FEATURE FILM 35 MM
WINDOW 1:85
SOUND DOLBY SR DIGITAL
DURATION 102 MIN

SINOPSE

On the 70’s, Brazil lived under a military dictatorship, when many political prisoners were incarcerated in a penitentiary in Ilha Grande, located on the coast of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Their contact with the common prisoners at the time is an important part of the history of violence in which the country stands today. “Almost Brothers” ("Quase Dois Irmãos") shows how the intimate relation and the established conflict between these two worlds created the Red Command, which later came to dominate the drug trafficking throughout the country.

Through two characters, Miguel, an intellectualized middle-class young man, political prisoner in Ilha Grande and today a member of Congress, and Jorge, the son of a samba composer that from a small burglar turns out becoming one the leaders of the Red Command, the film has as background the Brazilian political history of the last 50 years, larded by popular music, the link point between these two worlds. Today, a new encounter: Miguel has a daughter who is fascinated by the slums and transgression, and dates a young drug dealer. A new cycle begins.

JUSTIFICATION

Creating the project “Almost two brothers” ("Quase Dois irmãos") is a little like entering a tunnel of time. To relive a childhood in a privileged Rio de Janeiro in its black and white splendor. To relive the years of dictatorship where so many myths, amongst them that of the "good thief", the marginal-hero, were confronted to the hard reality of the jail, and finally to relive our daily existence in a city which is the example of world violence.

To be able to develop such a project, thought over in a fragmentary way, for some decades, means to be able to oppose those who want to treat violence as a fetish. If violence is ugly, whose interest is it to treat as glamorous characters drowning in blood?

"Quase Dois Irmãos" does not intend to be seen as an entertainment. Therefore the script is based on a number of interviews, almost as a story coverage. It doesn't intend to be self-referenced either, although some of the characters may remind us of somebody we know. That is why a thorough research plan was prepared. To avoid being deceived by our memories and to allow us to be tested by our hearts.

This film intends to show the transformation Rio de Janeiro went through for the last 50 years, from two different points of view: that of the middle class and that of those who live on the fringes of society. Therefore, the drama will cover the relationships and conflicts within two families.

Under the rhythm of the industrialization of the fifties, the emerging middle class romanticizes the scoundrel, the capoeira player and the samba dancer. Relationships were then friendly, marked by a certain paternalist affection, expressed in countless cultural productions. The intellectual world "discovers" the talents of the slums. And the slum does not threaten nor claims its rights.

During the dictatorship years, we will find these two archetypes in prison. Friendly relations do not stand their daily conflict. But besides their separation, their coexistence was a lesson to both sides. Middle class gets in touch with the transgressions - drug and homosexuality – they see in prison. (The very subjects which it will latter integrate in the debate on minorities.) The young bandit takes advantage of the activist organization to create his own organization.

During the 90s, once again, reality brings them back together. It is not a paternalist relation anymore, nor a conflict between equals, where both sides see themselves as being persecuted. As in the 50s, the middle classes reclaim their power in the civil society. But on the other side, they find a new power, created from the use of drugs by the middle class. A power that is not divested from its world, since the counterpoint of this reality is the indiscriminate use of drugs by the middle class itself.

I think the importance of "Quase Dois Irmãos" lies on the fact that it is able to confront those two worlds, those two points of view.

LÚCIA MURAT

MAKING OFF

INTERVIEW WITH LÚCIA MURAT

Lúcia Murat began her career as a journalist for the press and on television, where she directed innumerable programs and started to make documentaries. In the 90s she solidified her experience directing feature films, including: “Que Bom te ver viva”(How nice to See You Alive)(best film, 1989 Brasilia Festival), “Doces Poderes”(Sweet Power)(1996), Brava Gente Brasilera”(Brave New Land), and “Quase Dois Irmaos”(Almost Brothers) (2004 – Awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Fipresci Award for Best Latin-American Film at the Rio Film Festival). Her films have competed in the most important International Festivals such as Berlin, Sundance, and Toronto.

Why did you make “Almost Brothers” ? Where did you get the idea to film this story?

