Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Terra em trance

Valta ja kumous / Jorden skälver / Land i trance (DK). BR 1967. PC: Mapa / Difilm. D+SC: Glauber Rocha. DP: Luiz Carlos Barreto. M: Sergio Ricardo. M extracts: Verdio, Carlos Gomez, Villa Lobos. ED: Eduardo Escorel. Starring Jardel Filho (Paulo Martins), Paulo Autran (Porfirio Diaz), José Lewgoy (Felipe Vieira), Glauce Rocha (Sara), Danuza Leao (Silvia). 107 min. A perfect DFI print with danske tekster viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 16 September 2008. - Looks like a first generation print, in good condition. - A political trance film. Feverish, dynamic, with constant motion, music, non-narrative, theatrical, anti-realistic, satirical. Not based on identification, based on Verfremdung, highly stylized, to be compared with contemporary political theater and political cabaret, but purely cinematic. - Set in a fictive Eldorado that reflects the state of things in Latin America after colonialism. There are sweeping vistas, helicopter shots, big rallies, ecstatic parties, jazz. The film is like a jazz session, with a sense of improvisation, spontaneity, constant development. The visual style includes many tracking shots, pans, handheld, and dynamic cutting. It's a meta-film that reflects the African and Catholic religious traditions. Oh, mystic trance, if we only could see clearly. - It's about the frenzy of power and violence.

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