Tropicália: a chorus of Brazilian voices
The Brazilian documentary Tro-picália, by Marcelo Machado, examines the many aspects of one of Brazil’s most influential cultural movements: tropicália, which started in the late 1960s’ against an unstable political and social atmosphere as a reaction to both the pop music and the growing nationalism of the time. Tropicália was first a way for newborn artists to express their revolutionary thinking against the imposing military dictatorship, and it truly became a real struggle to protect freedom of speech as well as individual and civil liberties. A gathering of voices that spoke up in unison.
And while it’s true that tropicália first had a strong start as a mix of diverse traits, that is to say Brazilian cultural characteristics with American and European ones, it’s equally true that it didn’t last that long in its original shape. Due to the several social and political circumstances, the movement was later on diluted into a lighter, for export version known as tropicalism. Nonetheless, a precedent of outmost importance had been set.
Tropicália, the documentary, is above all, a feature with plenty of exhaustive research. Not only because of the numerous archive footage, but mostly because of its quality. Not quite often, to say the least, you get to see clips of TV shows, photographs, snippets of past interviews and new ones, featuring the likes of Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, Rita Lee, Nara Leão, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa performing live and giving their testimonies about their priceless experiences. Since the whole tropicália cultural movement was not restricted to musicians, there are also interviews with filmmaker Glauber Rocha (as well as fragments of hi seminal film Terra em Trance) and poet Torquato Neto (among others).
In fact, the discovery of the distinctive colours of the many voices that make up the chorus to account for both Tropicália and tropicalism is perhaps the chief appeal of this well narrated documentary. What they thought and think now, what they said and say now, it’s all juxtaposed in a thought provoking manner that invites viewers to immerse themselves into a one-of-a kind experience. As an informative piece, Tropicália fulfills the expectations it arises.
However, considering the complexity of the entire phenomenon, perhaps it would have been more desirable to make a longer feature, a bit more in depth, with more layers to unveil. You may feel that you’d have wanted to know even more, and you’d be right. It’s just that the universe depicted is so fascinating that you might want to stay in there a bit longer.
Production notes
Tropicália (Brazil, 2012). Directed by Marcelo Machado. Produced by Denise Gomes, Paula Cosenza. With Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Rita Lee. Running time: 82 minutes.
