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Caravana das Drags (2023)
A survey of Brazilian drag culture
Overall, the show is quite decent. For those who've watched every episode of Rupaul's Drag Race, one can't help but to compare both shows. Indeed, the idea is in general very similar (it has a mini and a maxi challenge, workroom conversations, a one-man "pitcrew", guest judges, etc.). The creators try to give it a Brazilian twist every now and then, and they're very vocal about it in the show. The participants even named the bus "Vera Busao", which adds character to the show and a sense of appropriation.
The cast is nice and diverse (you see famous Brazilian queens), Ikaro Kadoshi does a very good work as the main host (very aware of the work she's doing), the guests are good addition to the episodes (especially the last one, when they bring Gretchen), and even Xuxa does a suprisingly decent participation as a host (and I say that because people in social media were skeptical of having a straight woman leading a queer show, but I think it worked pretty well and very respecfully). Kudos for that!
The major downside, in my opinion, is the edition. First episode, for example, is a mess. The maxi challenge is hair whipping, but we don't get to see the actual hair whipping -- all we see is a few seconds of each participant's lip sync and that was disappointing. Another downside is the workroom conversation. Everyone who's ever watched Drag Race is eager to hear what the queens have to say, wants to learn about their life, and so on. I feel that producers tried to give us a taste of that, but they end up not succeding, maybe because of time constraints -- episodes are short, but also the hosts (Kadoshi and Xuxa) take time talking about one another, which I find unnecessary (again, I want to hear what the queens have to say, not the hosts).
I give it six stars, but am willing to give it more if they fix edition in the next season. I can't wait to see more!
The Edge of Democracy (2019)
A personal yet solid narrative of a global phenomenon
This movie is a very personal account of Brazil's latest years of democracy. The narrative is beautifully constructed, interweaving past and more recent footage of what becomes the director's memories - it's actually narrated by her, as if she was showing someone a photo album or as if she was recounting a dream (or a nightmare, you decide).
Some people will say it's a biased, leftist portrait of events. Others will say it portrays the lamentable political coup that led to presidents Dilma Rousseff's impeachment and Lula's imprisonment and the rise of the far-right politics in Brazil.
Maybe both sides are right. It portrays a contemporary yet not domestic phenomenon: the pollarization of politics - the divergence of political attitudes to ideological extremes - which seems to be happening in different parts of the world (see the U.S.A, for example).
On a personal note, this movie touched me deeply and I couldn't help but think that politics no longer (if ever) means to serve society, but personal interests. Politcs has become a disclosed, shameless power play. And how does the population witness it? Some people stopped thinking about purpose and started rooting for the players.
In that sense, this movie is about dreams: it doesn't matter who wins. If we don't start making smart choices, everyone's going to lose. I just hope people wake up in time.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
To kill a good novel
I've just finished reading the novel and watched the movie expecting to go through the story again. Now, I know movies based on novels don't always depict stories accurately, but I finished watching this movie with the feeling that it failed to grasp a whole lot of sentiment.
In the novel, there's a lot of inner conflict. The children, Scout and Jem, just don't understant the injustices of the time and are constantly questioning what is wrong with their father Atticus defending a black man and why everyone else is criticizing Atticus for it. Also, when Tom is convicted, the children struggle with accepting the injustice against a man that is obviously not guilty, but black. The children fail to acknowledge prejudice against people of color.
At school, when the teacher talks about the Jews and Hittler persecuting them, the children, mostly Scout, can't understand why the teacher is so moved with the Jew situation but is so prejudiced against people of color. For the little girl, injustice is injustice, no matter who suffers it.
The novel is rich in criticism towards prejudice against race, social prejudice, and gender roles, while it explores those themes from the percpective of innocent children who grow to fear horror stories in books rather than acts of violence in real life.
Moreover, the children grow as they explore the unknown and everything that is foreign to them, such as poverty. The unknown is also represented by Boo Radley, hence "walk a mile in someone else's shoes," quoted by Atticus, as he models an example of parenthood.
The novel is a masterpiece. The movie, in spite of the excellent acting, is not. Very disappointing, actually.
American Koko (2017)
Got me thinking and thinking and thinking...
I live overseas and haven't watched full episodes yet cause they haven't been released for viewers outside the USA (which is a big shame, bet shows such as TWD and GOT haven't taken that long). However, all the bits and scenes available for viewers in my country have got me thinking to the level of inspiration. As a teacher, I got to think of all kinds of discussions this show brings to the stage -- not only racial-, but also social- and gender-wise.
This show is funny and floods our thoughts with lots of questions. It somehow managed to embody the role of comedy in a very Shakespearian style. I'm no critique or expert of any kind, but I'd humbly say that the main character, Koko, somewhat reminds me of the jester in Shakespeare's plays, when only "the clown" dared to say certain things. The jester used his wits to outdo people of higher social standing and, in a similar way, Koko uses her wits to discuss mainly racism in a very white dominant culture, but also acknowledging gender and ethnic discrimination plus a few other masked issues in modern society.
In sum, people should watch it because it's funny, entertaining and because it helps building criticism and social awareness - it may also give you a break from shows about murders, rapes, assaults and the like.