Customer Reviews

Saudade do Futuro

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This is a very beautiful poetic film about the largest city in South America, Sao Paulo told from the perspective of its largest migrant population the Nordestinos. Filled with startling music (forro, repente, embolada) and a cast of warm and humorous characters - it is a Latcho Drom like journey into a mostly ignored side of Brasilian culture. Tremendously photographed and edited a total must have for lovers of all Brasilian, and indeed documentary. Just watched it and I have a very big smile on my face.

Saudade do Futuro (2000)

Saudade is a Brazilian Portuguese word difficult to translate into English. It is a longing, missing or nostalgia, often bittersweet. Saudade do Futuro roughly means Longing for the Future.

This film centers around the lives of the Nordestinos (people from the Northeast of Brazil) who have migrated to Sao Paulo, a city of 16 million, looking for a better future. Most Nordestinos are thought of as unwelcome hillbillies who ought to stay in the Northeast growing potatoes in the drought-prone sertao. Some make it in Sao Paulo, including Dona Erundina who became mayor (1989-1992) and Emanoel Araujo, an internationally-known sculptor who is a respected member of Sao Paulo's art scene. Many end up as street vendors, laborers, or the musicians who are the heart and soul of this documentary.

Clearly related to rappers, the musicians tap out rhythms on tambourines, guitars, flutes, or drums while improvising verses, often saudades for the simpler life in the Northeast, the hardships of the big city, or humorous (& often sexually suggestive) insults at each other or audience members who gather to listen and donate money. One family group, Banda da Pifanos, started in 1924. The oldest members of the multigenerational ensemble recall being forced to play for Lampiao, a notoriously ruthless bandit who roamed the Northeast with 50 to 100 followers in the 1920's and 30's.

I lived in the Northeast of Brazil in the late 60's. I saw in the varied characters, the faces I had lived with every day, filled with a combination of despair, optimism, and humor that creates the wonderful improvised music that infests the film with rhythmic beats that are uniquely Brazilian. There is no narration. The characters tell their own stories through words or verses. The stunning photography of bustling Sao Paulo makes New York traffic look like a rural joy ride. The film may not be for everyone, but for those who would enjoy seeing a unique slice of Brazilian life, it is "maravilhoso!" (marvelous)