Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating tour of a quickly disappearing Brazil, February 27, 1999
By A Customer
This film is a fascinating tour of a quickly disappearing Brazil. It is a wonderful way to explore the fifth largest nation in land area in the world. A group of traveling entertainers just barely making their living (often supplemented by the prostitution of the woman character known as the "Queen of the Rhumba") by traveling from one backwoods town to the next. The journey starts in the very dry region in northeast Brazil where the troupe picks up two young "hicks" and extends into the jungles of the Amazon. The entire troupe, however, is somewhat gullible because they do not realize how their backwoods Brazil is disappearing as television and major highways unite almost all the country's diverse regions into a modern Brazil. We witness the troupe's surprise and disgust as they move from one part of Brazil to another. The journey is a sad one as it in part traces the ecological damage being done to Brazil by rapid industrialization and the damage done to the small backwoods towns and to the native Brazilians -- the "Indians." But it is always an interesting story because it also traces the emotional development of a young man with an obsessive love complex into a mature young family man. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, Ph.D. sociology
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original Save the Rainforest, August 27, 2005
Who can save the rainforest? An environmentalist? A politician? A magician? A saint? It's none other than Gypsy Lord himself (comic genius Jose Wilker of Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) a character born of Fellini, Brecht, and, of course, Brazil Beautiful. But, hey, wait a minute! Gypsy Lord doesn't want to save anything. He's wants to strike it rich.
Bye Bye Brazil is Carlos Diegues's 1979 metaphorical goodbye to a country in the process of extinction. Exotic, exuberant, and often very moving, it is a mixture of primitivism and progress, social commentary dressed up as a comic bon voyage to old Brazil (and Old World entertainment) where TV, sex, disco and booze are fast squeezing out the simple miracles of life. Beautifully directed by Diegues and with music by Chico Buarque, Caravan Rolidei with its festively painted 2 ton truck rolls across the backlands of Brazil capturing real people and places of the time. Be amazed as Gypsy Lord makes it snow so Brazil is just like all the great first world nations. Listen as he reassures the poor campesinos that there is a place where it's always green and the young never lose their strength. In the end Gypsy Lord and Salome the Rhumba Queen (who, Ladies and Gentlemen, has slept with American Presidents!) drive off to Altamira as the sun rises yet again on command. Para Vigo Me Voy!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic Road Movie, January 19, 2007
If you enjoy road movies, such as Fellini's La Strada or Leningrad Cowboys Go America, then be sure to see this one. It's a real travelogue, that takes you through Brazil's back roads and small rural villages. This travelling circus troope has to venture ever farther into the vast country's hinterlands to escape from its most deadly enemy.
And what is that? The tv! Where they see the dreaded tv antennas, they know it's time to move on. So they do.
This is a very touching film about the trials and tribulations of being a travelling performer--a tough life, but one that they would never give up. I can't imagine any of these people holding down an ordinary job. So naturally, I came to empathize with them to a surprising degree. By the end, they all seemed like old friends of mine.
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