the priests’ resistance prove unsuccessful. The film ends with Altamirano questioning the colony leaders about the slaughter of the Guarani, but still knowing that he had ultimately sanctioned the purpose for their deaths. The few Guarani children left alive are then shown rowing a canoe up-river, away from the lives they had known and the carnage that now remains.

The film portrays two feuding sides: first, the mercenaries against the Jesuit priests, followed by the Jesuit priests disputing the colonists and the Church in the name of protecting indigenous rights; and with the Guarani people constantly wedged in the middle of it all. Rodrigo personifies the transition of these two battles as his character finds its vitality and purpose through his connection to the indigenous tribe. But as was seen in the film, this harmony can not be maintained. Even in real life, South America and its indigenous cultures are seen only as a massive chunk of territory ready for the taking by foreigners and South American governments alike. This is displayed most boldly by the fact that the film-makers had attempted to use the actual Guarani people to perform in the movie, but instead decided on the Waunana, a Colombian tribe, when the Guarani proved to be too assimilated and desolate for any use. How ironic that the cultural propagation presented in the film is sent spiraling by the present situation of the Guarani people. The reality that the culture of the Waunana tribe is also nearing the point of extinction presents the question of when this vicious cycle of assimilation will end.

The Forbidden Dance is Lambada

It appears as though the film-makers were confused when naming the The Forbidden Dance is Lambada (1990), as the movie should have been titled simply “So Bad, It Should Be Forbidden”, due to the appalling acting and B-movie storyline. The plot begins deep in the Amazon jungles of Brazil at the village of a small indigenous tribe where the Chief’s daughter Nisa (Laura Herring) is participating in an erotic ritualized dance with the rest of the village which captures the catch-phrase of the film: “If it were any hotter, it wouldn’t be dancing!” Suddenly, the festivities are cut short as a jeep roars into the clearing. A white man introduces himself as Benjamin Maxwell, representative of the Petramco Corporation which now apparently owns the land on which the tribe lives and has invested in burning through the Amazon for resources. The Chief spits on Benjamin, but conflict is prevented when Nisa yells, “Stop!” and tries to reason with the men that this is the tribe’s home. Benjamin is impressed with her English, but refuses to back down, while the jeeps continue to drive through several of the near-by huts, literally destroying the indigenous culture. After a small discussion, the Chief allows Nisa to go to America to facilitate an agreement with Petramco, under the protection and guidance of Joa (Sid Haig), the tribal shaman. The two bring their hope and foreign customs to Los Angeles and Joa is immediately arrested after an impressive pyrotechnics show in the Petramco lobby. Nisa escapes and is rescued in a park by a Mexican maid named Carmen (Ángela Moya) who immediately gets the penniless Nisa a job. Nisa’s employer is a stuck-up, racist snob who descibes her last maid as a “Mexican girl, thick as a brick”. As Nisa gets ready for bed that night, she sensually dances around in her nighty, using the dresser and lace curtains in her room as props, and is spotted by her employer’s son, Jason (Jeff James), who immediately invites her out to the club with him, as his girlfriend couldn’t make it.

At the club, Nisa feels uncomfortable with the foreign eighties, synthesized music, and not to mention the fact that Jason lies to his friends about her being a maid, when the DJ unexpectedly begins playing a Brazilian-esque beat. The dance floor immediately clears, but Nisa pleads with Jason to stay and dance with her as she shows him the sexy moves and gyrating hips of the Lambada. The dance is a hit as everyone joins in, much to the disappointment of Jason’s recently arrived girlfriend, Ashley (Barbra Brighton) who ‘accidentally’ rips the sleeve of Nisa’s dress, which Jason had borrowed from his mother. Upon arriving home, Nisa is immediately fired (much to Jason’s dismay), not only for the dress, but also for fraternizing with Jason. Nisa seeks refuge as a female dancer in the stripper joint The Exotica, where she naively believes she can dance for money, without men touching her. Ashley haughtily informs Jason of Nisa’s whereabouts after his friends mistreat her on The Exotica’s dance floor and he immediately goes to her rescue. At first Nisa is hardened to his assistance, but then begins to tell him the story of her tribe and their fight against Petramco. As Jason attempts to escort her away from The Exotica, the bodyguard jumps him. The fight does not go well for Jason until he is saved by Joa, who had stealthily escaped from police by using his skills as a ventriloquist to create tiger roars (of course). The three race to Jason’s home where they plead with his father to come to Nisa’s aid. His parents steadfastly refuse and disown Jason as he leaves the house. Now he is determined to help Nisa and they devise a plan to get national television via a dance competition for the Kid Creole Show so she can tell her story. Joa, Nisa, and Jason seek sanctuary at Carmen’s house, where the night turns to one of infatuation as Nisa and Jason finally give-in to their passions and Joa and Carmen also find companionship for the night. The next morning, they pool their funds and manage to send Joa home to speak with Nisa’s father about the situation, an act which Nisa fears because as of yet she has done nothing to further their cause.

