Allegories Of Underdevelopment: Aesthetics and Politics in Modern Brazilian Cinema

by Ismail Xavier

Examines the centrality of Cinema Novo to filmmaking in Brazil.

"A camera in the hand and ideas in the head" was the primary axiom of the young originators of Brazil's Cinema Novo. In Allegories of Underdevelopment, Ismail Xavier argues that this movement of the 1960s and early 1970s served to represent a nation undergoing a political and social transformation into modernity.

Its best-known voice, filmmaker Glauber Rocha claimed that Cinema Novo was driven by an "aesthetics of hunger". This scarcity of means demanded new cinematic approaches that eventually gave rise to a legitimate and unique Third World cinema. Xavier considers a range of revolutionary films -- from the masterworks of Rocha to the groundbreaking experiments of Julio Bressane, Rogerio Sganzerla, Andrea Tonacci and Arthur Omar.

Focusing on each filmmaker's use of narrative allegories for the "conservative modernization" Brazil and other nations underwent in the 1960s and 1970s, Xavier examines the way Cinema Novo transformed Brazil's cultural memory. Among the films he discusses are Black God, White Devil, Land in Anguish, Red Light Bandit, Macunaima, Antonio das Mortes, The Angel Is Born, and Killed the Family and Went to the Movies.

Genres: Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

One of the most dedicated critics, theoreticians, and film scholars in Brazil and in the world, Ismail Xavier is the author of several books on the subject, such as Alegorias do subdesenvolvimento: Cinema novo, Tropicalismo, Cinema marginal (1993) and Sertão mar: Glauber Rocha e a estética da fome (1983); and since 1970, Ismail Xavier has been publishing a myriad of articles in journals. He graduated in Film Studies (and Mechanical Engineering) at Escola de Comunicação e Artes, at USP, from where he also received his masters and doctoral degree. He earned his Ph.D. in Film Studies at NYU in 1982. Since then, he taught at major universities in the United States and in France. Furthermore, he is a member of the Conselho Consultivo da Cinemateca Brasileira since 1977.

Reviews

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agora, esse é coisa FINA. Depois de anos estudando teorias psicológicas, meio que tirei esse ano para me reaprofundar em cinema, lendo todos os grandes clássicos teóricos que eu havia deixado passar nas minhas pesquisas cinéfilas, acabei colocando o livro do Xavier na frente do Metz e do Deleuze (tô tentando dar uma ordem cronológica nas leituras) porque acho que estou numa vibe de cinema nacional agora e isso foi mais do que uma boa justificativa de rever todos os filmes fodaços que o Xavier analisa no livro, agora em cópias melhores do que eu havia assistido antes.
E as análises não são menos do que excepcionais, o Ismail Xavier tem um olho treinadíssimo para ver o que nos passa desapercebido, além de ver além do óbvio, tem todo um savoir-faire rolando com bases teóricas bem fortes, o autor não está entre os nomes mais consistentes da teoria cinematográfica tupiniquim à toa.

Lista de filmes citados no livro: https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/l...