Palavra e Utopia (2000)

English title: Word and Utopia.
Synopsis: The film addresses part of the life of António Vieira, a 17th century Portuguese priest that had an important political role during the reign of João IV (a period not shown in the film), and also did catechesis work on the Native Brazilians (none of which is shown in the film). After João IV dies, Vieira falls into disgrace and is chased by the Inquisition.
Appraisal: The film ignores Vieira's earlier years, during which he became a powerful figure. This was an error, in my opinion, as it gives the feel of watching a story without the beginning and also makes it hard to understand Vieira's full dimension as a political man. In fact, much of the film was hard for me to understand, but of course that must be partly attributed to my ignorance of Portuguese History, and also to my difficulty in understanding -- and at times even paying attention to -- Vieira's baroque texts. (Also, the subtitles for the Italian dialogue were clearly full of mistakes.) Anyway, the film is elitist and just pours Vieira's sermons and letters on the viewers, without shedding some light on them by way of drama or even voiceover. I don't think the story as it is told here holds much interest to modern audiences. Vieira's prophetic theories were really bizarre and would constitute laughing matter by today's standards -- even Catholic ones. There is some interest in the comparison with 'Anchieta, José do Brasil', which is a portrayal of another jesuit, and the realization of the changes that the Company went through -- from the opposition to the slavery of Natives and Blacks, motivated by its own interests in their conversion, to the eventual approval of such practices.
Rating: 31