Jango (film)
Encyclopedia
Content summary
The film traces the life of João GoulartJoão Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart was a Brazilian politician and the 24th President of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on April 1, 1964. He is considered to have been the last left-wing President of the country until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.-Name:João Goulart is...
, 24th President of Brazil
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil is both the head of state and head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Armed Forces...
, who was deposed by a military-led coup on March 31, 1964 after he proposed a broad program of reforms in areas such as land
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
, education
Education reform
Education reform is the process of improving public education. Small improvements in education theoretically have large social returns, in health, wealth and well-being. Historically, reforms have taken different forms because the motivations of reformers have differed.A continuing motivation has...
and elections
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
. Goulart was popularly known as "Jango", therefore the title of the film, released exactly 20 years after the coup. Goulart's life is reproduced through archive footage and interviews with important political icons such as Afonso Arinos
Afonso Arinos
-Works:* Os jagunços * Pelo sertão In the XIX th century, Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco was recognized as one of the most influential intellectuals of his time. His work is part of Brazils' most prestigious literature and contains a strong message of social criticism....
, Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
, Celso Furtado
Celso Furtado
Celso Monteiro Furtado was an important Brazilian economist and one of the most distinguished intellectuals of his country during the 20th century. His work focuses on development and underdevelopment and on the persistence of poverty in peripheral countries throughout the world...
, Frei Betto
Frei Betto
Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo, O.P., better known as Frei Betto is a Brazilian writer, political activist, liberation theologist and Dominican friar. He was imprisoned for four years by the military dictatorship for smuggling people out of Brazil...
and Magalhães Pinto
Magalhães Pinto
José de Magalhães Pinto was a Brazilian politician and banker.Magalhães Pinto was born in Santo Antônio do Monte, the state of Minas Gerais. He was the Governor of this state from 1961 to 1966. While governor, Magalhães Pinto became the leading civilian in the opposition movement...
, among others. The film was promoted under the suggestive tagline "Como, quando e por que se derruba um presidente" ("How, when and why a President is overthrown").
The documentary captures the effervescence of Brazilian politics of the early 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
under the context of Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Jango narrates exhaustively the details of the coup and extends itself to the first resistance movements against the dictatorship, ending with the death of the President in exile on Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and images of his funeral, which were originally forbidden by the military regime.
The film is narrated by José Wilker
José Wilker
José Wilker de Almeida is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and TV, born in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Northeast of Brazil.-Filmography:* A falecida * A vida provisória * Estranho triângulo...
and the original score was composed by Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento
-Biography:Nascimento's mother was the maid Maria Nascimento. As a baby, Milton Nascimento was adopted by his mother's former employers: the couple Josino Brito Campos, a banker employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician; and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer...
and Wagner Tiso, while historian Denise Goulart, Jango's only daughter, was one of its associate producers.
Box office
According to the Ministry of Culture of BrazilMinistry of Culture (Brazil)
The Ministry of Culture of Brazil was created in 1985.-External links:*...
, Jango took over half a million people to the movie theaters, becoming the sixth highest grossing documentary of Brazilian cinema. Other two films directed by Tendler, O Mundo Mágico dos Trapalhões and Anos JK (about Juscelino Kubitschek, of whom Goulart was Vice-President), are respectively the first and fourth films on the list.
Awards
Jango received the Golden Daisy Award for Best Documentary Feature from the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops. It also received three awards at the Gramado Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Havana Film FestivalHavana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Spanish-language filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as Festival of New Latinamerican Cinema of La Havana.The festival takes place...
.
See also
- List of films depicting Latin American military dictatorshipsFilms depicting Latin American military dictatorshipsThis is a list of movies that, in one way or another, are closely related to the military dictatorships in Latin America that appeared during the context of the Cold War.-Argentina:* Funny Little Dirty War * The Official Story...