A shame this film isn't more well known: This is perhaps one of the most interesting and ambitious animated films ever done in South America, exploring four different eras from Brazilian history in order to create a rather harsh, yet captivating tale about standing against injustice and the abuse of power against all odds, even if such kind of battle might seem ultimately futile.
I really liked the visual style, somewhat reminiscent of the aesthetic used in some early Dreamworks movies (Such as The Prince of Egypt or The Road to El Dorado) but despite the bright, stylish, this is by no means a family picture, having moments of intense violence, adult themes such as racism, genocide rape and torture, as well some sexuality elements, yet such kind of content never feels gratuitous, serving to a purpose in the overall plot: This movie does not sugarcoat the dark aspects from the history of a nation, but it dares to view it with a very critical, if poetical, eye.
Not even the indigenous tribes (often subject to the "good savage" stereotype in many pieces of fiction) are depicted as saints here, engaging in violence, and even cannibalism ; yet their genocide is depicted in its full horror, as something absolutely monstruous, and totally merciless.
Injustice takes different shapes through history but still manifest against the most opressed, the hero ultimately fails in his battles, until a somewhat ambiguous ending which leaves his fate and the fate of his eternal love interest uncertain. I kinda wish the movie was a bit longer in order to expand a bit more in certain plot aspects (Without credits, the movie barely lasts more than a single hour) but still, it was a pretty great watching experience, even more considering this was pretty much the first time his director Luiz Bolognesi ever did an animated film.
A shame this movie was never officially released in my country; this is the type of Brazilian animation I would be more than glad to support instead of the awful Video Brinquedo dreck.
I really liked the visual style, somewhat reminiscent of the aesthetic used in some early Dreamworks movies (Such as The Prince of Egypt or The Road to El Dorado) but despite the bright, stylish, this is by no means a family picture, having moments of intense violence, adult themes such as racism, genocide rape and torture, as well some sexuality elements, yet such kind of content never feels gratuitous, serving to a purpose in the overall plot: This movie does not sugarcoat the dark aspects from the history of a nation, but it dares to view it with a very critical, if poetical, eye.
Not even the indigenous tribes (often subject to the "good savage" stereotype in many pieces of fiction) are depicted as saints here, engaging in violence, and even cannibalism ; yet their genocide is depicted in its full horror, as something absolutely monstruous, and totally merciless.
Injustice takes different shapes through history but still manifest against the most opressed, the hero ultimately fails in his battles, until a somewhat ambiguous ending which leaves his fate and the fate of his eternal love interest uncertain. I kinda wish the movie was a bit longer in order to expand a bit more in certain plot aspects (Without credits, the movie barely lasts more than a single hour) but still, it was a pretty great watching experience, even more considering this was pretty much the first time his director Luiz Bolognesi ever did an animated film.
A shame this movie was never officially released in my country; this is the type of Brazilian animation I would be more than glad to support instead of the awful Video Brinquedo dreck.