Corrie Class Trip 2.0: #5 São Bernardo

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 11:15 pm

CLASS TRIP 2.0, #5
São Bernardo

Country: Brazil
Year of Release: 1971
Directed by: Leon Hirszman
Written by: Leon Hirszman (Novel: Graciliano Ramos)
Starring: Rodolfo Arena, Othon Bastos, Joseph Guerreiro

"In the interior of Alagoas, Paulo Honório, son of farmers, is a peddler who wanders through
the midlands selling all sorts of things, from cows to religious artifacts. He develops an
obsession: to take the São Bernardo farm from the hands of its inept owner, the
indebted Luiz Padilha, making him his employee."
- FilmAffinity

"The story of Paulo Honório, a poor kid who becomes a rich farmer. Obsessed by his
desire to get even richer, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife, Madalena,
a teacher who reacts against his tyrannical ways."
- IMDb

Watch the film and post your thoughts on or around Saturday, April 19th. Or sooner. Or later. Just participate!

DROPBOX | KG

Past Trips, Edition 2.0:

#1 - The Worthless (Mika Kaurismäki) | snapper
#2 - Shopping for Fangs (Quentin Lee and Justin Lin) | takeshi
#3 - The Heart of the Wise (Marin Malesevic) | Shieldmaiden
#4 - The Forbidden Quest (Peter Delpeut) | kopello

Past Trips, Edition 1.0:

#1: Distant Journey (Radok, 1949) | snapper
#2: Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (Hani, 1968) | Das
#3: The Policewoman (Sapinho, 2003) | charulata
#4: Freeze, Die, Come to Life! (Kanevsky, 1989) | Bandy Greensacks
#5: The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Barilli, 1974) | Trip
#6: Weddings and Babies (Engel, 1958) | snapper
#7: The Man with Three Coffins (Lee, 1987) | Notes from Underground
#8: Malina (Schroeter, 1991) | Shieldmaiden
#9: Bad Luck (Munk, 1960) | B-Side
#10: The Girl with the Suitcase (Zurlini, 1961) | JediMoonShyne
#11: The Engagement of Anna (Voulgaris, 1974) | BandyGreensacks
#12: Our Neighbor Miss Yae (Shimazu, 1934) | snapper

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:11 am

In, of course

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:12 am

(also the IMDb link redirects to The Engagement of Anna)

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:56 am

Fixed

takeshi · Post by **takeshi** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:11 am

In.

I thought your username was Greenstacks right up until this minute. Kind of disappointed to be honest. GREEN$TACK$.

MrCarmady · Post by **MrCarmady** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:44 am

Doesn't look especially appealing, I'll watch it if I can make time for it.

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:01 am

Bandy always makes good picks. doesn't look like my kind of subject matter but I loved both Freeze, Die, Come to Life! and The Engagement of Anna from round 1 so

JediMoonShyne · Post by **JediMoonShyne** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 4:42 am

Do love a good Bandy rec.

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:45 pm

kopello · Post by **kopello** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:02 pm

Mmmm those screen caps are tantalizing. I'm in.

LEAVES · Post by **LEAVES** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:39 am

Oh god, another film that Bandy likes, how boring. What is it this time, Sister Act 2?

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:49 am

Close enough

LEAVES · Post by **LEAVES** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:59 am

Good, 'cause Sister Act 2 is a M word.

Shieldmaiden · Post by **Shieldmaiden** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 5:06 pm

Looks good, Bandy. I'll watch it for sure, but I'm making no promises about timing.

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:53 am

Going to watch this sometime today, myself

Feel free to take until Sunday night or even Monday, considering that this is a holiday weekend

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:57 am

watching now

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:25 am

pretty sure this is an unauthorised biography of this guy

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:48 am

liked this. more tomorrow

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:52 am

I also enjoyed it, though it definitely starts slow. Things pick up a lot once Paulo marries Madalena and starts yelling at everyone.

Let's discuss more

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:36 am

will when not sad ie tomorrow or ???

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:07 am

This was great - I wasn't sold on it for a bit because the lead character is so belligerent as to almost be cartoonish, but his motivations and psychology open up as the film wears on and the insights we gain into his psyche are quite rewarding and stirring and more than a little tragic. I like how this sort of fakes the audience out, setting up a system that appears to have quite a large scope - long shot tableaux presenting discourses on socialism, the plight of workers, the intersections of class and ambition, religion - but ultimately ends up being an almost tunnel-visiony portrait of the lead character's own blinkered concepts of all these ideas. He becomes quite a sad figure, a guy who works himself out of what he sees as a dead end but finds himself at another impasse, borne of his own seismic failings as a man, boss and husband. Othon Bastos is quite an interesting performer, too, setting up a persona before revealing the personality underneath the snapping-pitbull line readings and dagger stares.

This is incredibly well-written, too, not just for making such a dry subject (farm operations) engaging, but for the little tricks it plays with narration (we're never sure if we're hearing, in the voice over, a critical recollection or a reactionary stream-of-consciousness) and the fascinating way it has with turn of phrase, revealing more through piquant poetic (although never inappropriately so given the character's background) asides about the crippling failings in Paulo's attitudes towards women, his workers, his child and his casually hypocritical relationship with Christianity than through any schematics of plot. It is also incredibly beautiful, these gorgeous outdoor compositions and colours alone making it worth watching. It isn't all terrific, though, the ending works but there's a slightly tense highwire act between its observations being pithy and appropriate or neat and cloying. And a few moments, such as Madalena's big monologue, have a portentousness that is depressingly conventional. Still, this is quite terrific and another great rec from the king of the Class Trip (you're 3 for 3!).

kopello · Post by **kopello** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:37 pm

This totally slipped my mind but I should be able to watch it and write something by this evening.