The most important stimulus for this film about the Ilha Grande Prison is a personal experience. I was a political prisoner during the military dictatorship and one of the things that impressed me most about this time was the impossibility of having a relationship, even in prison. This stayed in my head as a fascinating idea to be developed. For sure it was an amazingly dramatic experience.

But the real idea of the film was inspired by some teenage kids that I know today that started to hang out in the hill slums of Rio with drug dealers. So, in reality, the film starts today. It’s like a replay of my generation’s old times, of a situation that I already had lived through before. The main idea has various timeframes: a vicious circle. The film is ultimately an in-depth portrait of my generation..

There is also an aspect that interests me much, that is the social differences and the cultural links that the film manages to maintain the whole time, principally through music. I think that “Almost Brothers” also shows the need for us to break, in whatever way possible, this vicious circle. The cultural connection between these two worlds shows the way to a possible change, a possibility of encounter and admiration.

The screenplay is a bit of a puzzle, why did you decide not to tell the story chronologically?

When I wrote the first draft with Paulo Lins, who , having lived in the slums, felt that he had to deal with the other side, the side of the needy communities, we wrote it chronologically. But this was just an exercise, because this film was always a puzzle, exactly because of the “vicious circle” question. It was never just a story about Ilha Grande Prison or a kid that was hanging out with a drug dealer, but the repetition that goaded me on.

In all the interviews with the actors your ability to share the creative process with them, capturing the intervention that each one contributes, is made quite clear. How do you reconcile this almost collective creative process with your role as director?

I have always worked this way. I believe very strongly in collective creativity. I guess cinema is this. Cinema is not literature. We had a good script, with excellent dialogues, but when we started to film, it was transformed by the actors. I guess the best scenes in the film were fruit of this transformation. For me, script is something that must be transformed.

To make this film, which depended on a very large cast from the slums of Rio, I had to work with people who had very little professional acting experience. In addition to “Nos do Morro” ( “We of the Hill”, a theater group from the Vidigal hill slum), I also worked with “Nos do Cinema” ( “We of the Cinema”, a group formed after the filming of “Cidade do Deus”(City of God) to compose the contemporary scenes. But I also needed a lot of people to compose the 70’s scenes. To do the casting, we made an extremely rigorous selection directly with the slum communities( like Rocinha, Mare, etc.), besides the already mentioned groups. Afterwards we ran a workshop with 80 selected people and, during this process, the actors were chosen and selected for the roles they ended up interpreting. This experience was fundamental to give life to the script. That is to say, the central idea always existed, but the way things were done was totally influenced by them.

Parallel to this, the main actors (Caco Ciocler and Flavio Bauraque) also contributed a lot to the script. Not only because they took part in the workshop, but also because they discovered and got into the connection that existed between the two characters. The film demanded this, demanded that these two people really have a profound encounter. And this encounter couldn’t be just verbal, it had to be through feelings. I guess this was accomplished.

What is most important for you now that the film is finished?

I guess that “Almost Brothers” speaks of an encounter between two worlds. And, in this sense, the connecting point is the music. At the same time, it is a violent film, a dramatic film. What surprised me in the end is that this mixture is beautiful.

The musical contribution of Nana Vasconcelos is extremely important. It was a very beautiful interpretation of the film, very affective. He, as well as Paulo Lins, brings the other side to the film and joins these two worlds. I guess the film goes to the meeting of these two worlds in an extemely lyrical interpretation , that I like a lot.

INTERVIEW WITH PAULO LINS

Tell us a little about the creation of the script, which deals with a recent time, but one so little known by Brazilians..

When Lúcia Murat called me to write the script she already knew the film she wanted to make, the idea was already well defined.. “Almost Brothers” speaks of a time that Lúcia and I experienced viscerally.. In this sense both our realities come together in the script.. The interesting thing is that we are talking about a period that people know little about.. The film shows the roots of all the criminality present in our society today..

The phenomenon of criminality is recognized as one of the most serious problems facing Brazil in the last 20 years.. Deaths related to drug dealing, kidnappings and robberies are shocking.. This is why 𠇊lmost Brothers” is such an important project., not just because of its subject , but also because of the large number of people that it will reach, since cinema has a much wider public than literature..

