BYE BYE BRAZIL
Rolidei vs Holiday in Bye-Bye Brazil
"Na indústria do filme, O Brasil ainda dorme envolto em faixas sem saber balbuciar uma palavra, e no comércio de exibições é um dos grandes importadores a enriquecer fábricas estrangeiras" Amador Santelmo, 1921
NEW CINEMA
Bye Bye Brasil, by Carlos José Fontes Diegues, filmed in 1979, portrays an affectionate picture of a country that is in the process of great changes. The main focus of the film is the struggle of two couples to find their dreams in of a world gone mad, shaken by social changes and undergoing massive technological transformations.
The film is about the confrontion between the two Brazils. On one hand there is the rural town, quiet and peaceful, where tecnology and progress has not had its disruptive effect on the lives of the four characters portrayed in the movie. On the other hand, the more modern villages, identified by the TV antennas, are too busy and snobish to be attracted to the old fashioned travelling side show with which Gypsy, Salome, Ciço and Dasdô earn their living.
These four individuals represent the totality of the character of the Brazilian people:
- Gypsy Lorde, the ambitious, cynical manager without scruples. He, like PT Barnum, believes there is a sucker born everyday, and if he can only get their attention, he can also get their money.
- Solomé, his companion, is as cynical as he, but transmits an air of quiet resignation to the fact that things are changing, whether they like it or not.
- Ciço and his young wife join the caravan, bringing the qualities of youth, hope and faith. Ciço is an beginning artist, optimistic and energetic. He is smitten by the older Solomé, in whom he sees the vibrant, exiting, exotic woman of his dreams
- Dasdô, who is pretty, but quiet, passive and ordinary.
The fears and dreams of the characters are played out in the trivial situations: Lorde Gypsy is afraid of the failure and of progress. Salomé fears old age and solitude, Ciço is afraid of not being recognized as an artist and Dasdô of losing her husband. United by the dreams and fears, the four travel through the backlands of Brazil in a truck to seek places where they can not only make a living, but also find their dreams.
SOCIAL REVOLUTION
Bye Bye Brazil is an orgy of contrasts: the cynic manager and the idealistic artist, the hardened showwoman and the innocent young wife. It is also about the new vs old, money and hunger, sucess and failure, the sea and the jungle, friendship and conflict, hope and pessimism. ByeBye Brasil unites in its characters and situations all the elements that are part of the many processes that are transforming Brazil. Before everything, Bye Bye is a film about a country going through a period of great transformations. The deep social changes, the new economic realities and advent of modern communications have left society in a state of cultural and economic shoch, with one foot in the present and another in the past. The worst of this is symbolized by television, with which these small rural communities can see the brave new world -- the cities, the people and products -- even if they cannot yet fully partake of it. This situation is well symbolized by the Indians in the film, without land, purpose or even hope, but owning a small useless part of the modern world, in the form of sun glasses and a small portable radio.
SYMBOLIC IMAGES
Cacá Diegues uses the film to throw a storm of symbolic images at the spectator. As he said in an newspaper interview: "The film is one layer of information after another". Starting with the very title of the film, Caca loses no time in showing the cultural contamination suffered by Brazil. The use of the Portuguese version of the English word "holiday " is more than an allusion to the depth of foreign influence. In the final scene where Lorde Gypsy explains the name change from "Caravana Rolidei" to "Caravana Rolidey" to Ciça, he tells him that a foreigner had informed him that "Rolidei " was spelled with a "y ". The smile on Gypsy's face tells us he is happy because he has come to terms with progress and has mastered it. The fact is that the title, even when "corrected" continues to be wrong and maybe Gypsy doesn't really have it under control yet. On the other hand, perhaps it is a statement that foreign influence should not be accepted integrally, but that it should be adapted to Brazil's language and culture.
HOLLYWOOD INFLUENCE
The title of the film can also be understood as a disguised allusion to the force and popularity of American movies and their effect on the people. because it is impossible to compete with Hollywood films, due to the lack of financial resources, the solution is to at least try to imitate the art and language used in the American movies. The linguistic distance from Rolidai to Hollywood is not fay. Like Hollywood, the Caravana Rolidei deceives the people, but it also entertains them.
CONCLUSION
The final message of the film is optimistic. Brazilian spirit and the Brazilian "jeitinho" triumph. In the end, everybody finds their dreams. Gypsy and Solomé, not being able to find a place without the dreaded "fish bones" on every roof, join the tecnological revolution with a new act and a new truck. Ciço and Dasdô also fulfill their dreams as artists and parents. In the end, as with Hollywood, the movie has a great big "happy end."
This is my all time favorite Brazilian movie. It is not only about Brazil, but it is Brazil. It is funny and it it sad. The actors are good and the story is wonderful.
