| Film Review | The American Historical Review, 107.5

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| Film Review | The American Historical Review, 107.5 | The History Cooperative

Film Review

Madame Satã . Written and directed by Karim Aïnouz; produced by Walter Salles. Brazil/France. 2002; color; 97 minutes. Distributed by Mars Films.

Cidade de Deus [City of God]. Directed by Fernando Meirelles; co-directed by Kátia Lund; produced Walter Salles; screenplay by Bráulio Mantovani. Brazil. 2002; color; 132 minutes. Distributed by Miramax Films.

Önibus 174 [Bus 174]. Written and directed by José Padilha; Produced by José Padilha and Marcos Prado. Brazil. 2002; color; 130 minutes. Distributed by Rio Film Company.

Brazilian reality has been marked by various manifestations of violence, from exploitation, slavery, and colonization to contemporary state-organized terror and the corruption and aggression associated with poverty and crime. Today, Brazilian cities like Rio and São Paulo continue to be threatened by these historically rooted ills. Three recent films explore the complexities of Brazil's urban violence in three different historical eras, providing glimpses into worlds difficult to capture in published sources. 1

The first film, Madame Satã, does not purport to be about violence. Indeed, it is a film that celebrates the life of one of Rio de Janeiro's most enduring Bohemian folk heroes despite the violence that pervaded his life. João Francisco dos Santos, better known in Brazil by his stage name Madame Satã, came from the northeastern state of Pernambuco. His mother, a recently freed slave, traded him for a mare when he was still a young child, and he lived a life of virtual slavery before becoming a personality of the Lapa district of Rio de Janeiro, a place known as Rio's Bohemian center. In the 1940s, dos Santos gained fame for his carnival costumes and as a transvestite performer. Black, poor, and homosexual, dos Santos faced tremendous prejudice in a post-abolition society where the concept of "citizen" was only beginning to emerge. Yet he insisted on his rights and defied authority, sometimes with violence. He was convicted of a number of crimes and spent a significant portion of his life in jail. Throughout, he asserted his dignity and safeguarded his right to happiness as he construed it. . . .

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