''Xica'' ( pt, Xica da Silva) is a 1976 Brazilian comedy film directed and written by Carlos Diegues, based on the novel by João Felício dos Santos, which is a romanticized retelling of the true story of

Chica da Silva Francisca da Silva de Oliveira (–1796), known in history by the name Chica da Silvahttp://dicionarioegramatica.com/2015/12/06/chica-ou-xica-da-silva-o-certo-e-xica-ou-chica-da-silva/ Chica ou Xica da Silva? in: DicionarioeGramatica.com and wh ...

,http://dicionarioegramatica.com/2015/12/06/chica-ou-xica-da-silva-o-certo-e-xica-ou-chica-da-silva/ Chica ou Xica da Silva? in: DicionarioeGramatica.com an 18th-century African

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in Brazil, who attracts the attention of a powerful Portuguese land-owner and eventually rises into the Brazilian high society. The movie stars Zezé Motta,

Walmor Chagas Walmor de Souza Chagas (28 August 1930 – 18 January 2013) was a Brazilian actor, director, and producer. He appeared in more than 50 films and television shows between 1965 and 2012. Chagas died on 18 January 2013, in his home in Guaratin ...

and

José Wilker José Wilker Almeida (20 August 1944 – 5 April 2014) was a Brazilian film, stage, and television actor and director. The actor gained fame in telenovelas like ''Roque Santeiro'' (1985), but became known internationally for his role as Vadinho, ...

. It was chosen as the Brazilian submission for the Academy Award for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

49th Academy Awards The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. ''Network'' and ''All ...

, but it failed to get a nomination.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Plot

The film is based on the novel ''Memórias do Distrito de Diamantina'', written by João Felicio dos Santos (who has a small role in the film as a Roman Catholic pastor). It is a romanticized retelling of the true story of

, an 18th-century African

in the state of Minas Gerais, who attracts the attention of João Fernandes de Oliveira, a Portuguese sent by

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 ...

with the Crown's exclusive contract for mining diamonds, and eventually becomes his lover, rises into power and into the Brazilian high society of the time. Moreover, João quickly lets the

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

and other authorities know that he can be bribed, and gets onto their

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

scheme. Eventually Lisbon hears of João's (and Xica's) excesses and sends an inspector. José, a political radical, is another main character, who provides Xica refuge.

Cast

* Zezé Motta as Xica da Silva (based on

) *

as João Fernandes * Altair Lima as Intendent *

Elke Maravilha Elke Maravilha ( Grünupp;Stepan Nercessian Stepan Nercessian (born 2 December 1953) is a Brazilian actor and politician of Armenian descent. Nercessian was born in Cristalina, Goiás; his career began in the late 1960s, in the film ''Marcelo Zona Sul''. He also acted on stage and televi ...

as José *

Rodolfo Arena Rodolfo Arena (15 December 1910 – 31 August 1980) was a Brazilian actor. He appeared in 90 films between 1920 and 1980. He starred in the 1974 film '' Sagarana: The Duel'', which was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival ...

as Sargeant *

as The Count of Valadares * Marcos Vinicius as Teodoro * João Felicio dos Santos as pastor

TV adaptation

In 1996, the now defunct TV station Rede Manchete successfully adapted the film plot to the telenovela format, directed by Walter Avancini, written by Walcyr Carrasco and starring

Taís Araújo Taís Bianca Gama de Araújo (; born 25 November 1978) is a Brazilian actress, TV host and model. Her first prominent role on television was in 1996 as protagonist of the Brazilian telenovela '' Xica da Silva'' by Walcyr Carrasco, in the Rede M ...

as the title character. This telenovela marked the first time an Afro-Brazilian actress played the lead role on a TV show. In 2005,

SBT sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala and Java projects, similar to Apache's Maven and Gradle. Its main features are: *Native support for compiling Scala code and integrating with many Scala test frameworks *Continuous compilation, t ...

re-aired ''Xica da Silva''.

References

External links

* * * {{Brazilian submission for Academy Awards 1976 comedy films 1976 films Brazilian comedy films Films based on Brazilian novels Films directed by Carlos Diegues 1970s Portuguese-language films

Plot

Cast

TV adaptation

See also

References

External links