Directors: Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
Writer: Marcos Bernstein, Millor Fernandes, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
Actors: Alberto Alexandre, Fernando Alves Pinto, Alexandre Borges
Production Co.: Videofilmes, Animatógrafo
Country: Brazil, Portugal
Year: 1996
Language: Dialogue in Portuguese with optional English subtitles.
Format: DVD
[ratings]
Summary: The film “Terra Estrangeira” of Walter Salles tells the story of Paco (Fernando Alves Pinto), a young Brazilian man, who, after being devastated by the sudden death of his mother, embarks on a journey to fulfill his mother’s life-long dream: to go back to San Sebastian, Spain, where she had been born. He is only able to finance his trip by delivering a package to Portugal. In Portugal he encounters a problem and his destiny becomes entangled with that of Alex (Fernanda Torres), a beautiful Brazilian immigrant who is also living in Portugal. [Student summary, PORT 020_S13]
The film Terra Estrangeira is the story about the lives of two Brazilians cross paths in Lisbon. The film takes place in Lisbon and in San Paulo during the early 1990’s, when Brazil was facing one of its biggest financial crises Paco is a 21-year old Brazilian man who is living with his mother. His mother dreams of going back to San Sebastian, her hometown, but dies before she ever fulfills this dream. While he is the mourning the death of his mother, Paco meets Igor, a wealthy Brazilian man who imports illegal products into Lisbon. Paco decides that he must fulfill his mother dream, and Igor pays for Paco’s flight to Europe. All Paco needs to do in return is to wait for Igor’s friend at a hotel in Lisbon, where his friend will pick up the package. The audience is also introduced to Alex, a Brazilian woman living in Lisbon with her heroine-addicted boyfriend. Paco needs to deliver Igor’s package but does not know where or to whom to give it to, since Igor’s friend dies. He eventually meets Alex while trying to find out whom to give it to, which is when their problems really begin. Throughout the film, the characters encounter racism, financial struggles, relationship issues and existential crises.
The film is about two people trying to find themselves in a land that is not their own. Their biggest problem is trying to find a place where they can be themselves and that is their home. The film in focuses on us vs. them mentality, and pinpoints this as the root of most problems. Language is perhaps their biggest struggle. During the film, Alex says: “As, I get older, I become more aware of my accent. It is as if my voice is offending them.” Language distinguishes the outsiders, and reveals the past they intended to hide. It is implied that Alex went to Lisbon because she would feel at home. Even though, she speaks the same language, and this helps her assimilate to this country, she will always be an outsider.
This is an interesting film depicting the struggles of three different people during the big financial crisis of Brazil. Manuela, an older woman whose only want in her later life is to return to San Sebastian, Spain with her son. Her son, Paco, who is completely Brazilian and has dreams of performing on stage, which get cut short in a twisted turn of life and death. And Alex, a wanderer from Brazil who just can’t seem to get her life together due to a trail of drugs, theft, and death that never seems to end in happiness.
This film follows the lives of Paco, a newly-orphaned adolescent Brazilian boy who aspires to be an actor, and Alex a young Brazilian woman living in Lisbon, ultimately searching for herself and happiness but deeply entrenched in illegal ongoings. The two strangers meet in Lisbon after Paco travels overseas illegally with the goal of seeing his late mother’s hometown of San Sebastian in northern Spain. These two troubled and lost individuals take off running for San Sebastian looking for answers and a new life.
Terra estrangeira presents various different perspectives concerning what it means to be a “foreigner.” In the case of Manuela, being a foreigner is the result of clinging to fond memories of the past and of beloved family members. For Paco, being a foreigner means having to begin life anew from almost nothing. For Alexa and Miguel, it is the inability to successfully adapt to a new society, whether referring to culture, lifestyle, or simply profession. Though each character struggles with his or her own form of being a foreigner, the film ultimately illustrates that these differences can be trivial in the grand scheme of feeling out of place and alone.
Terra Estrangeira is a beautiful film – it made me wish my life was in black and white. Aside from the impresive esthetics and great soundtrack, the plot does a good job of addressing large issues of transnational identity.
Terra estrangeira is a film that unfolds through danger, love, and death experienced by lost and confused foreigners, Alex and Paco. With Alex pursuing a new life after the death of her love one and Paco pursuing to reach the homeland of her dead mother and also looking for a new life, they find themselves confused and under great danger at the cost of attempting to flee to a new place. The film establishes an effective plot that reveals the idea of “new life” to also mean a “new place” along with all the troubles that immigration entails.