Jason and Nisa relentlessly practice the Lambada to perfect it before the auditions. Meanwhile, Ashley has covertly contacted Benjamin of Petramco to tell him of Jason’s plan. As she is also trying out for the dance competition, it suits her own purposes to get Jason and Nisa out of the picture. At the auditions Ashley competes well, but the unanimous decision is for Nisa and Jason’s foreign spectacle of sexuality. Upon leaving the successful audition, the valet (and obvious flunky for Benjamin) hits Jason over the head with a champagne bottle and leaves him in his car in the dessert with Nisa nowhere to be found. Jason then tails Benjamin to an abandoned club where he has Nisa on stage. As Jason is breaking in through a side window, Benjamin asks Nisa to dance for him. When she refuses and he cites her family’s interests as collateral, Nisa becomes enraged and begins an exhilarating Lambada which enthralls Benjamin. At this point, Nisa spies Jason in the corner and continues to seduce Benjamin to dance with her so that Jason can come at him from behind. The two then flee, with their captors in hot pursuit. Before reaching the car, Jason falls and twists his ankle. They then arrive late to the national broadcast of the Kid Creole Show, but are unable to dance due to Jason’s ankle. Miraculously, Joa arrives backstage with the Chief and he immediately heals Jason’s ankle by using a live snake (the actual method we are not shown). Jason and Nisa perform perfectly and after the act Nisa tells the tribe’s story with the striking visual of her father beside her in indigenous clothing which sells her point even more. The charismatic Kid Creole immediately rallies the crowd in favor of the tribe and calls for a national boycott of all Petramco merchandise. The movie concludes with a relieved Jason and Nisa surrounded by a throng of crazed Lambada dancers.

Seeing as the film went from pitch to premiere in about three months, there’s a sneaking suspicion that The Forbidden Dance is Lambada was less a promotion of the environmental issues which surround the Brazilian rainforest, and more a movie that capitalizes on the so-called ‘Lambada dance craze’ of the 1980s. Although the plot is centered upon liberating Nisa’s tribe from international predators and is bookended at the beginning with shots of plumes of smoke rising from the Amazon and then ending with the caption: “This film is dedicated to the preservation of the rainforest”, the ignorance presented by the characters’ racist remarks, such as “wetback” and “Chiquita banana girl”, as well as the pigeonholing of Brazilian traits leaves much to be desired in terms of a film which truly supports the environmental and cultural issues which are presented. Brazil is displayed as a country buzzing with sexuality (where every citizen is born a dancer), but more importantly it is portrayed as a country with no political power whatsoever, seeing as Nisa needs to physically go to America in order to initiate any sentiment towards her cause. The white men are told not to fraternize with the Latin immigrants who are given the subordinate jobs of maids or concubines. In fact, the only true union is achieved when Jason and Nisa consummate their passions, but this is comically intertwined with Carmen making a grand show of slipping a condom under their door; a good deed to be sure, but also a symbol of an intolerance towards culture mixing. Above all, this film illustrates the “business is business” attitude which America displays towards the subordinate countries which supply the US with the resources it demands, no matter what the price.

Amazon

Amazon (1990), which begins with an aerial camera shot of an indigenous hut nestled among the trees and then flashes to a pitiful landscape of deforestation stretching as far as the horizon, should be commended for its sense of authenticity as such scenes were accurately filmed in the paradox that is the Brazilian rainforest.

