Batismo de Sangue (2006)

Director:

Helvecio Ratton

Writers:

Dani Patarra
Helvecio Ratton
(more)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

During the period of 1964 to 1985, Brazil lived a military dictatorship. In the 60s, the Dominican friars Tito...

Plot Keywords:

Torture | Brazil | Bare Chested Male | Branding | Bare Chested Male Bondage

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Caio Blat	...	Frei Tito
Daniel de Oliveira	...	Frei Betto
Léo Quintão	...	Frei Fernando
Odilon Esteves	...	Frei Ivo
Ângelo Antônio	...	Frei Oswaldo
Cássio Gabus Mendes	...	Fleury
Marku Ribas	...	Carlos Marighella
Marcelia Cartaxo	...	Nildes
Murilo Grossi	...	Raul Careca
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kassia Lumi Abe	...	Taeko
Marco Amaral	...	Capitão Torturador
Júlio Andrade	...	Delator
José Carlos Aragão	...	Preso no Tiradentes
André Arteche	...	Seminarista do Sul
Luiz Arthur	...	Amigo de Betto
Leonardo Bertollini	...	Líder estudantil
Bya Braga	...	Investigadora baleada
Rômulo Braga	...	Líder estudantil
Léo Brasil	...	Preso no DOPS
Marcus Brina	...	Guarda DOI-CODI
Agnaldo Bueno	...	Policial torturador
Raquel Campolina	...	Mãe de Betto
Marcelo Campos	...	Professor
Rodrigo Capanema	...	Guarda rodoviário
Alexandre Cioletti	...	João Antônio
Rita Clemente	...	Vendedora da Livraria
Cláudio Costa Val	...	Policial torturador
Jota D'Ângelo	...	Cardeal
David de Carvalho	...	Preso no DOPS
Alexander de Moraes	...	Repórter
Julieta Dobbin	...	Catarina
Carolina Duarte	...	Presa no DOPS
Jorge Emil	...	Frei Diogo
Cynthia Falabella	...	Jana
Rogério Falabella	...	Juiz
Flávia Fernandes	...	Estudante
Luiz Fernando Filizolla	...	Frade
Fábio Furtado	...	Preso no DOPS
Jerry Magalhães	...	Preso no DOPS
Juliana Martins	...	Presa no DOPS
Rodrigo Melgaço	...	Torcedor no Bar
Darli Montor	...	Preso no Tiradentes
Bia Moraes	...	Transeunte no Rio
Eduardo Moreira	...	Preso no Tiradentes
Jean-Pierre Moulin	...	Prior de la Tourette
Felipe Mônaco	...	Torcedor no Bar
Rodrigo Najar	...	Investigador do Sul
Brice Notin	...	Psiquiatra
Wolney Oliveira	...	Diretor do jornal
Orlando Orube	...	Padre Martin
Renato Parara	...	Pudim
Chico Pelúcio	...	Preso no DOPS
Geraldo Peninho	...	Toledo
Cássio Pinheiro	...	Pai de Betto
Roberto Polido	...	Policial torturador
Paulo Polika	...	Preso no Tiradentes
Daniel G. Rego	...	Preso no Dops
Ivan Reis	...	Advogado
Carlos Magno Ribeiro	...	Policial torturador
Glicério Rosário	...	Preso no DOPS
Babu Santana	...	Carcereiro do DOPS
Rodrigo Signoreti	...	Estudante
Maurício Tizumba	...	Boieiro do Tiradentes
Helvécio Trindade	...	Dono do sítio
Walter Trindade	...	Carcereiro do Tiradentes
Gustavo Werneck	...	Médico da Marinha

Directed by
Helvecio Ratton

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dani Patarra
Dani Patarra
Helvecio Ratton

Produced by
Tininho Nogueira Da Fonseca	....	co-executive producer
Simone Magalhães Matos	....	producer (as Simone Magalhães)
Helvecio Ratton	....	producer
Guilherme Fiúza Zenha	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Marco Antônio Guimarães

Cinematography by
Lauro Escorel		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Mair Tavares

Art Direction by
Adrian Cooper

Costume Design by
Marjorie Gueller

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cecília Amado	....	first assistant director
Maria Farkas	....	second assistant director
Alice Gomez	....	assistant director
Flávio Vacchiano	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Maria Helena Alvarenga	....	art department coordinator
Beli Araújo	....	set designer
Monaí de Paula	....	props
Renata Martins	....	set dresser/decorator

Sound Department
Mauricio Castañeda	....	foley artist
Mauricio Castañeda	....	foley supervisor
Pedro Sá Earp	....	boom operator
Daniel Heusser	....	foley recordist
Vinicius Leal	....	sound editor
Evandro Lima	....	boom operator
José Moreau Louzeiro	....	sound mixer
Maria Muricy	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
Marcelo Ferreira PeeJay	....	digital visual effects compositor
Rogério Marinho	....	visual effects
Mario Finotti Silva	....	digital artist
Marcelo Siqueira	....	visual effects supervisor
Mariana Zdravca	....	post production coordinator

