Caramuru

One of my favorite Brazilian movies is Caramuru, a historic parody about the "discovery" of Brazil. I wish there was an actual serious historic film about colonization in Brazil, but my experience with Brazilian culture has been that when it comes to sensitive, painful parts of history, they tend to be glossed over or satirized in order to cope with the collective memory of that period or event. In the US, we tend just to completely romanticize or "edit" details to our liking, especially in Hollywood.

In any event, if you haven't seen it already, go out and rent it! Here's one of the very funny scenes, where the Native American negotiates with the Portuguese explorer.

Comments

[Tritone]

"go out and rent it"

Where?

[Ashley, the Accidental Olympian]

Ah America the land of the romantic story with no facts.

'Then the Pilgrims landed and were welcomed by the Indians. The Indians taught the pilgrims how to hunt, and fish, and farm. After living together for a year the Indians and the Pilgrims had a feast and called it Thanksgiving.'

Um, how about NO.

[Rio Gringa]

Tritone, Netflix has lots of international films. You could look there.

Ashley - it took four years of college to undo my entire elementary education on American history--thankfully!

[Marisa]

Rachel, have you watched The Mission?

[Julie]

I LOVE this movie!!! I had a Brazilian Cinema class last semester which was taught by my Portuguese professor (from Minas) and this is one of the films we watched. Speaking of satire, have you read the book "Macunaíma" by Mário de Andrade?

[Eric]

If you're interested in a film about Brazilian history, you might try 'How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman', which touches on the colonial period.

There is also a documentary called 'O Povo Brasileiro,'which is modeled on the book and includes interviews with Darcy Ribeiro. It's really interesting in examining how the Brasilindian, Portuguese, Dutch, and African influences contributed to Brazilian culture.

[Ashley, the Accidental Olympian]

Rachel, you know what's a good read? Lies My Teacher Told Me. It goes through the various myths of high school/elementry school education and exposes the flaws
in the American medthod of teaching History.

I wouldn't try to read it straight through, but a chapter here or there will give you a LOT to think about.