''Desmundo'' is a 2002 Brazilian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

Alain Fresnot Alain Fresnot (born June 6, 1951) is a French-born Brazilian film director, editor and producer. Born in Paris, his family came to Brazil in 1957 to live in Campinas due to the Algerian War. His family moved to São Paulo where he attended on ci ...

, based on the novel of the same name by

Ana Miranda Ana Miranda is a Brazilian poet and novelist born in Fortaleza, Ceará in 1951. She grew up in Brasilia and has lived in Rio de Janeiro since 1969. Her main work of note has been historical, including her award-winning 1989 novel ''A Boca do I ...

. The film is set in 1570, a period when orphan Portuguese girls were sent to marry the

settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...

s' sons. This was done to prevent the Portuguese from having sons with the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and

black people Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

in order to keep the Christian marriage and a "pure" heritage. The film follows Oribela (

Simone Spoladore Simone Spoladore (born 29 October 1979) is a Brazilian actress. Her first film role was Ana in ''To the Left of the Father''. Spoladore won the Gramado Film Festival’s award for Best Actress in 2010. Filmography *''To the Left of the Father' ...

) as she is sent from Portugal to Brazil to marry Francisco de Albuquerque (Osmar Prado).

Cast

as Oribela *Osmar Prado as Francisco de Albuquerque *

Caco Ciocler Carlos Alberto "Caco" Ciocler (born 27 September 1971) is a Brazilian actor and director. Biography Ciocler was born in São Paulo, in an upper-middle-class family, he moved to the performing arts world when he was about to graduate in engineer ...

as Ximeno Dias *Berta Zemel as Mrs Branca *

Beatriz Segall Beatriz de Toledo Segall (25 July 1926 – 5 September 2018) was a Brazilian actress. One of her most notable works is the role of Odete Roitman on the telenovela '' Vale Tudo'' (1988).Arrigo Barnabé Arrigo Barnabé (born September 14, 1951) is a Brazilian musician and actor. His best-known record is perhaps the critically acclaimed ''Clara Crocodilo''. "He wrote the highly successful song "Clara Crocodilo" (with Mário Lúcio Cortes)..." "T ...

as musician

Production

In order to be more faithful to the period ''Desmundo'' is set, Fresnot—beyond of using clothing, furniture and costumes—decided that the characters would speak in archaic Portuguese. He said it was a "very hard decision", but felt it would seem shallow to use colloquial language in a historical film. Thus, the film has subtitles in contemporary Portuguese. Its filming took place in

Ubatuba Ubatuba is a Brazilian municipality, located on the southeast coast, in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 92,819 (2021 est.) in an area of 723.88 km², of whi ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Reception

At the 35th

Festival de Brasília A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

, ''Desmundo'' won Best Score and Best Supporting Actress (Berta Zemel). It won Best Art Direction (Adrian Cooper and Chico Andrade), Best Costume Design (Marjorie Guelle) and Best Make Up (Vavá Torres) at the

Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro The Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro, more popularly known as Grande Otelo, is a Brazilian film award. It was established in 2000 as Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil that presented it in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0293086, Desmundo 2002 films Brazilian drama films Brazilian historical films Brazilian romance films Films based on Brazilian novels Films directed by Alain Fresnot Films set in the 1570s Films set in Brazil Films shot in Ubatuba