Glauber Rocha
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Glauber Pedro de Andrade Rocha (March 14, 1938–August 22, 1981) was a influential Brazilian film director, actor and writer, best known for his masterpiece movie "Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol" (in English, aka "Black God, White Evil") from 1964.
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[edit] Biography
Rocha was born in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil and moved with his family to Salvador when he was only 9 years old, there studying in a famous and respected Presbyterian school. During his adolescence, he developed great interest in arts, especially theatre and cinema, and even joined a drama group. He was also very active in politics, a trait that would be strongly influential in his works.
By the age of 16 he started freelancing for a local newspaper and debuted as a movie reviewer. Later, he attended Law School for about two years and in 1959, after taking part in some projects as assistant, he finally directed his first short, "Pátio". After gaining some recognition in Bahia for his critical and artistic work, Rocha decided to quit college and pursue a journalistic career, as well as being a film-maker.
He is notorious for his film trilogy, made up of Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964) - perhaps his most acclaimed movie, nominated for the Golden Palm -, Terra em Transe (1967) and O Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo Guerreiro (1969), award-winning for Best Director at Cannes. His films were renowned for their strongly-expressed political themes, often combined with mysticism and folklore, but also for their particular style and photography. Rocha is regarded as the one of the best Brazilian directors of all time and leader of the Cinema Novo movement, as well as a full-time polemicist. Once he have said "I'm the Cinema Novo"[1], paraphrasing Louis XVI's famous quote.
In 1971, during the Brazilian military dictatorial regime, he left the country to a voluntary exile, dwelling in many places, such as Spain, Chile and Portugal. He never completely returned home until his last days, when he was transfered from Lisbon, where he had been receiving medical treatment for a lung infection, to Rio de Janeiro. Rocha resisted in hospital for few days, but ultimately died in August 22, 1981, at the age of 43. He had been married three times and had five children.
[edit] Filmography
- 1959 - Pátio, short, B&W
- 1959 - Cruz na Praça, short, B&W
- 1961 - Barravento, feature film, B&W
- 1964 - Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, feature film, B&W
- 1965 - Amazonas, Amazonas, short, color
- 1966 - Maranhão 66, short, B&W
- 1967 - Terra em Transe, feature film, B&W
- 1968 - 1968, short, B&W
- 1969 - O Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo Guerreiro (aka Antonio das Mortes), feature film, color
- 1970 - Cabeças Cortadas, feature film, color
- 1970 - O Leão de Sete Cabeças, feature film, color
- 1972 - Câncer, feature film, B&W
- 1974 - História do Brasil, feature film, B&W
- 1975 - As Armas e o Povo, feature film, B&W
- 1975 - Claro, feature film, color
- 1977 - Di(aka Di-Glauber and Di Cavalcanti), short, color
- 1977 - Jorjamado no Cinema, feature film, color
- 1980 - A Idade da Terra, feature film, color
- 1985 - História do Brasil (post mortem)
[edit] Quotations
On Art:
- "Art is not only talent, but mainly courage"
- "Art is as harder as love"
- "Every artist should be crazy and ambitious"
- "The artist goal is to outrage"
- "The camera is a object that lies"
- "The Cinema Novo is the creative synthesis of the Brazilian international popular cinema."
- "The Cinema Novo stood with the Brazilian utopy. Whether it is ugly, irregular, dirt, confusing and chaotic, it is, on the other side, beautiful, shinning and revolutionary."
On Politics:
- "The revolutionary truth lies within the minorities"
- "Dreaming is the only right one cannot forbid"
- "The State is stronger than the poet"
- "Stronger than anything is the people's power"
- "This country needs poets"
On Himself:
- "I'm a single peasant from Vitória da Conquista"
- "I'm very famous and pretty poor"
- "You're all misunderstanding my craze!"
[edit] See also
- Cinema of Brazil
- List of awards and nominations for Brazilian films
- List of Brazilian films
- List of Brazilians