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:33 pm

Anybody else watch this? Can't really continue the Class Trip if there's nobody to choose

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:09 am

of course everyone ditches once we get a truly great film!

Epistemophobia · Post by **Epistemophobia** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:13 am

more time

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:25 am

Epistemophobia wrote:more time

Okay!

takeshi · Post by **takeshi** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:28 am

Yeah, more time please. These things are just getting a little overwhelming at this point, definitely does not feel like 2 weeks since the last one!

snapper wrote:of course everyone ditches once we get a truly great film!

UhhhHHHmmm excuse me, what does SHOPPING FOR FANGS need to do to be TRULY great?!

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:57 am

ok it was good

Shieldmaiden · Post by **Shieldmaiden** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:00 am

I'll watch it soon, I promise!

JediMoonShyne · Post by **JediMoonShyne** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:37 am

Shieldmaiden wrote:I'll watch it soon, I promise!

This.

Epistemophobia · Post by **Epistemophobia** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:12 am

was pretty damn good

the second half, especially

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:15 am

elabor

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:15 am

Epistemophobia · Post by **Epistemophobia** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:15 am

i have nothing unique to say

Epistemophobia · Post by **Epistemophobia** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:18 am

reminded me of Ulysses in a weird way

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:21 pm

snapper said it pretty well

Did anyone else think this was shot almost like a modern film at times? Some of the (rare) closeups and the lighting in the indoor shots reminded me of art films from the 2000s, though I can't really point out any in particular. Ceylan, maybe? Costa?

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:43 pm

The outdoors photography reminded me of someone, but I can't put my finger on it. Expansive but still closed off and somewhat claustrophobic - maybe it's the focus on expanses of land with very little sky showing in a lot of these shots.

Shieldmaiden · Post by **Shieldmaiden** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 1:43 am

Finally watched this, and it's very good indeed! Despite the voice over, it's the pictures that tell the whole story – small figures in the distance, clever little tableaux, unexpected closeups, and always those colors! I just really enjoyed looking at this! Bandy, it did make me think of Costa... faces as narrative... those doorways... Is it well-known enough to be an influence? And, snapper, I agree it's well written. I'm not sure what you mean by cloying observations, though. His stubborn refusal at the end to change in any way (despite his new understanding) was pretty devastating. I kept thinking this must have been quite a novel!

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:35 am

Glad to hear people are enjoying it

Yeah, the novel must be something. Graciliano Ramos also wrote Vidas Secas, which I've never gotten around to (the film).

Should I try to pick someone now, or do we want to wait for Jedi, takeshi and kopello?

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:48 am

give em a day. if jedi sees it he'd get it by default unless you consider epi's dissertation participation enough

@Shieldmaiden I meant it avoided a neat "whee, I've changed" conclusion and the sentiment that would come with it

Shieldmaiden · Post by **Shieldmaiden** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 3:18 am

snapper wrote:unless you consider epi's dissertation participation enough

Why not?

@Shieldmaiden I meant it avoided a neat "whee, I've changed" conclusion and the sentiment that would come with it

I really liked the way the camera gave us a little outside perspective while he struggled with his conscience. It made his rejection that much more powerful.

And, yeah, anyone who hasn't seen this yet, do! It's worth your time.

takeshi · Post by **takeshi** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 3:41 am

I'm busy the whole weekend so I'll probably need to comment on this into the next round.

Bandy Greensacks · Post by **Bandy Greensacks** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 5:23 pm

Epi picks the next one

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:36 pm

wheee

kopello · Post by **kopello** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:52 am

So I didn't get to it last week like I said but I finally watched it nonetheless. I guess I'm the only one here that didn't care much for this one.

I loved the tableaux and the earthy textures and whatnot but I never could get interested in Paulo and his relationship to his work/wife/farm/etc (basically the entire story haha). I was trying not to fall asleep in the last half.

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Thu May 01, 2014 4:14 am

Got a film epi?

Epistemophobia · Post by **Epistemophobia** » Thu May 01, 2014 5:17 am

I'll make the next thread on Sunday, unless someone else makes one first.

snapper · Post by **snapper** » Thu May 01, 2014 5:21 am

all yers

JediMoonShyne · Post by **JediMoonShyne** » Sun May 18, 2014 7:50 am

Kind of late to this one, but I quite liked it. Particularly, the geometrical compositions (symmetry, obviously) and visual theme of small figures dominated by large structures. I can only imagine this is meant as a commentary on the relationship between people and buildings and how, at least with the protagonist, obsession over farm and profit practically consumes him. How the construction of the building mirrors his destruction as a human being. That is, if he is even a human being in the first place. Note that, while not entirely illiterate, he cannot understand his wife's language at all. Not to mention his continual referring to her in business terms, as a "good deal". While everything is told subjectively, the long shots also serve to distance us from the protagonist, and confirm his emotional isolation from those around him.

As I think snapper mentioned, this would have been a good choice for my thread!