The Age of the Earth

1980 Brazilian film directed by Glauber Rocha

November 17, 1980 (1980-11-17)^[1]

Running time

154 minutesCountryBrazilLanguagePortuguese

The Age of the Earth (Portuguese: A Idade da Terra) is a 1980 Brazilian avant-garde film directed by Glauber Rocha. It was his final film.

The film had its world premiere at the Golden Lion competition of the 1980 Venice Film Festival.

Cast

Maurício do Valle as John Brahms
Jece Valadão as Indigenous Christ
Antonio Pitanga as Black Christ
Tarcísio Meira as Military Christ
Geraldo Del Rey as Guerilla Christ
Ana Maria Magalhães as Aurora Madalena
Norma Bengell as Amazonas' Queen
Carlos Petrovich as the Devil
Mário Gusmão as Babalawo
Danuza Leão
Paloma Rocha

Production

Rocha started the film in 1975 and planned to shoot it in Los Angeles, and subsequently proposed it in Paris, Rome, Mexico and Venezuela, but was unable to obtain financial support.^[2]^[3]

It was finally shot in Bahia, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro.^[1]

Reception

It was Rocha's last film and the one that caused the most controversy.^[4]

It was produced by Embrafilme, a state-funded company, during the Brazilian military dictatorship, despite this, filmmakers had some level of creative freedom while shooting, the dictatorship used to impose its heavy censorship after productions had been completed. Rocha himself had been living in exile during the 70's, after numerous attempts of the censorship were made to Entranced Earth (1967) and Antonio das Mortes (1969).^[5]

Regardless, it was boycotted by international critics and "crucified" at the 1980 Venice Film Festival,^[6]^[7] especially after an argument between Rocha and Louis Malle at the presence of numerous journalists, shortly after the Golden Lion results were announced.^[8] Atlantic City, directed by Malle, had won the main prize and was deemed imperialist, by Rocha: "You won because your film was produced by Gaumont, an imperialist multinational"^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b "A Idade da Terra" (in Portuguese). Cinemateca Brasileira. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
^ Johnson, Randal; Stam, Robert (1995). Brazilian Cinema. Columbia University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780231102674.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Wrigley, Richard (2008). Cinematic Rome. Troubador Publishing. p. 137. ISBN 9781906510282.
^ Tendler, Silvio (August 25, 2006). "Glauber, o artista como filósofo". Terra Magazine (in Portuguese). Terra Networks. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
^ "O Estado de S. Paulo - Acervo Estadão". Acervo. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
^ Pizzini, Joel (March 2011). "O triunfo da beleza e da justiça". Revista Cult (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
^ "Ecco i film di Venezia". La Stampa. August 9, 1980.
^ ^a ^b Filho, William Helal (2020-09-09). "'Quebro sua cara, fascista': A briga de Glauber Rocha com Louis Malle que entrou para história do Festival de Veneza". Blog do Acervo - O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-08-12.