The movie opens by introducing Kari (Kari Väänänen) and his two pre-adolescent daughters traveling the dusty road of the Trans-Amazonic highway through Brazil. Flashbacks show that Kari used to be a successful and happy businessman living Finland, until his beloved American wife was put in a coma due to a car crash. The accident devastates Kari who disconnects his wife’s breathing machine in an act of love; thus prompting him to escape to Brazil with his daughters in order to evade the authorities. The promising new life in Rio de Janeiro is dashed when Kari realizes that he can’t possibly find work without knowing the right people, which leaves him and his family surrounded by theft and shady characters. His friend Fransisco offers him a job as a driver, but they are stopped en route by police. Fransisco makes a break for it, obviously indicating that they are transporting illegal materials, and he is shot dead. After Kari avoids the same fate by claiming to be an American, he ushers his daughter onto a long road trip in search of employment and a better life, which brings us back to the Trans-Amazonic highway: a “skinny, black line through an endless wall of green” on the map, but in reality a “red dusty nightmare headed for nowhere”. The three travelers run out of gas and inadvertently meet Dan (Robert Davi), a selfish and rude American pilot whose plane has also run out of gas. After filling the car’s gas tank with alcohol, the group tows the plane to an abandoned highway construction site housing an old bulldozer which they use to siphon some gas into the plane. Here Dan tells Kari that he plans to mine for gold in the north, and when Kari pleads for him and his daughter to go as well, Dan reluctantly agrees.

They arrive in the mining town of Cerapalata, meaning ‘naked mountain’ but feeling like “Dante’s Hell where condemned miners look for nonexistent retribution”, and Kari immediately sets out to make a buck by doing the strenuous hard labour of carrying bags of wet soil out of huge mining holes. One night after Kari collapses in his hammock from exhaustion, his daughter finds a large diamond in his shoe. Kari thinks that this is his fortune at last, but Dan knows better and after he has the flawed stone appraised, he offers a partnership to Kari in the northern town of Tapacan where they will pan in a river for real diamonds. The plan is to make enough money by doing flying errands to eventually tow the abandoned bulldozer from the Trans-Amazonic highway up to north; but this plan is upset when Kari becomes enchanted with an educated and beautiful woman living in Tapacan named Paola (Rae Dawn Chong). She likes Kari as well, but disagrees with the plan to bring huge machines in order to mine the mythical diamonds because this will cause the greedy banks to sweep in on the free land and use it for their own purposes. Kari is torn on what to do as he examines the reality of selfish foreigners who disturb the balance of the Brazilian environment.

The situation is soon thrown into disarray when Dan and Kari crash the plane into the jungle and Dan dies due to a broken neck. Kari is alone and injured in the plane and dreams of him and Dan bringing the bulldozer to the mine which then causes all the indigenous people to disappear. Suddenly Kari wakes up and is surrounded by a tribe Indians who take him back to their village and tersely nurse him back to health. Kari coexists among them as a silent tribe member, until one night they are distracted and Kari escapes down the Amazon in a canoe. After days of barely surviving in the wilderness, he comes across a town on the river and immediately hitches a ride back to Tapacan, his girls, and Paola. The experience of living alongside the indigenous tribe has changed Kari and he is happy once again for the first time since his wife died. He tells Paola that he realized she was right about the devastation the bulldozer would bring to the land; despite this, however, Kari recognizes that greed and power always win when in the last scene everyone looks up to see a ominous black helicopter carrying a bulldozer to the peaceful panning river.

Amazon is a film which was clearly made to bring awareness to the public about the conflict over land in the Brazilian rainforest. The movie incorporates an almost poetic speech to discuss the situation surrounding the indigenous peoples: “The Indians say the Amazon is as long as life…you’ll never reach the end.” The indigenous culture is an ever-present, yet hidden aspect of this lush forest; more of an afterthought to greedy foreigners and officials than an actual community of people. This is demonstrated when Dan off-handedly mentions to Kari that the panning river in Tapacan was government land until 3 years ago when they decided to give it back to the Indians; however, they didn’t make it official and it has ended up being free land for anyone to use. And so it is that the Indians are living “in the stone age, but sitting on treasures of a modern world.” Dan confides to Kari before the plane crashes that he doesn’t think anyone should have any right to tell them how to live. He states that “they’ve got nothing better to do on their reservations but sit around and wait for the next white man’s disease.” Then Dan’s past is divulged about a time when he had an Indian wife and he had supplied guns to the whole village in hopes of being their saviour, but he instead became their burden when white men came with machine guns and murdered the entire community. This is the modern world of technology encroaching upon the indigenous territory. This is the thousands of hectares of abundant and thriving forests being chopped down into a wasteland in order to make to-go coffee cups in a distant country. Just as Kari declares that Rio de Janeiro looks like a paradise in the brochures but in reality it may as well be Hell, the rainforest also looks verdant and fertile until the ugly side of the conflict is illustrated. The movie ends with a note about cultural and environmental awareness saying that 40 million hectares (or roughly the state of Washington) are being destroyed annually which will lead to the final and complete devastation of the Brazilian rainforest within this generation. The words are simultaneously overwhelming and inspiring, yet as we saw with Kari, realization is only the first step, and even with this awareness the bulldozers continue to arrive. Amazon shows that a true sense of change and fervent determination are needed in order to stop the relentless loss of rainforest and indigenous culture.

