/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-BRAZIL: “Doña Flor” Returns to Heat Up Big Screen

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 11 2001 (IPS) - Sonia Braga, Brazil’s leading female sex symbol of the 1970s, has returned to the big screen in an uncut version of “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands”, the biggest box-office hit in national film history.

The 12 million moviegoers who saw the original version 25 years ago did not see some of the film’s sex scenes, which were banned by the censors of the military regime that ruled Brazil at the time (1964-1984).

The re-incorporation of less than five minutes of footage gives audiences a new opportunity to appreciate Braga’s sensuality as she began to mature as an actress. The star later continued to stimulate libidos at home and abroad in soap operas like “Gabriela” and in other Brazilian- and US-made films.

“Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” proved to be Braga’s springboard to international fame, as it was for the then-novice director Bruno Barreto, who went on to make several films in Hollywood.

Sex is the central theme of the film, which is the story of a woman who cooks typical dishes of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahía, and is strongly attracted to her first husband, Vadinho, even though he is a rogue addicted to gambling and is completely lacking in scruples and fidelity.

Vadinho, played by José Wilker – also a well-known soap opera actor -, dies of a heart attack, and Doña Flor subsequently remarries. Her new husband, Teodoro, owner of a pharmacy, offers the security and simplicity that did not exist in her first marriage.

But this boring life – sex without “salsa”, performed as a duty, quickly and with rigid formality – leads her to an unexpected solution: she “revives” Vadinho, who begins to share the couple’s bed, walk nude with his widow down the street and even accompany her to church.

The re-release of the film had the trappings of a major production, with 13 copies distributed for initial showing in Rio de Janeiro alone. The producers expect to fill the theatres because there is currently a lack of major box office attractions in Brazil.

The critics generally agree that “Doña Flor” maintains the positive qualities that turned it into a hit in 1976, and that it keeps the audience’s attention, though some scenes in the film that were shocking 25 years ago no longer have much impact, due to changes in social customs and sexual attitudes.

“Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” is good entertainment, with music by the famed singer-songwriter Chico Buarque and the story based on the novel by Jorge Amado, Brazil’s most popular writer, who died in August.

The backdrop is Bahía, the Brazilian state with the most African influences and whose rich culture has been internationally disseminated through Amado’s literature and through songs by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, but which possesses an even broader diversity than portrayed by these artists.

The pace of “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” may seem sluggish to those accustomed to the velocity of life today – and of recent films. But the slowness is a reflection of Bahian culture, and an essential component of a work that seeks to transmit Brazilian sensuality, humour, emotion and personality, particularly that of Bahía.

As a result, there are prolonged images of a card game, of the preparations of a meal, of futile conversations in bars and on the historic streets of Salvador, Bahía’s capital.

“Doña Flor” is a good example of Brazilian film in the 1970s, which generally sought to communicate with the public and to drive the commercial development of the national film industry. The latter was achieved, more than in any other era, withstanding the invasion of television and movie products coming from the United States.

In that decade, Brazilian-made movies maintained their grip on 30 percent of the country’s box office receipts. Today, the figure does not reach eight percent, and a movement of film directors, producers, technicians, intellectuals, and other cinophiles are working to recover lost ground.

Their achievements so far include convincing the government to create a National Film Agency, to pass new legislation for the industry, and to provide additional sources of financing.

The 12 million-strong audience that set the record for “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” in the 1970s looks like it will hold up for some time. The films today that draw audiences a tenth that size are considered a smashing success in Brazil.