I saw this film by pure chance at a small film festival about the sea, in my small town in Portugal - Ílhavo. When the film ended, I remember thinking how impossible it would have been for Hollywood cinema to tell this story in this claustrophobic, almost sickening way. How do you narrate someone's long journey on a ship and across the Atlantic without ever, not even for a second, having the opportunity to see the English vessel that transported Dom Pedro from Brazil to Portugal? The film is built on the growing tension between the characters and an almost macabre vision of these relationships. The emperor's psychotic existence dominates the story told and the climate generated by this labyrinth of tensions, fears and doubts only accentuates it.
2 Reviews
Past, present, future and 2022: the revised bicentennial
Victor_daSilva_4 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Released on the commercial circuit just under a week from the bicentennial of Brazil's independence, Pedro Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (A Viagem de Pedro) explains nothing less than the voyage that the Emperor of Brazil made after abdicating the throne he himself created on September 7, 1822, this to fight a war in Portugal against his brother, Miguel, for the throne that rightfully belongs to Pedro's eldest daughter, Maria.
The film's narrative, which begins with the image of a statue of Napoleon and the voice over of Leopoldina, the emperor's first wife, discusses a lot about what Pedro represents and wants to represent to the world and to his children, as he mentions at one point to the his current wife, Amélia, saying something like: "how will my children remember me? Like a painting or like a caricature?". Pedro only wants to know about his future, so he rejects at all costs his past, which comes back to haunt him through the emperor's delusions, caused by what looks like syphilis. Throughout several sequences, Pedro finds himself arguing with Miguel and remembering some emblematic passages in his memory, such as when he was a child in Portugal, when his father, João, decides to flee the country towards Brazil, avoiding a confrontation with Napoleon. Pedro still remembers his mother, Carlota, telling her husband that he was weak to run away from the problem, the same thing that many now think of Pedro, who left Brazil on the run.
The emperor's delusions so afflicted him that, at a certain point in the story, he no longer knew how to distinguish the real from the imaginary, and it is in one of those sequences in which, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant moments of the film takes place, which that's when Pedro delights (or remembers) with a dinner, where a woman at the table begins to sing in a mocking tone the melody of the National Anthem of Brazil (currently known as the Anthem of Independence), which was composed by Pedro. Everyone laughs, and with good reason. The one who once brought freedom to the horizon of Brazil threw everything into the air. He was weakened, humiliated and emasculated. Pedro had become a real joke, and he knew it, for his present was but a shadow of what his past once was, but in a way, he also knew that he was the same old man. By declaring Brazil's independence on the banks of the Ipiranga, at its most celebrated moment, Pedro was betraying Portugal, and now, by abdicating the Brazilian throne to go fight in Portugal, he was betraying Brazil. In view of this, what is the difference between Peter's past and present?
In a way, leaving the past behind, ignoring the present and looking to the future was the best choice the emperor could make, after all, the bitter present becomes a forgettable past, while the future can still become a pleasant present. After his journey across the Atlantic Ocean, Pedro manages, as Leopoldina again narrates in a voice-over, to win the war against Miguel, securing his daughter's position as Maria II of Portugal. Pedro would once again be celebrated as a hero, winning a statue, which made him remembered in the future as the liberating soldier he was. With the image of Pedro and Amélia taking their first steps in Portugal, Leopoldina's voice asks: "Do you understand that you turned into a rough stone in the middle of the square?".
With his future image preserved, Pedro could rest in peace after dying in 1834, but it is curious and important for us to turn to today, 2022, when Brazil will celebrate its 200 years of independence. For the celebrations, the heart preserved in formaldehyde of Pedro was brought from Portugal. Just under a month before a general election, the incumbent seeking re-election poses in the government palace next to the organ jug as the National Anthem is orchestrated. The image still has the presence of the Dragons of Independence and the waving of the green and yellow flag. I say with great indulgence that Jair Bolsonaro flirts with Brazil's dictatorial past, his truculence and mismanagement of the country are some of the things that characterize his term and make his reelection campaign dangerous, where he bitterly takes second place in the polls, running the risk of being the first president not to be reelected in the country since reelection was instituted in 1997. Before going back to the image of August 23 that I described earlier, let's quickly go back to 1972, during the dictatorial government of the president Garrastazu Médici, where the bones of Dom Pedro I were brought to commemorate 150 years of independence. It is not impossible to notice the similarity between the ways in which the respective governments celebrated the date, so it is up to us to return to Pedro's thoughts throughout the film with regard to his future: what has that hero who fought to maintain his idealized image become these days?
