Vidas Secas vs. The haze of comfort: Escapism in U.S. films

"My generation was profoundly concerned about the country's problems and we all studied Brazil and read Brazilian authors and Sociologists and sought to take a more active part in politics in an attempt to transform the prevalent situation. This synthesis of making films and discussing our situation found a model in Italian Neo-realism, a model, which, at the time, inspired other developing countries. It all boiled down to not relying on the inter mediation of capital in order to make films at home: "the author and reality," 'the people as artists' and all the basic principles of Italian Neo-realism that in short is the basis of my career."

These words from Nelson Pereira dos Santos interject the reality of our own cinematic situation here in the U.S., and it's lack of any authentic legitimacy when dealing with the question of National Identity. Before I comment on this topic, I would like to dwell on Vidas Secas (1963).

From the opening of the film we as spectators are cast into a reality that disrupts most expectations. The family walks and approaches as they would in real time, the temporal duration already informing us of a struggle; a struggle against nature, a struggle against hunger, a struggle against death and ultimately against oppression. Oppression that is created through an economic system that benefits the middle classes in society, our suspicions are reaffirmed when we encounter the encomienda like landlord, the soldier, and the mayor who feasts and is celebrated at the expense of the migrants labors.

In a cinematic sense the film renders itself to the themes quite naturally. Besides the temporal aspects of the opening sequence, the spatial element proclaims the utter alienation of the migrant family from their own environment. At this point their situation reflects what the social structures construe, unlike most films dealing with the lower classes; which attempt at deifying the grimmest of situations. Dos Santos depicts them as they are, a brusque and linguistically challenged people whose hunger has De-humanized them. It is mentioned in the readings that the family's modes of communicating symbolize their situation. I would also add that for them there is no such thing, for them it's a matter of pure instinct brutally caused by the society itself. In Dos Santos' view there is no romance in poverty, the harsh light that reflects from the sun further emphasizes such oppression. The use of sound also heightens the savageness of life for the migrants. When the screeching noise debuts at the start of the film, it crashes in to inform the spectators of the obstacles ahead, the suffocation of nature.

With the purpose fully conscripted one is prescribed to compare such Cinema like Vidas Secas, with the current onslaught of films produced here in the states. My only conviction is that there is nothing to compare insofar as dealing with the social conditions raised to the fore in Vidas Secas. Just like we see in our trends of consumption, most of today's U.S. filmmakers are puking out films that will give the sleeping and slothful masses more reason to keep feeling good about themselves. In film its the same as it is in our communities; too much time and resources spent on idealizing our middle class values and sustaining our lifestyles. What this causes is a haze of comfort that in the end accomplishes the estrangement from the social concerns that plague life in the United States. If there are issues that happen to be addressed they are usually sugarcoated to make them appear like all the other garbage we are spoon fed. Leading the masses to believe that the problems are being resolved by those in power, so there is no need for our art or should I say entertainment to be tainted by such issues. The fact of the matter is that things are actually in the pits, but I cannot get into that now as much as I would like because that would require a book.

I would say that if I ever end up making films, political and social issues would be addressed at all times. I got into this madness because of movies like Vidas Secas that keep reminding me over and over again that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds, and the reason this is still true well into the 21st Century has to do with the haze of comfort that empowers and enslaves us at the same time.