My Home Is Copacabana (Me hem ar Copacabana)
Directed by Arne Sucksdorff
Written by Arne Sucksdorff, Flavio Migliaccio, and Jaoo Bethencourt
1965/Sweden
Svensk Filmindustri
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. Mother Teresa [/box]
The irrepressible joy of childhood still peeps out from a harsh existence as a homeless orphan on the streets of Rio.
As the film opens four orphan friends have set up housekeeping in a shack on a hill overlooking Copacabana beach in Rio. They are of various races and in the 6-10 age range. The youngest Rico is white and has escaped from an institution for orphans known as Caxambu, which he describes as Hell on Earth. The kids have fun playing with kites. Later they go down to the beach where there is to be a kite competition. The idea is that they will coat their strings with ground glass, cut down the other kites and sell them. This works out well in the short term but does not ultimately improve their lot.
When the children return to the shack, they find it has been taken over by machete wielding bandits. They have no hope of recovering their home or their meager property. They retreat to the beach where they try everything from begging to pickpocketing to shoe shining to macumba rituals in hopes of keeping their bellies full. It is a hard, hard life. When one of them falls ill, he has a tough decision to make.
The saddest thing about this film is that these scenes are still taking place all over the world. That such poverty should exist in such a beautiful setting is truly heartbreaking. Lovely film.
Tiny clip from credits