Doll Face

The 1946 film Doll Face begins with auditions for the famous playwright Flo Hartman’s newest operetta Park Avenue, at the Belmont Theatre in New York. A nervous Mary Carroll tries her luck and ends up wowing the judges with her singing and showmanship, until a director begins yelling out, “That’s it, Doll Face!” His dumbfounded co-directors look at him in surprise until he explains that ‘Mary Carroll’ is actually ‘Doll Face’ Carroll (Vivian Blaine), the head-liner at the Gayety Theatre burlesque show, who has a reputation for making men swoon in their seats. When Hartman refuses to have such a woman in his show, Carroll’s husband and manager, Mike Hannegan (Dennis O’Keef) appears on the stage beside the upset Carroll and vows that she’s got the talent that will make her a star. After leaving the theatre, Mike realizes that he has to add culture to Carroll’s character in order to sell her act to haughty producers like Hartman, and decides that he’ll hire a famous author to write Doll Face’s story and then put her name on it as an autobiography.

As a result, he enlists the help of the handsome writer Frederick Gerard (Stephen Dunne), who at first doesn’t agree with the idea of a book based on burlesque theatre, but then is persuaded otherwise once he sets his eyes on the beautiful Doll Face. He insists on spending as much time with her as possible in order to get the full life story (although he misconstrues almost every fact to make her appear more refined). His sudden change of heart is noted by Carroll’s best friend and fellow burlesque dancer, Chita Chula (Carmen Miranda), who makes sure to alert Mike to her suspicions about the writer. Mike needs little persuasion to acknowledge Fred’s true intentions after the author offers a hefty sum as an investment for a theatre to promote Doll Face’s career. Carroll does stay true to Mike, until, through a misfortunate series of events while going to visit a publisher for the book, her and Fred end up together on a deserted beach just outside of New York. When the worried Mike finds them there together, his concern soon turns to anger as he suspects foul play (of which, there really was none). He pushes Carroll towards Fred (figuratively and literally) saying, “Chita was right.”

With Doll Face gone, the burlesque theatre is in immanent danger of going out of business. It appears as though Carroll is perfectly happy with Fred, and Hartman even offers her a spot in a new play which will be based on her autobiography. Chita keeps a close eye on Doll Face and when it seems as though her and Fred are on the rocks, she sends over a shamefaced Mike to try to patch up the relationship; but to no avail, as Doll Face won’t even speak to him. Mike concocts a plan to reveal on the play’s opening night that by contract Doll Face is not allowed to work for anyone else, thereby allowing him to speak to her. At first, Doll Face is appalled at this move, but once Mike professes his love and that he was wrong when he found her and Fred on the beach, Doll Face realizes that she never stopped loving him. She then one-ups the cunningness of Mike by using the influence of her contract to score him a cut of the play’s profits from Hartman. Thus, the play and the couple’s true love are saved in a display of shrewd, New York business sense; because everyone knows that in both love and the theatre, the show must go on.

Carmen Miranda’s small part in Doll Face is actually the back-bone of the plot as she continually arouses suspicions amongst the love triangle and attempts to piece together what has been broken. It’s easy to see the vivacity ready to burst forth from the sequined costumes of her character, introduced as “Chita Chula: The Little Lady from Brazil”; though, sadly, such displays are conspicuously absent. The lack of focus set on Miranda is quite incompatible for such a famous personality, but such an error is slightly mended when she does an exotic Latin number in Doll Face’s play, complete with gyrating hips and a large head-dress…exactly what is expected from the persona of Carmen Miranda. This scene becomes even more evident of self-reflection when it is noted that earlier in the movie, when asked to join in the Broadway play, Chita replies that she would never want to become another Carmen Miranda (and does an impressive job of mocking her own hips). Chita appears to be a talented immigrant wanting to make her own way in the world without riding on the train of Carmen Miranda’s dress; this making perfect sense as it’s possible that Miranda was the most famous and highly-paid female performer of that time, American or not. Be that as it may, Chita is still a migrant from the Portuguese-speaking country of Brazil, attempting to fit in as American, and ‘acting’ Spanish by performing a dance number set in ‘Porto Rico’. So many inconsistencies add up to the Doll Face producers wanting the popular spice of Latin stars added to a film focused on American show business, while obviously capitalizing on the fame of a Brazilian export, who, unfortunately, is kept in the shadows.