Stunts
Agnaldo Bueno	....	stunt performer
Claudimar Guimaraes	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Vincent Blasco	....	key grip
Antonio Marcos Cardoso	....	electrician
Luiz Gonzaga de Almeida	....	key grip
Felipe Hutter	....	camera department trainee
Loïc Limosin	....	electrician
Ulisses Malta Jr.	....	electrician
Ulisses Malta	....	gaffer
Renato Mineirinho	....	grip
Andre De Marco Paoliello	....	video assist operator
François Perrault-Alix	....	grip
Rodrigo Reis	....	second assistant camera
Fernanda Tanaka	....	first assistant camera

Casting Department
Rosalice Barreto	....	casting assistant
Giselle Bossi	....	casting assistant
Raphael Morales	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ro Nascimento	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Alex Ferreira Barreiro	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Ana Luiza Cavalcanti Fatorelli	....	second script supervisor
Sergio Penna	....	acting coach
Sérgio Penna	....	acting coach (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Quimera Produções

Distributors

• VideoFilmes (2008) (Brazil) (DVD)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Company:

Quimera Produções

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cidadão Boilesen (2009)

Soundtrack:

O Orvalho Vem Caindo

A well-intentioned mess

The true story of four Dominican friars -- Tito (Caio Blat), Fernando (Léo Quintão), Ivo (Odilon Esteves) and Betto (Daniel de Oliveira) -- who, in the late 1960s, were actively engaged in helping left-wing organizations in radical actions against the ultra-violent Brazilian military regime. Denounced, arbitrarily arrested and savagely tortured in military and police precincts, they were subsequently prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated, but one of them would not survive: Tito, exiled in France, paranoid, depressed and unable to cope with the terrifying memories of physical and psychological torture, committed suicide in 1973, hanging himself from a tree in the Convent of La Tourette.

"Batismo de Sangue", based on Frei (friar) Betto's eponymous best-selling account of the facts, is yet another piece in the mosaic Brazilian filmmakers are trying to assemble concerning the tragic, traumatic "lead years" of the military regime in Brazil (1964-1985). The fact that Betto, Fernando and Ivo are still alive and have collaborated with director/writer Helvécio Ratton in the film gives "Batismo" a first-hand, I've-been-there legitimacy. Regrettably, the film turns out to be an honest, serious, well-intentioned mess.

The main problem with "Batismo" is the shapeless, confusing screenplay: the facts are thrown on the screen with no links, preparation, dramatic criteria. Ratton doesn't know how to select his material: instead of choosing a few characters and situations and developing them, he sticks in loads of absolutely expendable scenes and characters (e.g. the journalist who's in love with Betto, Tito's sister, etc) and chops everything up to the point of unintelligibility. You have to do the writers' work for them, figuring out who's who, what their connections are, establishing causes and effects, and filling in the narrative gaps.

The four main characters have no individual personalities, no back stories, we know nothing about them except that they are Dominican friars who somehow got caught up in the events. And it doesn't help that they all look alike, with their white habits, dark hair and thick glasses. We never get to understand WHY Tito sinks into paranoia and depression while the other three somehow get over their harsh experience. Likewise, the "evil" characters (the torturers) are laughable caricatures, devils just short of having horns and hoofs. We also have to deal with dozens of sketchy under-written characters -- friars, students, political activists, prison inmates, lawyers, judges, and the women in general -- who overcrowd the screen and make things even more confusing.

The time that could be devoted to building up the characters is spent on gruesome, graphic torture scenes. No doubt it's important to show to younger generations that, not so long ago, systematic torture was an institutionalized routine praxis of the Brazilian Military Government. But those scenes backfire: we know so little about the friars who are being tortured that all we can do is appreciate how realistic, disgusting and bloody it all looks -- in those scenes the film dangerously slips into the slasher/gore genre.

Naturally, the film is unavoidably Catholic: there are scenes of enlightening egalitarian sermons, soul-searching antiphonies and chantings, improvised masses in the filthy prison cells that melt down the hard hearts of the atheist Communist activists (but not the hearts of the eeeevil military, of course, though they were probably Catholic themselves), theological explanations about how St.Thomas Aquinas can be summoned to validate guerrillas, and how Communists and Dominicans are meant to be brothers deep down, since Jesus was a revolutionary activist who was also persecuted, tortured and murdered. These long scenes can be REALLY off-putting for non-Catholics.

There are other disappointments: the cast is under-used, with fine actors like Daniel de Oliveira and Ângelo Antônio especially wasted. Caio Blat seems, like us, totally lost about Tito: he jumps from goofy, joyous innocence to faithless, depressive paranoia with nothing in-between. First-timers Léo Quintão and Odilon Esteves are unimpressive and Marku Ribas as Marighella is an embarrassment. Worst of all is scenery-chewing Cássio Gabus Mendes as the tough big boss torturer Fleury: he yells so much his voice goes into spasms. The music by the great experimental musician Marco Antonio Guimarães is disappointingly ineffective: it just isn't film music. On the positive side, Lauro Escorel's cinematography is very accomplished, as usual, and Adrian Cooper's art direction is suitably evocative of that era.

I wish I could recommend "Batismo de Sangue": it's a serious enterprise full of good intentions -- but that's about it. However, it will perhaps urge some viewers to read Frei Betto's far more comprehensive and coherent book, so the film's not a complete waste of everybody's efforts.