Barbosa (1988)

A frustrated man travels back in time in order to change the outcome of the soccer game that forever changed his life.

Directors:

Ana Luiza Azevedo, Jorge Furtado

Writers:

Giba Assis Brasil, Ana Luiza Azevedo

Stars:

Antônio Fagundes, Pedro Santos, José Vitor Castiel

Cast

Credited cast:
Antônio Fagundes
Pedro Santos
José Vitor Castiel	...	(as Victor Castiel)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Abel Borba
Ariel Nehring

Storyline

A frustrated man travels back in time in order to change the outcome of the soccer game that forever changed his life.

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Plot Keywords:

soccer | world cup | camera | time travel | 

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Short

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Details

Official Sites:

more information on the film

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Also Known As:

Curta os Gaúchos - Barbosa

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

13 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Garrincha - Alegria do Povo (1963)

User Reviews

Turning back the clock

I think all sports fanatics out there had already imagined this movie's scenario of turning back time just to make his team or favorite sportist win an important match or competition they lost. In this particular case, a frustrated man (Antônio Fagundes) who testified as a child Brazil's loss at the 1950's World Cup played at home on match against Uruguay, his torment is not just about losing the cup but it's more important to save the reputation of the man blamed for "our failure" to win the Cup, the poor goalie Barbosa, who was caught off-guard by a powerful kick in the corner by the Uruguayan hero, leaving the match 2-1. Our hero builds a machine and will do everything possible to avoid such tragic fate that saddened a whole nation and unjustly branded Barbosa's career.

The film directed by Jorge Furtado and Ana Luiza Azevedo is hugely creative, intense and captures the essence of what being a sports fan really is in a nation that treats soccer as a national passion to sickening extremes - just like pointing fingers at Barbosa as the guy who made a whole nation cry. If possible we would turn back the time, impeach that goal or warn the goalie about the ball. As evidenced, the main character firmly believes that everything that went wrong with him and in the country was because of that awful match. Maybe that's true...The match is genuinely recreated intercut with real images and the actual audio of the game, while Fagundes character and his assistant figure ways of contacting Barbosa during the game, at the same time the main character feels nostalgic about the things he seen and felt at the time (he sees himself as a child watching the match).

And the real Barbosa talks about that terrible day that marked his life, in brief interviews presented in between scenes. Obviously he felt a lot with the fact of not being able to block the goal, you can see it in his eyes but he was quite warmful while presenting his side of the story, far from his bittered reaction (with reason, though) in 1994, during another World's Cup when he was invited to be part of a sportscaster team to make comments along with former soccer players but the TV directors changed their minds claiming his presence would bring bad luck to the team. After that, he vanished from the news until his death a few years ago. And in those moments, we really wished to do more for this man who didn't deserved none of this. The movie kept real: some things never change; otherwise, it just gets worse. 10/10