''Down to Earth'' () is a 1995
Portuguese drama film directed by
Pedro Costa. The film is set in
Cape Verde Islands, a former
Portuguese colony.
This drama film is characterized by its reduced
narrative, and photographies of the
volcano in the Cape Verde islands. The title literally means "a house of
lava". The film has been described by some reviewers as Costa's remake of
Jacques Tourneur's 1943 film, ''
I Walked with a Zombie'', and Costa himself has suggested that his original intention for ''Down to Earth'' was for it to be a remake of Tourneur's film. Costa's work has often been compared by some to modern updates of classical Hollywood films, with Jonathan Rosenbaum pointing out that ''
Colossal Youth'' may be viewed as Costa's remake of
John Ford's 1960 film ''
Sergeant Rutledge''.
''Casa de Lava'' was screened in the
Un Certain Regard section at
1994 Cannes Film Festival
The 47th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1994. The Palme d'Or went to the American film ''Pulp Fiction'' directed by Quentin Tarantino.
The festival opened with ''The Hudsucker Proxy'', directed by Joel Coen and closed with ''Seri ...
.
Plot
The film tells a story of Mariana, a
nurse who leaves
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
to accompany an
immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
worker in a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
tose sleep on his trip home to
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
. The devoted Portuguese nurse took a journey only to find herself lost in abstract drama.
There she finds that "she brought a living man among the dead."
Quoted from the distributor's official synopsis
/ref> Costa made the film in a densely minimalist style. Cryptic ellipses, cinematographic precision, narrative abstraction and lingering imagery of people and place, notably Mount Fogo, the highest active volcano of Cape Verde, are features in this melancholic meditation on love and loneliness.
Cast
* Inês de Medeiros – Mariana (as Inês Medeiros)
* Isaach De Bankolé – Leão
* Édith Scob – Edite
* Pedro Hestnes – Edite's Son
* Isabel de Castro
Influence of the making of the film in Costa's future career
In an interview with Jean-Pierre Gorin, Costa has stated that ''Casa de Lava'' was the gateway to making his films in Fontainhas. When he left Cape Verde after filming, many people gave him letters or presents to deliver to their friends and relatives back in Lisbon. Costa went to the shantytown of Fontainhas to deliver the letters and became enraptured with the environment, its smells and sensations (which he called spicy).
References
External links
*
*
Casa de Lava
{{Pedro Costa
1990s Portuguese-language films
1995 films
Films set in Cape Verde
Films directed by Pedro Costa
1995 drama films
Films produced by Paulo Branco
Portuguese drama films