Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Gonzaga, de pai para filho dir. by Breno Silveira

2015; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Volume: 98; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/hpn.2015.0078

2153-6414

Débora Zamorano,

Brazilian cultural history and politics

Reviewed by: Gonzaga, de pai para filho dir. by Breno Silveira Debora Zamorano Silveira, Breno, dir. Gonzaga, de pai para filho. Warner Bros/Downtown, 2012. Film. Gonzaga, de pai para filho, a groundbreaking Brazilian movie, depicts the musical history of Luiz Gonzaga, the king of Baiao (a Northern Brazilian rhythm) and his son, Gonzaguinha, who have been both united and separated because of music during their lives. Besides portraying their relationship, the film relates the importance of Gonzaga’s music throughout Brazil. For example, Gonzaga’s songs are a key element to understanding Brazilian Northeast life and culture, in that Gonzaga described the barrenness of this region in his lyrics, portraying themes such as the drought and religion. By popularizing different regional rhythms as well, Gonzaga transformed his music into a national phenomenon. Additionally, new Brazilian composers’ work after 1946 reflects Gonzaga’s immense musical influence. The film, set in the northeastern region of 1920s Brazil, offers a detailed historical glimpse of daily life. Besides displaying the everyday lives of ordinary people in small Northeast towns, the movie also shows some historical events. For instance, the film incorporates in its plot the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, to reflect the time when Luiz Gonzaga served in the Brazilian army. One of the scenes illustrates the Battle of the Mantiqueira Tunnel, whose cinematographic details, such as the footage of the actual battle, give the movie an extremely realistic touch. Luiz Gonzaga’s personal story captivates the viewer as well. An impoverished young man, he decides to leave his home in Exu, Pernambuco to forget an impossible love. After completing his military service, he goes to Rio de Janeiro and falls in love with a liberated woman named Odaleia, with whom he has a son. But when his wife dies due to health complications, Gonzaga must go on the road as an itinerant performer in order to pay for his son’s studies. Gonzaga entrusts Gonzaguinha to a friend in Rio to be able to travel throughout Brazil to sing; however, this separation complicates his relationship with his son. The film uses dialogues between Gonzaga and Gonzaguinha to characterize their emotional distance. These dialogues, in the form of interviews recorded by Gonzaguinha, make it possible for father and son to get to know one another, although this opportunity comes very late in their lives. The father-son interviews, which are illustrated by intense and vivid scenes from the characters’ lives, convey information about the past to the viewers. Despite being done with the use of an old record player, these dialogues also acquaint the audience with the highs and lows of Gonzaga’s career, as well with Brazil’s regional cultures. Not only does Gonzaga, de pai para filho characterize Gonzaga’s and his son’s lives, it also details the background political and social factors in Brazil from 1920 to 1980s. These political and social conditions culminate in the scenes of the Constitutionalist Brazilian Revolution of 1932, and in particular, the Mantiqueira Tunnel Battle. Moreover, the film shows glimpses of both Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro societies during the 1920s and 1930s through its images of Gonzaga’s life in Exu, Pernambuco at that time. The movie also highlights the regional languages of Brazil. Viewers, especially students of Portuguese as a Second Language, Brazilian Studies students, and their instructors can benefit tremendously from this information, rarely found in course books. For some northeastern Brazilian singers and writers, choice of language relates to regional and literary style. For example, writers such as Jorge Amado and Aluizio de Azevedo show this regional Brazilian language to their readers, as Gonzaga shows this regional language to his audience. Like Brazil’s languages, regional costumes vary greatly, which De pai para filho also demonstrates. [End Page 636] Additionally, viewers benefit from the film’s historical context and cultural traits, such as the domestic migration movement in Brazil, a significant cultural and economic element. In fact, through Gonzaga’s return from Rio to the Northeast to perform, the audience understands the term “saudade,” used in Portuguese to describe the feeling of missing places and people. Gonzaga, for instance, misses his homeland so much that he moves back to...