Next Stop Wonderland

The plot of the 1998 film Next Stop Wonderland revolves around the concept of destiny and whether or not the protagonist, Erin (Hope Davis), will overcome her solitude and realize that fate is on her side. The movie begins in Boston with Erin, a middle-aged nurse, walking home to find her boyfriend Sean (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a fervent activist, moving out. Erin is devastated by this and becomes even more introverted than she already is. Her mother, not realizing that Erin is actually content in her time alone, sets up a personal ad in the newspaper for her daughter in hopes that she will begin to date again and enjoy herself. Erin begins to glimpse a man every so often who takes the same commuter train as her (the train which coincidentally ends the line at ‘Wonderland’, the greyhound racetrack). This mystery man is Alan (Alan Gelfant) and his story runs parallel to Erin’s, but no matter how much the two seem destined for each other, their stories never seem to meet.

Alan volunteers at the city aquarium while studying to be a marine biologist; however, it soon becomes clear that Alan’s family is one of little means and that he owes his education to a loan shark named Frank who has been feeding Alan’s father’s gambling addiction for many years. Alan loathes being in debt to such a character, especially when Frank asks him to kill the aquarium’s prize balloonfish, Puff, as a favor to some of Frank’s powerful friends who had lost a land deal to the aquarium. As Alan struggles with his morals on what he should do, his best friends decide to make a bet to choose a personal ad and see who can make-out with the girl first. Alan is disgusted with their game and doesn’t participate; a fortunate coincidence seeing as the friends choose Erin’s ad and she then cleverly calls them out on their petty scheme when she discovers what they had been plotting. Meanwhile, Alan eventually gives in to Frank’s wishes and steals Puff away, but makes it look as though the piranhas ate the prize fish. Frank is elated and erases Alan’s debt, thinking that Alan would be happy to continue doing such jobs for him, but this is far from the truth.

Back in Erin’s story, just when she hits despair on account of all the lousy suitors she’s encountered, she meets a charming, Brazilian man named Andre (José Zúñiga) who is in the hospital to finish his recovery from a bout of malaria. Despite Erin’s best attempts to dissuade his romantic efforts, she finds that she is strangely attracted to him, if only because her deceased father used to vacation with her in Brazil and the fond memories seem to draw her to this Brazilian. Andre invites her to return with him to Sao Paolo, and although she feels as though she would be running away from her troubled life in Boston, she agrees. When she returns home that same day to find Sean asking her forgiveness, she exerts the fortitude which she’s learnt over the course of her blind dates and turns her back on him. Meanwhile, Alan shows his own independence from Frank as he returns Puff to the tank unharmed. He then boards the ‘Wonderland’ commuter train to head home. Here is where fate takes action and sends Erin into a traffic jam while on her way to the airport. Seeing no other alternative, she decides to catch the ‘Wonderland’ train in order to reach her plane on time. While on the train she becomes overwhelmed by the amount of people squishing against her and when she tries to leave the train she bumps into Alan and simply lays her head down in exhaustion on his shoulder. They both smile at each other when they realize that they have glimpsed one another in and around the city, but have never met. At this moment, Cupid’s arrow makes an almost audible twang in its release. Alan and Erin walk by the sea and as their sentiments and thoughts exactly mirror those of the other, they both realize that they are headed for the next stop: Happiness.

There are subtle hints of South America which are dispersed throughout Next Stop Wonderland, such as Erin’s half-hidden record album entitled “After Hours South America”, or one of her suitors who claims to be an avid collector of South American art and travels often to Brazil; yet they all depict the continent as being a tranquil and loving place in stark contrast to the busy, dreary life of Boston. Apart from Andre being the only South American character, he is also a musicologist who was collecting ethnic folk songs in Bolivia when he contracted the malaria. As sappy as it may be that he sings love songs softly in Portuguese to the women he is seducing, he’s is also the first man in the movie to see Erin for who she is. He says that she must have some of Brazil in her because she is sad and happy at the same time; she doesn’t smile but she seems content. While it’s never explained as to why Brazil would also be seen in this light, the plot does tend to showcase Brazil as a place of fond memories and new beginnings. Is Erin running away to Brazil or is she trying to run towards a new life? When she finally meets Alan, a new question arises: Which is her true ‘Wonderland’: Brazil or Boston? Although she has declared to Andre that she will return to Brazil someday, fate finally shows her that happiness doesn’t have to be found in a country which embodies pleasant memories; it can also be found right in front of you.

