Talking about the Self and the Other in Brazilian Cinema: Cinco Vezes Favela and 5x favela - agora por nós mesmos

Abstract

This article presents a brief analysis of two Brazilian movies, Cinco Vezes Favela (1962) and 5x favela, agora por nós mesmos (2010). Even though they both have similar aims, such as portraying the slums of Rio de Janeiro and its problems, the films operate in very distinctive ways on the form of representation. The hypothesis is that because the movies have different directors pertaining to different social classes, each group of directors are either making a movie about themselves or about others. In 1962, five middle class directors were engaged in a left-wing political project; in 2010 five directors from the slums made a film about their own social environment. In addition, this article discusses the intellectual’s role related to popular art and to the people to whom that art is directed. For a direct comparison, two episodes are chosen, Pedreira de São Diogo and Arroz com Feijão, from the 1962 and 2010 films respectively, because both contain social denouncement and criticism, but carry very distinct proportions of engagement and didacticism.