Vazante Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Vazante Blu-ray Movie Review

Home on the Range, Brazilian style.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 18, 2018

The shocking, horrifying reality of slavery underlies much of the visceral intensity of Vazante, a strikingly shot if sometimes narratively fractured study of a widower in Brazil in 1821. But it’s perhaps another kind of subjugation, namely the perceived “inferiority” of women, that also gives this film a really shattering emotional component, especially as the story develops in a slow but inexorable way. Despite the fact that one of Vazante's immediate strengths is its lustrous black and white cinematography, the film actually begins with a sound — the strange, intense, and yet weirdly soothing noise of a torrential downpour. A woman is in the throes of labor and in just the first of several kind of discursive presentational elements, co-writer and director Daniela Thomas lets the viewer know the woman has not survived by simply letting the camera drift to a limp arm and hand while a midwife suddenly stops her repeated urging of, “Push! Push!” The rain is the constant as the film segues to farmer Antonio (Adriano Carvalho), who is managing to make it through a drenched jungle despite riding a horse in his bare feet. Antonio is being followed by what seem to be “established” slaves under his care, as well as what is perhaps a “new shipment”, a disturbing aggregation of men shackled around their necks and arms in a revolting display of man’s inhumanity to man. Antonio pauses at an almost impossibly beautiful riverbank (this film juxtaposes some of the most awe inspiring geography with some of the most unsettling behaviors imaginable), and it soon becomes apparent that he must be the husband and ostensible father of the woman who we’ve just seen die. That revelation comes in the form of Antonio’s shocked outburst of anger when one of his longtime slaves shows him that clothes for what Antonio assumes will be his infant son have gotten soiled on the journey. Antonio is having none of it, and insists his charges clean the clothes in the slow moving river, leading to some subdued reactions among the slaves that clearly show they can’t quite believe what a fool their “master” is.

There are a number of rather shocking moments scattered throughout Vazante (the name of the film refers to a northern Brazil region), but some of them are shocking because they are rolled out in an almost happenstance manner. One of the first of these comes as Antonio makes what he thinks is his triumphal return to his isolated ranch, followed by his horde of new slaves (in shackles), and with his trunks full of new clothes for his assumed baby boy also in tow. There’s just a hint of the conquering hero in Antonio’s smile as he looks around the courtyard of his farmhouse, but then one of his servants (meaning slave, of course) simply comes out on a veranda and almost casually informs him that his wife and baby are dead. In what is arguably one of few overly melodramatic missteps the film makes, Antonio shreds the baby’s clothes in despair.

Things seem to be getting into soap operatic territory when a number of family dysfunctions spill into the story. Antonio’s mother-in-law is completely addled both by her old age and the recent death of her daughter (a death she is either sincerely unaware of, or is denying with all the might she can muster). But then the brother of Antonio’s dead wife shows up with his family in tow. The brother, Batholomeu (Roberto Audio), has been shut out of his family’s fortunes since his dead sister got the land and buildings to offer Antonio as her dowry, but that has only engendered bitterness in Batholemeu’s wife, Ondina (Sandra Corveloni), who keeps goading her husband to try to get something out of the death of his sister, while at the same time repeatedly threatening to leave what she considers a verdant prison.

Antonio’s shock at the death of his wife and baby lead to a series of events that actually puts Batholomeu in even less of a position to challenge Antonio’s inheritance, and there’s a weirdly underdeveloped plot where one of the new slaves, Lider (Toumani Kouyaté), a guy whose tattoos seem to hint at some kind of noble status, has a chance to escape but chooses instead to save Antonio. It seems to be leading to some kind of further plot mechanics, but those by and large never really arrive. Instead, the film focuses on Antonio’s marriage to Beatriz (Luana Nastas), the adolescent daughter of Odina and Batholomeu, while also following a simultaneously unfolding subplot involving a free black man named Jeremias (Fabricio Boliveira) who wants to help Antonio port his acreage over from mining (which has petered out) to actual farming.

Things get even more potentially melodramatic with a little “forbidden love” angle involving both Antonio and a slave woman as well as Beatriz and the son of that slave woman. Beatriz's almost forced maturation as a married woman plays against the treatment of the slaves, and even Jeremias' treatment of the slaves turns out to be (ironically) racially tinged. It sounds like it’s simply too much when it’s trotted out in a summary like this, and truth be told the film could have definitely used a bit of judicious editing to help it achieve a more consistent focus, but what really impresses consistently throughout Vazante is how authentic and lived in all of the characters seem. Even if some of the story elements never quite gel, Vazante is an incredibly memorable experience “merely” from both visual and audio standpoints. Thomas and cinematographer Inti Briones as well as the sound design team provide what amounts to almost a phantasmagoria of sensory input, two things that make this ultimately nightmarish tale seem almost dreamlike.

Vazante Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vazante is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. I unfortunately haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data on the shoot, but one way or the other, this is an awesome looking transfer that (with just a couple of minor exceptions) offers sterling clarity and detail levels, as well as gorgeously rendered gray scale and true, deep blacks. Thomas and Briones favor a lot of extreme close-ups, and fine detail is typically extremely precise looking in these moments, to the point that you can clearly see the bloodshot "tracks" in Antonio's eyes at several key moments. The many scenic interstitials (some of which are arguably extraneous to the story, even if they help to establish place and mood) offer substantial depth of field, if somewhat less fulsome fine detail levels. Several scenes play out in what looks like natural lighting or even candlelight, and some of the interior moments look just slightly murky, without the impeccable fine detail levels that most of the transfer offers.

Vazante Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vazante features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks, but this is one listening experience where you definitely want the surround experience if your home theater setup allows for it. The sound design on this film is nothing short of awesome, introducing near hallucinatory effects (I almost thought there was some kind of error when the first of these started up early in the film). Seemingly "quiet" scenes will include not just the rustle of ambient environmental effects dotting the surrounds, but also patently weird wisps of half muttered dialogue and odd, almost electronic sounding at times, foley effects that dot in and out of the side channels. It's almost consistently enveloping and helps the film to sustain its really distinctive mood. Dialogue is also rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are offered.

Vazante Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Masterclass with Director Daniela Thomas at Princeton University's Brazil Lab (1080p; 37:03) is a really interesting round table of sorts with Lilia M. Schwartz (University of Sao Paolo), Pedro Meira Monteiro (Professor of Spanish and Portuguese) and Joao Biehle (Professor of Anthropology).


• Behind the Scenes Featurettes (1080p; 14:10) offers a selection of brief EPKs with snippets from the film and cast and crew interviews. It's almost shocking in a way when things cut from the near chiarascuro of the film to color interstitial interviews.


• Trailer (1080p; 1:37)

Vazante Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vazante could have used some paring of its many narrative strands, and even some of the interstitial scenery might have been trimmed to no real detriment, but the film has an almost majestic (if tragic) power that unfolds inexorably over its running time. The film is often bleak and hard to handle on a purely emotional level, but it is definitely one of the more memorable viewing experiences I've had so far this year. Technical merits are first rate, and Vazante comes Highly recommended.