Four Days in September
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Four Days in September | |
---|---|
Directed by | Bruno Barreto |
Written by | Leopoldo Serran |
Based on | O Que É Isso, Companheiro? by Fernando Gabeira |
Produced by | Lucy Barreto Luiz Carlos Barreto |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Félix Monti |
Edited by | Isabelle Rathery |
Music by | Stewart Copeland |
Production companies | Filmes do Equador Luiz Carlos Barreto Produções Cinematográficas |
Distributed by | RioFilme Miramax |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | Brazil |
Language | Portuguese |
Box office | R$1.8 million[1] |
Four Days in September (
It was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 Academy Awards.[2]
Background
The film is "loosely based" on the 1979
Gabeira later became a journalist and politician, elected as congressman from the Green Party.
Plot
The film is a fictionalized version of the dramatic events of the
The film explores Paulo's love affair with Andréia, the guerrilla leader. It suggests a kind of friendship developing between Paulo and Elbrick. The ambassador is portrayed as a decent man who shares some of his kidnappers' frustrations regarding the Brazilian military dictatorship, and one who fulfills his duty to his own government.
Cast
The main characters include:
- Paulo / Fernando Gabeira (Pedro Cardoso) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
- Andréia / Maria (guerrilla-group leader who falls in love with Paulo/Fernando.
- Charles Burke Elbrick (Alan Arkin) - the American ambassador, who forms a bond with Paulo/Fernando.
- Jonas / Virgílio Gomes da Silva (Matheus Nachtergaele) - member of ALN guerrilla group
- Marcão / Franklin Martins (Luiz Fernando Guimarães) - second in command to the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
- Renée / Vera Sílvia Magalhães (Cláudia Abreu) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
- Toledo / Joaquim Câmara Ferreira (Nélson Dantas) - member of ALN guerrilla group. He's a Spanish expatriate in Brazil that fought the dictatorship of Francoist Spain
- Henrique (National Intelligence Service of Brazil
- Brandão (Maurício Gonçalves) - member of the National Intelligence Service of Brazil
- Júlio / Cid Benjamin (Caio Junqueira) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
- César / Oswaldo (Selton Mello) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group, arrested prior to the kidnapping of the Ambassador.
- Dona Margarida / Elba Souto-Maior (Fernanda Montenegro)
- Lília (Alessandra Negrini) - wife of Henrique
- Mowinkel (Fisher Stevens)
Reception
Critical response
The film had mixed reviews, in part because of its fictionalizing Brazilian history, and its uneasy portrayal of terrorist activities by student radicals. Four Days in September has an approval rating of 59% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10.[5]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Four Days in September is an uneasy hybrid of political thriller and high-minded meditation on terrorism, its psychology and its consequences."[3] He noted that the film suggests the kidnapping was followed by worse political events, with increased repression, and torture of MR-8 members. He describes Cardoso as the most complex character.[3]
Roger Ebert gave it two stars, saying the film was marked by a "quiet sadness" and the "film examines the way that naive idealists took on more than they could handle."[4] He suggests that the film tries to humanize both sides but seems muddled. Ebert writes, "The point of view is that of a middle-age man who no longer quite understands why, as a youth, he was so sure of things that now seem so puzzling."[4]
Awards
Internationally, the film was nominated for many awards, including
See also
- List of submissions to the 70th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ^ "Filmes Brasileiros Lançados - 1995 a 2012" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Ancine. p. 33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- ^ "The 70th Academy Awards (1998) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d [ STEPHEN HOLDEN, Review: Four Days in September/"The Political Kidnapping Of an Ambassador Retold"], The New York Times, 30 January 1998, accessed 24 January 2014
- ^ a b c Roger Ebert, Review: Four Days in September (1998), 6 February 1998, Roger Ebert website
- ^ "Four Days in September | Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Berlinale: 1997 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 8 January 2012.