A Dog's Will

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A Dog's Will
File:O Auto da Compadecida.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGuel Arraes
Written by
Based onAuto da Compadecida by Ariano Suassuna
Produced byAndré Cômodo
Starring
CinematographyFélix Monti
Edited by
  • Ubiraci Motta
  • Paulo Henrique Farias
Music by
  • Grupo Sá Grama
  • Sérgio Campelo
Production
companies
  • Globo Filmes
  • Lereby Produções
Distributed byColumbia TriStar Film Distributors International
Release date
  • 10 September 2000 (2000-09-10)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryBrazil
Languages
  • Portuguese
  • Latin
Box officeR$11,496,994 ($4,903,192)

A Dog's Will[1] (Portuguese: O Auto da Compadecida, literally "The Compassionate Woman's Play", the woman being the Virgin Mary) is a 2000 Brazilian fantasy comedy film directed by Guel Arraes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Adriana Falcão and João Falcão. It is based on a similarly named play by Ariano Suassuna, with elements of some other of Suassuna's plays, The Ghost and the Sow and Torture of a Heart.

Plot

João Grilo (Matheus Nachtergaele), referred to as "Jack the Cricket” in the English subtitles, and Chicó (Selton Mello) are two poor men living in an arid, desert-like region of North-East Brazil in the 1930s.[2] João is constantly hungry and malnourished, relying on his charm and silver tongue to fool the townsfolk for his own gain. Chicó is a handsome but cowardly man who tells outlandish stories about his past.

Upon arriving in Taperoá, the two look for work from the town’s baker. The baker’s wife, Dora, dotes on her dog who is fed luxurious food, When João and Chicó. steal the dog’s food, it accidentally eats theirs and quickly falls ill. Desperate for help, Dora begs the duo to have the priest to bless her dog. João first attempts to convince the priest to bless the dog by saying it is owned by Major Antônio Morais, a wealthy landowner in the area, and later has the priest perform funeral rites for the dog by saying it left the church money. The Bishop, initially infuriated at the priest for this, walks back immediately once he learns he is able to take some of the money.

Dora seduces Chicó and attempts to sleep with him before being visited by her other suitor, the town bully Vicentão, and then her husband. João takes a job assisting Major Antônio Morais and picks his daughter Rosinha to bring her into town. Vicentão and Corporal Setenta are smitten but Rosinha immediately falls in love with Chicó. Morais wants to marry off Rosinha to a rich man and promises a dowry of a piggy bank filled with coins as left by his grandmother. João devises a plan to pit Vicentão and Corporal Setenta against each other which leaves Chicó the last suitor standing. Dressed up as a wealthy and educated man, Chicó asks for Rosinha’s hand in marriage from Morais but Chicó talks him into paying 200 crowns to the priest for church renovations which Morais pays for on behalf of Chicó and requests the “skin off his back” in the case that he should fail to pay it back.

Unable to pay the debt, the duo make a plan to fake Chicó’s death with a blood filled balloon with João riding into town pretending to be a bandit. On the day, actual bandits, led by the ferocious Severino raid the town and begin looting and killing. Severino rounds up the baker and his wife, the two church leaders, plus João and Chicó to be shot outside of the church. João manages to trick Severino into being shot by saying that his harmonica brings people back to life after stabbing Chicó in the blood-filled balloon, but is shot himself while trying to run away.

Arriving in the afterlife, the six dead members are all placed under trial by the Devil (Luís Melo) and is joined by Jesus Christ who oversees the trial. João begs for the Virgin Mary’s help and she arrives to convince Jesus to be forgiving. Before being executed, the baker forgave his wife for her adultery and the two church leaders forgave those who shot them - enough for them to land in purgatory instead of hell. Severino is absolved as his bandit ways started when police members killed his family as a child. The Devil attempts to take João but he is granted a second chance at life having been a poor but hopeful man his entire life.

Upon reviving, the duo donate all the money taken from the dead townsfolk in the name of the Virgin Mary. Chicó and Rosinha get married, attempting to use the dowry to pay off his debt, but it ends up being filled with worthless coins. Using a technicality (that the skin off his back should not come with a drop of blood), they manage to evade their debt. All three now penniless, they find bump into Jesus Christ posing as a hungry man on the road and share their bread with him.

Cast

Reception

The film was a critical and commercial success in Brazil—receiving four awards at the 2nd Grande Prêmio Cinema Brasil[3] and grossing R$11,496,994 ($4,903,192) with a 2,157,166 viewership[4]—,and in some South American countries like Chile and Venezuela.[citation needed] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% from audiences.

See also

References

  1. ^ Young, Deborah (June 21, 2001). "Review: 'A Dog's Will'". Variety. PMC. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  2. ^ "O AUTO DA COMPADECIDA - TRAMA PRINCIPAL". memoriaglobo.globo.com (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  3. ^ ""Eu Tu Eles" vence "Oscar Brasileiro"". O Estado de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Grupo Estado. February 11, 2001. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  4. ^ "Filmes Brasileiros Lançados - 1995 a 2012" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Ancine. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.

External links

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