Four days in September
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Four days in September |
| Original title | O Que É Isso, Companheiro? |
| Country of production | Brazil , USA |
| original language | Brazilian Portuguese |
| Publishing year | 1997 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bruno Barreto |
| script |
Leopoldo Serran Fernando Gabeira (novel) |
| production | Lucy Barreto |
| music |
Chico Buarque de Hollanda Stewart Copeland Pietro Mascagni |
| camera | Félix Monti |
| cut | Isabelle Rathery |
| occupation | |
| |
Four days in September (original title O Que É Isso, Companheiro?) Is a political thriller by the Brazilian director Bruno Barreto from 1997. Alan Arkin can be seen in a leading role .
The film is about the US ambassador to Brazil being taken hostage by a small group of resistors during the military dictatorship. The basis for this was the autobiographical report The Guerrillas Are Tired by Fernando Gabeira about the kidnapping of the US Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick for 78 hours on September 4, 1969 by the guerrilla movement Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro (MR-8; dt. About Revolutionary Movement 8th October).
Four days in September celebrated in 1997 at the Berlin International Film Premiere , then still under the title The guerrillas are tired .
action
The film follows the two friends Renée and Marcão, who join a group of left-wing resistance fighters. They have to keep the fact that they know each other a secret, as friendship and personal acquaintance are generally not desired. They are provided with bogus identities and subjected to extensive training.
The aim of the unit they have joined is the kidnapping of the US ambassador in order to release imprisoned comrades. During the hostage-taking and interrogation, a personal relationship between some of the kidnappers and their hostage develops that threatens to become a problem.
In this way, the film deals with the human side of a political resistance movement and the problem of violent resistance against a dictatorial regime and sensitively depicts the different characters of the protagonists.
criticism
The film was largely received positively, among other things it was nominated for the Oscar for best foreign language film and the Golden Bear . Because of its low distribution, it was hardly noticed in Germany.
After the Berlinale, Bettina Bremme wrote for the Latin American News: “It is definitely positive that Barreto renounces common clichés and black and white painting and tries to approach all the people involved with the same openness. [...] The film, on the other hand, is hardly interested in the political background of the kidnapping, which leads to a narrowing of the perspective in a different way: the military dictatorship and the role of US foreign policy [...] - all of this remains shadowy and vague. "
Miscellaneous
- In Germany the film has not yet been released on DVD or VHS. There is only one DVD with the English subtitled original and the French-language dubbed version, which is distributed in Canada by Alliance Atlantis .
- Latin American news reports: "At the Berlinale press conference, ex-guerrilla Francisco [sic!] Gabeira, based on whose literature the film was made, and the kidnapper's daughter sat together on the podium to present the film."
literature
Gabeira, Fernando: The guerrillas are tired . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1982.
Web links
- Four days in September in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A BBC briefing
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lorenz kidnapping: Just the dress rehearsal? , Der Spiegel March 3, 1975
- ^ [1] Berlinale archive
- ^ [2] Review on Latin American News