The film's narrative, which begins with the image of a statue of Napoleon and the voice over of Leopoldina, the emperor's first wife, discusses a lot about what Pedro represents and wants to represent to the world and to his children, as he mentions at one point to the his current wife, Amélia, saying something like: "how will my children remember me? Like a painting or like a caricature?". Pedro only wants to know about his future, so he rejects at all costs his past, which comes back to haunt him through the emperor's delusions, caused by what looks like syphilis. Throughout several sequences, Pedro finds himself arguing with Miguel and remembering some emblematic passages in his memory, such as when he was a child in Portugal, when his father, João, decides to flee the country towards Brazil, avoiding a confrontation with Napoleon. Pedro still remembers his mother, Carlota, telling her husband that he was weak to run away from the problem, the same thing that many now think of Pedro, who left Brazil on the run.
The emperor's delusions so afflicted him that, at a certain point in the story, he no longer knew how to distinguish the real from the imaginary, and it is in one of those sequences in which, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant moments of the film takes place, which that's when Pedro delights (or remembers) with a dinner, where a woman at the table begins to sing in a mocking tone the melody of the National Anthem of Brazil (currently known as the Anthem of Independence), which was composed by Pedro. Everyone laughs, and with good reason. The one who once brought freedom to the horizon of Brazil threw everything into the air. He was weakened, humiliated and emasculated. Pedro had become a real joke, and he knew it, for his present was but a shadow of what his past once was, but in a way, he also knew that he was the same old man. By declaring Brazil's independence on the banks of the Ipiranga, at its most celebrated moment, Pedro was betraying Portugal, and now, by abdicating the Brazilian throne to go fight in Portugal, he was betraying Brazil. In view of this, what is the difference between Peter's past and present?
In a way, leaving the past behind, ignoring the present and looking to the future was the best choice the emperor could make, after all, the bitter present becomes a forgettable past, while the future can still become a pleasant present. After his journey across the Atlantic Ocean, Pedro manages, as Leopoldina again narrates in a voice-over, to win the war against Miguel, securing his daughter's position as Maria II of Portugal. Pedro would once again be celebrated as a hero, winning a statue, which made him remembered in the future as the liberating soldier he was. With the image of Pedro and Amélia taking their first steps in Portugal, Leopoldina's voice asks: "Do you understand that you turned into a rough stone in the middle of the square?".
With his future image preserved, Pedro could rest in peace after dying in 1834, but it is curious and important for us to turn to today, 2022, when Brazil will celebrate its 200 years of independence. For the celebrations, the heart preserved in formaldehyde of Pedro was brought from Portugal. Just under a month before a general election, the incumbent seeking re-election poses in the government palace next to the organ jug as the National Anthem is orchestrated. The image still has the presence of the Dragons of Independence and the waving of the green and yellow flag. I say with great indulgence that Jair Bolsonaro flirts with Brazil's dictatorial past, his truculence and mismanagement of the country are some of the things that characterize his term and make his reelection campaign dangerous, where he bitterly takes second place in the polls, running the risk of being the first president not to be reelected in the country since reelection was instituted in 1997. Before going back to the image of August 23 that I described earlier, let's quickly go back to 1972, during the dictatorial government of the president Garrastazu Médici, where the bones of Dom Pedro I were brought to commemorate 150 years of independence. It is not impossible to notice the similarity between the ways in which the respective governments celebrated the date, so it is up to us to return to Pedro's thoughts throughout the film with regard to his future: what has that hero who fought to maintain his idealized image become these days?
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