Brazil, 2005 (99 minutes)
Synopsis
1942 in the middle of Northeastern Brazil, two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought. Although their personalities and lives are worlds apart, the two men develop a deep friendship, as Johan, in an effort to provide Ranulpho with job skills, teaches Ranulpho to run the film projector, and drive a truck. In this deliberately-paced road film, Marcelo Gomes reminds us that war is as close as Johan’s radio, broadcasting its relentless warnings that all lives are changed when the world is in conflict.
About the Director
Marcelo Gomes was born in Recife, in Northeastern Brazil. He studied filmmaking at Bristol University in the United Kingdom and produced his first short, Maracutu Maracutus in 1994. He produced the documentaries Punk, Rock, Hard Core (1996) and Expresso Brazil (1997). Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2004), his first feature film, received a Special Jury Prize and Best Actor Award (Joao Miguel) at the 2005 Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. |
