Joaquim Pedro de Andrade - Macunaíma aka Jungle Freaks Re-up (1969)

The film is about a native Brazilian born fully grown, a dark black baby to a white mother and all white siblings. Macunaima faces the harsh reality of his color, as he picks out the scraps of a pig's entrails while his brothers eat the succulent flesh. He then finds a well which spurts water and turns him white; in a fantastically colorful sequence, Macunaima revels in his new color, as it changes his life and opens doors of opportunity to metropolitan Sao Paulo, where he meets a guerrilla assassin femme fatale with whom he bears a black child. She is killed, he seeks to avenge her death and realizes being white isn't all its cracked up to be. Despite its serious subject matter, Macunaima creates a carnivalesque atmosphere, light hearted wit and sexy mystique that defines Brazil.





In the first part of the film, then, we see the black “baby” Macunaíma leading a leisurely existence in the Amazonian wilderness. Sucking his thumb, whining, and clutching his blanket, Macunaíma lives off his wiles (and the labor of others). He remains silent for his first six years, because, after all, there is nothing to complain about. When he does talk finally, it is to remind everyone about how lazy he feels. “Ai,’ he wails, “que preguiça!” (“Boy, am I whacked out!” ) Chief among his diversions is “playing” with his brother’s mistress—a sexy white woman whose magic “cigarettes” turn Macunaíma into a debonair Prince Charming. The sudden change from ragged black “baby’ to suave white hero (shown in alarming color on the screen) enhances Macunaíma’s sex appeal. Even his brother’s jealous rage isn't much of a constraint. The woman is finally sent away, reaffirming masculine control of at least that situation. Again the categories of race, sex, and age are humorously manipulated in a way that seems somewhat arbitrary to a U.S. viewer even though it makes satirical sense in Brazil.



La película se inspira en una famosa novela de Mario de Andrade, fundador del "Movimiento Literario Modernista" de los años 2O y narra la historia y la metamorfosis de Macunaíma, el héroe perezoso y sin ningún carácter, que nace negro en el interior de Brasil. Emigra con sus hermanos hacia la gran ciudad en busca de un amuleto de la suerte, y en el camino se vuelve blanco. En la ciudad entablará una relación con una guerrillera urbana y un magnate capitalista.

El director logra una caricatura aguda de la condición humana y su satirización, provocando risas espontáneas cuándo se detiene en los absurdos del racismo, la personalidad de los indios y el modo en que las distintas clases sociales se devoran entre sí.



Macunaíma, "héros sans caractère", évolue avec désinvolture à travers le pays en changeant de couleur - né noir d'une mère indienne, il devient blanc sous une pluie magique. Il rencontre des personnages mythologiques et des acteurs de luttes politiques urbaines, tels qu'une guerrillera et un grand patron transmuté en géant cannibale. Cette adaptation du roman classique de Mário de Andrade renouvelle l'esthétique du Cinéma Novo en mélangeant la parodie des "chanchadas" (comédies populaires des années 50) et l'expérimentation de l'avant-garde tropicaliste (parodie à son tour du kitsch et de l'optical art). À redécouvrir absolument.



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