Brenda Starr

Brenda Starr (1989) takes the successful 1940s comic strip of the same name for its primary plot, which centers upon a beautiful female reporter, Brenda Starr (Brooke Shields), whose sense of adventure will drive her after any scoop. We are first introduced to Brenda as she is being drawn in the comic strip by Mike Randall (Tony Peck). He absent-mindedly insults her character when all of sudden she starts talking back to him and then walks out of the frame, refusing such treatment. Mike is dumbfounded and then, seeing no other alternative to find this leading lady, draws himself into the comic to try to convince her to come back.

Brenda proves in the first scene, where she apprehends a notorious mobster and gets the story before her arch-nemesis Libby “Lips” Lipscomb (Diana Scarwid), that she is more than capable as a reporter, but The Flash newspaper for which she works is still likely to go out of business unless she can uncover the lead on a new miracle fuel which appears to be strong enough to power rocket ships and was found in the Amazon jungle of Brazil by Professor Von Kruetzer. When the President of the United States confides to her that the fuel would allow the Russians to go into space and fry cities like ants under a magnifying glass, Brenda realizes the scale of the situation and immediately heads to Brazil, armed with advice on where to find the professor from the mysterious, one-eyed man, Basil St. John (Timothy Dalton), who also warns her of the dangers of the trip.

These dangers emerge from all corners, and apparently all countries, as Brenda is first apprehended in Puerto Rico by the Russians, later becomes a prisoner on a tug boat chugging up the Amazon river, and is then taken captive by a traveling circus. She manages to escape in every circumstance by using her know-how and her surroundings; for example, throwing her cover-up in the eyes of the Russians or using her purse to climb up a building. Her talents seem endless, and they are definitely noticed by the debonair Basil who frequently appears throughout her trek. The two begin to fall for each other, which is when Mike catches up to the duo and insists that Brenda return to his comic strip. Brenda refuses and before long Mike is caught up in the chase as well and relying on Brenda’s adventurous spirit to get him out of sticky situations. Before long Mike falls for Brenda and begins to demand that she choose between being with Basil or returning with Mike to the real world. Although Brenda does like Mike, she can’t be bothered to choose when she’s on the trail of a big scoop, in addition to the Russians and Libby relentlessly on her tail.

Brenda, Mike, and Basil finally discover the professor on his deathbed in a secluded Amazon village. After he passes away, Brenda discovers the fuel capsules in his hand and she rejoices as they head to Basil’s house, in a car powered by the miracle fuel, to telephone her newspaper. Alas, Libby is already waiting at Basil’s house and runs off with the fuel capsules. Brenda thinks she’s ruined until they realize that the fuel used on the car was actually a fraud and could never power a rocket ship. With this story Brenda returns to New York as a hero, but then refuses Mike’s offer to return to the real world. Mike reluctantly draws himself back into his own world, but is comforted by the thought that he will still be able to see Brenda Starr everyday as he draws her in the comic strip.

Brazil is portrayed in the film with two different faces. When Brenda and Basil are romancing each other in fancy restaurants and town squares in the city of Belém, Brazil takes on the look of a vacation destination; but when Brenda ventures into the Amazon on her quest, the dangers surround her with mercenaries, piranhas, snakes, and corrupt characters. In addition, when we are first introduced to the professor and his miracle fuel in a black and white projection film, he is surrounded by excited, yet ambiguous, indigenous men, with white war stripes, beaded jewelry, and loin clothes. It appears as though the film uses Brazil for what is called for in the script, with almost no regard for culture (although Brenda and Mike do enlist the help of a group of Capoiera dancers at one point to evade the Russians). The scenes in Puerto Rico aren’t much better as they exhibit the country as a Caribbean beach town with bustling markets and road-side cafés: charming, but lacking in depth. The line between countries is even more blurred as the characters use a mix of Spanish and Portuguese when they try to communicate with the locals, most of whom already speak English and appear to compassionately tolerate the ignorance of the foreigners. As may be predicted from a film with a plot from a comic strip, the audience of Brenda Starr must be prepared to accept misconstrued cultures and implausible situations with a grain of salt.