A alma do osso / The Soul of the Bone
Directed by: Cao Guimarães
Edited by: Cao Guimarães
Produced by: Beto Magalhães
Date: 2004
Duration: 74’
Country: Brazil
Language: Portuguese (English subtitles)
Availability in the UK: Queen Mary, University of London, Library
A alma do osso is an experimental documentary about Domingos Albino Ferreira
(also known as Dominguinhos da Pedra), a 71-year-old man who has lived alone
for 41 years in caves in the countryside region of Itambé do Mato Dentro, Minas
Gerais (Brazil). He survives on a meagre pension from the Brazilian government.
The main themes of this film are loneliness and the relationship between man and
nature. It starts with an epigraph by Guimarães Rosa: ‘Loneliness is too much for
ourselves’. There are no dialogues or interviews in this documentary, and almost
no speech. Practically all the information we receive comes from the images and
sounds that characterise the countryside: beautiful landscapes of green hills and
the sea, the man’s cave and the sounds of nature (storms, the wind, etc.). One of
the film’s most striking characteristics is the use of extended extreme close-up
shots, and there is even a black screen for minutes during a storm at night, only
interrupted from time to time by a few seconds of lightning. The pace is very slow
and nothing really happens: its narrative is taken over by visual description. On
three occasions the old man breaks his customary silence and tells us some
stories which are not very informative. Through them, the only thing we get to
know is that he used to be a patient in psychiatric hospitals, where he was
treated with electric shocks. The man associates the electric storms of his current
habitat with his old and painful memories of the electric shocks. The lack of
interviews makes this film stand out from contemporary Brazilian documentary
production, with its extensive use of the interview technique. Towards the end, he
says to the camera: ‘If I die all of a sudden, you should know where my pocketknife, my food and my dollar are’, showing us his precious objects.
Real characters are presented on location.
RELATED INFORMATION
Other documentaries by Cao Guimarães include:
Da janela do meu quarto (2004)
O fim do sem-fim / The End of the Endless (2000)
Rua de mão dupla / Two Way Street (2004)
Short films and video installations by Cao Guimarães include:
Volta ao mundo em algumas páginas (2002)
Nanofania (2003)
Hipnosis (2001)
Sopro (2000)
Histórias do não ver (2001)
World/World (2001)
Inventário de Raivinhas (2002)
Otto, eu sou um outro (1998)
Annotated by Guillermo Olivera
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, 2005-06
AHRC Project Brazilian and Argentine Documentary Film-Making
Project Director: Else R P Vieira
Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary, University of London
June 2006