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IMDb > Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business (1995)

Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business (1995) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   146 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Helena Solberg
Writer:
Helena Solberg (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
13 April 1995 (Brazil) more
Plot:
A biography of the Portuguese-Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda, whose most distinctive feature was her tutti frutti hat... more | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins more
User Comments:
A Wax Banana more

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Cynthia Adler ... Hedda Hopper
Eric Barreto ... Carmen Miranda, Fantasy Sequences
Mario Cunha ... Himself
Alice Faye ... Herself
Aurora Miranda ... Herself

Carmen Miranda ... Herself (archive footage)
Leticia Monte ... Carmen Miranda, teenager

Rita Moreno ... Herself

Cesar Romero ... Himself
Synval Silva ... Himself
Helena Solberg ... Narrator
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Bananas Is My Business
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Runtime:
91 min
Country:
UK | Brazil
Language:
English | Portuguese
Sound Mix:
Mono

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Features Alô Alô Carnaval (1936) more

FAQ

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful:-
A Wax Banana, 14 December 1998
4/10
Author: milesyao from New Jersey

As a lover of Brazilian culture, I was rather disappointed by the film, which turns out to be a rather conventional 90's showbiz bio.

Yes, Carmen was exploited and broken behind that headdress. The film did a good job of bringing out the pathos - but

that's hardly a surprise.

The problem is, having done that, it didn't go any further in showing us the real woman behind the mask. The film projects her as nothing but a helpless victim of Hollywood, when her early life clearly indicated a strong and wily character. She must have put up a few fights - both internally and out there - and _this_ is the fascinating stuff. Remember that she was financially independent and emotionally not alone. Although in exile, she was always surrounded by family and, quite often, other Brazilian expatriate friends (among them one of the fathers of Bossa Nova, Vinicius --). She had choices. She didn't have to end that way and yet she did -- chose to marry an American brute and chose to leave Brazil again, right out of convalescence. This is the true mystery, and this film brings us no closer.

In the other direction, the film also failed to place Carmen in context of the development of Brazilian music. Was she a true artist, or merely a star - co-opting music of the poor for the consumption of a more respectable audience? And what is her true legacy as Brazil's "cultural ambassador"? Brazil may have rejected her, but it has never forgotten or ignored her (the funeral scene proved that). Yet once again we

had no idea what Carmen means to an average Brazilian today.

Watching this film, I kept getting reminded of Edith Piaf. Like her, Carmen's life has enough paradoxes for two or three movies. Regrettably, we are given less than one.

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