Finis Hominis (1971)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

José Mojica Marins

Writers:

Rubens Francisco Luchetti (story)
José Mojica Marins (writer)

Release Date:

18 December 1971 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Stark naked man comes out from the sea and begins to walk the streets, interfering in daily episodes...

Plot Keywords:

Messiah | Sex | Psychedelic | Christ Allegory | Dead Child

Cast

José Mojica Marins	...	Finis Hominis
Teresa Sodré	...	Madalena
Roque Rodrigues	...	Lázaro
Rosângela Maldonado	...	The Schemer
Mario Lima	...	The Lover (as Mário Lima)
Andreia Bryan	...	The Nymphomaniac
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Antoninho
Ronaldo Beibe
Big Boy
Américo Camargo
Clara Clarestadi
Margareth Delta
Sílvio Francisco
Graveto
Paulo Mander
Talulah Marilyn
Sabrina Marquezinha
José Paulo Moreira
Carlos Reichenbach		(as Carlos Oscar Reichenbach Filho)
Lurdes Ribas
Araken Saldanha	...	Zé do Caixão (voice)
Célia Soares
Cláudia Tucci

Also Known As:

Finis Hominis - O Fim do Homem (Brazil)
The End of Man

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Company:

Multifilmes

Movie Connections:

Featured in Coffin Joe's Vision's of Terror (1994) (V)

"The Holy Mountain" meets "Nietschze For Dummies" on a budget that Roger Corman would balk at

Apparently José Mojica Marins felt much pressure from state censorship to make a non-horrific film. So instead of concentrating on one of his abilities (horror), he has to make a film revolving around his other capability surrealism. "Finis Hominis" is probably the weirdest movie he ever made, and if you've seen much of the man's output, you know thats saying a lot. I always wondered if the bizarreness of Marins' films was intentional or just the result of an eccentric mind along the lines of "Glen or Glenda". For me, "Finis Hominis" certified that Marins knew what he was doing all along.

Like many other otherworldly films, a description is difficult. Imagine "The Holy Mountain" meets "Nietschze For Dummies" on a budget that Roger Corman would balk at, and you're coming close to picturing this. However, Marins is a true original. Like Jodorowsky, he casts himself as a messiah figure, but it doesn't come across as bloated egoism like it did in "El Topo", because the character of Finis Hominis is meant to sprout Marins' philosophy instead of portraying the director as holier than thou. José Mojica Marins never completely mastered film-making technique (the man has no idea how to keep a good pace), but hes so impassioned and his films achieve what they set out to do (being weird), that he deserves much more recognition. Lying somewhere between Ed Wood and Alejandro Jodorowsky lies Marins. "Finis Hominis" is definitely not the best starting place for the man ("At Midnight I Take Your Soul") or his finest achievement ("Awakening of the Beast"), but its certainly his most surreal and possibly my personal favorite of his output. (7/10)