
Barren Lives
1963


“A searing and energized portrait of one of Brazil’s most divisive historical figures”
133 votes
Afro-Brazilian poet and politician, the legendary Carlos Marighella. Driven to fight against the erosion of civil and human rights following the CIA-backed military coup of 1964 and the brutal, racist right-wing dictatorship that followed, the revolutionary leaves behind his wife and son to take up arms, becoming a notorious enemy to the power structure.
Director
Wagner MouraWriters
Streaming availability for India
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Released
Original Language
Portuguese
Budget
$1.8M
Revenue
N/A
Production Companies
The film is a free adaptation to fiction of the life of one of the worst communist guerrillas that ever lived in Brazil. It can not be considered a biographical film, much less a documentary, since many situations and scenes were created by the film director, niece of the terrorist, to substantiate the character's "hero" thesis. No matter how clear the interest in humanizing Marighella, trying to turn it into myth, the insistence on trying to associate it simply as an uncle, an ordinary man, is no longer a mere initial curiosity and gradually becomes an exaggeration unnecessary of the direc…
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A tad slower than I would've liked, though <em>'Marighella'</em> is still very good. Seu Jorge puts in a noteworthy performance throughout, all the more impressive given acting isn't his bread and butter. I also enjoyed Bruno Gagliasso in this, not his character of course but the actor's showing is good. The rest of the cast, e.g. Humberto Carrão and Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, merit praise too. I can't say I knew anything about Carlos Marighella (surname did ring a slight bell beforehand, mind) or even much about this era of Brazil, which is something I actually prefer as I like to judge a…
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