''Marighella'' is a 2019 Brazilian

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The st ...

film directed by

Wagner Moura Wagner Maniçoba de Moura (; born 27 June 1976) is a Brazilian actor, director, filmmaker, musician, and journalist. Wagner started his career doing theater in Salvador, where he worked with renowned directors, and soon scored some appearances ...

, based on the life of Carlos Marighella, a Brazilian politician, writer, and

Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...

guerrilla fighter accused of engaging in "terrorist acts" against the

Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil ( pt, ditadura militar) was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against President João Goulart. The Brazilian dict ...

. The film was adapted from the biography ''Marighella - O Guerrilheiro que Incendiou o Mundo'' (''Marighella - The Guerrilla Who Lit the World on Fire''), by Mário Magalhães. It is Moura's directorial debut.

Seu Jorge Jorge Mário da Silva, more commonly known by his stage name Seu Jorge (Seu, an abbreviation of "Senhor"; born June 8, 1970; ), is a Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu ...

plays Carlos Marighella. The film also features Adriana Esteves, Bruno Gagliasso and

Humberto Carrão Humberto Halbout Carrão Sinoti (born 28 August 1991) is a Brazilian actor. Filmography Television Film References External links * 1991 births Living people Male actors from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian male film actors Bra ...

Cast

as Carlos Marighella * Adriana Esteves as Clara * Bruno Gagliasso as Lúcio *

Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos (born 25 June 1954) is a Brazilian actor. Selected filmography Film Television References External links * 1954 births Living people Brazilian male film actors {{Brazil-actor-stub ...

as Almir *

as Humberto * Jorge Paz as Jorge * Bella Camero as Bella *

Herson Capri Herson Capri Freire (born 8 November 1951) is a Brazilian actor. Biography He began his career by performing in several theatre productions at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo when he was studying Economics. He was hired by ...

as Jorge Salles * Henrique Vieira as Frei Henrique * Ana Paula Bouzas as Maria * Adanilo as Danilo * Ana Paula Bouzas as Ana * Tuna Dwek as Ieda * Guilherme Lopes as Crespo * Rafael Lozano as Rafael * Charles Paraventi as Bob * Brian Townes as Wilson Chandler

Reception

''Marighella'' debuted at the

69th Berlin International Film Festival The 69th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 7 to 17 February 2019. French actress Juliette Binoche served as the Jury President. Lone Scherfig's drama film '' The Kindness of Strangers'' opened the festival. The Golden Bea ...

on February 14, 2019, but did not compete for the

Golden Bear Award Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. , of the reviews compiled by

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

are positive, with an average rating of . The film has also attracted social and political controversies. Stephen Dalton, writing for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'', observed that Moura presents Marighella as a martyr for liberal values even though the real Marighella was a self-proclaimed far-left Marxist. Marighella's ethnicity was also debated. He is portrayed as black in the film and played by a black actor. Many critics noted, however, that Marighella was actually mixed-race (his father was an Italian immigrant). Moura responded that "there's no way to discuss any social issue in Brazil without talking about racial issues. For me, Marighella had to be black." The movie was subject to politicized ratings on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

, leading the website to note that "unusual voting activity ad been detected.. An alternate weighting calculation has been applied." In 2022, IMDb offers an aggregate 6.6 (out of 10) ranking. Conservative digital activists low-ranked the film, which was countered by progressive activists and artists aligned with Moura offering high scores; in 2022, 95% of the film's rankings are at the extreme of 1 or 10. This distribution suggests that the majority of evaluations were based on ideology rather than cinematic quality; IMDb removed the activists' "critiques."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7825208 2019 biographical drama films 2019 films 2019 directorial debut films Brazilian biographical drama films Films about Brazilian military dictatorship