Garrincha: Joy of the People

Glory with Idle Hands

At one-hour's runtime, Garrincha, alegria do povo [1963] constitutes via cinéma direct the 1958 and 1962 heyday of Mané Garrincha, the Brazilian futbol mega dribbler, at the times of two successive World Cups. Death struck in 1983: "Women and alcohol were his passion, and the cause of his later decadence. After a glorious career, he died in financial misery, forgotten." It's not within my mandate to implicitly galvanize an international co-production of a biopic called "Garrincha: Bird of the Sport," no matter how 'well' Garrincha's story would lend itself to an ersatz facsimile of the slums or to color-commrntary on Garrincha's trademark bowed legs à la garrincha which allowed for the most unpredictably successful dribbles and goal-shots. He had fathered with the same woman 12 children by the time of the '62 matches. A worthy film, but a film that seems to stand alone and distant from the man of its hour: a man garrincha stuck in a cabinet clock, skipping to radial influential revolutions. •

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My Writings on the Complete Joaquim Pedro de Andrade

(This 3-disc Blu-ray set was issued by Kino in 2018.)

O poeta do Castelo [The Poet of Castelo, 1959]

O mestre de Apipucos [The Master of Apipucos, 1959]

Couro de gato – (La peau du chat) [Cat Skin, 1960]

Garrincha, alegria do povo [Garrincha: Joy of the People, 1963]

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