How did you get into the creation process for the characters?

Lúcia had the argument defined.. Starting from there we did the research together, we interviewed people who had lived at that time, debated and conversed a lot.. Lúcia stayed with a part, and I with the other..

This was the easiest script that I ever did.. The two of us liked what the other had written, so the process flowed very easily.. Writing a script is craziness, a process that doesn’t end until the filming starts., but the backbone of this project was easy to do..

What most called your attention in the creation of “Almost Brothers”?

I guess it was the learning process. I read a lot about the period of armed struggle in Brazil. There are people who say you make films learning and I learned a lot ;it was an extremely enriching process..

Aside from this , the perspective gained from working on “Almost Brothers” interested me for showing me the reality that the argument presented. When I wrote my novel, it was an experience of romance and reality in one of the most violent slums in Rio de Janeiro, where I lived for 25 years and did anthropological research for 8.. I was very happy with “Cidade de Deus”. , which was published by the Companhia das Letras in 1997, because of the debate it caused in various segments of society.

INTERVIEW WITH JACOB SOLITRENICK

How did you decide to shoot “Almost Brothers”?

This film was basically shot with a hand-held camera. Lúcia and I have worked together for a long time, this time it was in partnership. The director says how the film is to be shot, the movement, and then the photography director begins enlarging on that vision..

I think the photography of “Almost Brothers” is very much like a documentary. Obviously there is this feeling in the script, but when the scene is actually being shot, with all its strength and all its limitations, that’s when the story really happens, and everything that was written becomes real. I think a film set has its own life: its the actors placed in a certain way, the light, all the equipment ready, the crew concentrated on one point. This is what gives life to a film, enriching the daily life of a film production I think in this partnership , Lúcia called me in more for the camerawork than the lighting. My camerawork was a major influence on the film “A Sky of Stars”, and it was the language of the handheld camera which is also very much present in this film..

To be able to leave the actors in the dark, for example, is to have the possibility of playing with this dramatic language .The scene in which Miguelzinho is flirting with the deaf girl was shot totally in the dark and emotionally moved the whole crew. The absolute lack of image can be emotional and dramatic and in this instance was especially powerful.

As far as language, what effect do you think the handheld camera brings to the film?

A film shot with a handheld camera is different from a film where nothing is distorted. A handheld camera is much more organic, more alive. It could be nervous or not, but that is not really the question. I have seen many films shot smoothly with a handheld. Unquestionably, it’s a much more sensitive operation. One step here or one step there changes the frame entirely. I think the handheld camera gives me more agility, more freedom.

How is the script directed through the photography of the film?

We are talking about concept. The photography is directly connected to composition. It is impossible to do good photography when the composition is bad. I get an idea of the lighting when I read the script, when I discuss it with the director, with the art director. A concept is created that has to be very strong to be maintained during the entire film, with all the interferences that occur during the process of filmmaking. So the more well-defined the concept, the better. Even if the concept is not to have a concept..

In this the highpoint of the photography is the contrast. There are very deep blacks but at the same time nothing is exaggerated or void of glamour. Glamour is definitely from the 50s, when we desired more composed photography. So we worked with a more classic composition. On the other hand, mainly in the prison shots, I wanted this heaviness very much. It was this that I strived for..

This film had a long post-production phase, which is the possibility of working in movies. What I want to look for is the limit of darkness making possible the dramatic weight that I think the film demands for its photographic language. To find this tone is a constant search. For me, that’s what making film is about.

What was your motivation for working on “Almost Brothers”?

Working with cinema you can always go further, you are always evolving. I think that the moment you can deliver the emotion that the director wants, you have reached your goal. When you have reached this point, you become an artist. The pleasure is in this: you try to be an artist.

To work this way it’s important to be organized, but at the same time, adaptable, quick thinking. You have to be constantly creating an ambiance, and, at the same time, maintaining technical standards, working with a team. All this motivates me, I like it. I love to live with these challenges and to use my cerebral side to solve things. At the same time to achieve the desired images and help the actor achieve his emotion: the whole process is incredible...