Sangue mineiro (1930)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Humberto Mauro

Writer:

Humberto Mauro (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Belo Horizonte, the industrial Sampaio lives in a manor house with his stepdaughter Carmen...

Cast

Maury Bueno	...	Christovam
Ernani de Paula
Pedro Fantol	...	Juliano Sampaio
Rosendo Franco	...	Franco
Adhemar Gonzaga	...	Carmem's Father
Luiz Guimarães
Augusta Leal	...	Aunt Marta
Humberto Mauro	...	Farmer's servant
Nita Ney	...	Neusa
Carmen Santos	...	Carmem
Máximo Serrano	...	Máximo
Elie Sone	...	Tuty
Luís Soroa	...	Roberto

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Brazil

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Company:

Phebo Filme do Brasil

A Naive and Metaphoric View of the Effects of the Progress

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Belo Horizonte, the industrial Sampaio lives in a manor house with his stepdaughter Carmen, who has a sort of engagement with Roberto. Sampaio's daughter Neusa, of same age as Carmen, was sent to a metropolis to have a modern education and returns to Belo Horizonte. In the São João party in the country of Acaba-Mundo, promoted by the traditional Marta, Neusa has a one night stand with Roberto. Carmen witnesses their affair and decides to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Cristovão and his cousin Max decides to go to a cabaret in town instead of staying in the party,. They find Carmen and bring her to Marta's property, where she stays with the family and Tufy, Max's younger brother. Along this period, Cristovão falls in love for Carmen, and she has to decide between the love of the unfaithful Roberto and Cristovão.

Watching "Sangue Mineiro" in 2005, as I have just done, transform many dramatic scenes in comedy. First, because of the archaic Portuguese, with very unusual words, used in the inter-titles. And mainly because of the too much conservative moral values that ruled the society in those years. Humberto Mauro, considered by the expertise as the first great Brazilian director, had a slogan: "The Progress is too much Anti-Photogenic". In "Sangue Mineiro", there is a conflictive situation between the new and progressive (represented by Neusa, the new-comer from a modern education, and Cristovão, a man from Rio de Janeiro that creates a situation in the breast of Marta's family) and the old and traditional (represented by Carmen, Max and Marta), prevailing the destruction of the traditional values through the introduction of the modernism. "Sangue Mineiro" in the present days is a naive and metaphoric view of the effects of the progress. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sangue Mineiro" ("Mineiro Blood" – obs: "Mineiro" means a person born in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais)