Mutum (film)


Mutum is a 2007 joint Brazilian/French drama film directed and co-written by Sandra Kogut. The script, developed by Kogut and Ana Luísa Martins Costa, is loosely based on Guimarães Rosa's novella. The story takes place on an isolated farm in Mutum, in the sertão of Minas Gerais. The film represented Kogut's fiction feature debut.

Production

Wishing to create a fictional storyline based upon real world experiences, "Kogut spent more than a year in the Brazilian countryside, getting to know local farmers and their families' and then chose to cast her film from those communities. As they were inexperienced, the lead child actors own names were used was to make character identification easier for them.

Plot

Thiago and his family live on a remote farm in the isolated backlands of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The family consists of his brutish father, his weak and ineffectual mother, his friendly Uncle Terez, his grandmother, and his four siblings - Felipe, Juliana, Brenda, and João. During an intense argument between his mother and father, Thiago cringes as his father accuses her of infidelity. Later, grandmother bans the Uncle Terez from the family home. His brother Felipe hurts his foot, and through lacking proper medical care he gets sick and dies. His Uncle later confides that his father has killed a neighbor. Thiago is forced to confront separations and betrayal within the home, and slowly begins to understand as he faces and lets go of his childhood innocence.

Cast

  • Thiago da Silva Mariz as Thiago
  • Wallison Felipe Leal Barroso as Felipe
  • Maria Juliana Souza de Oliveira as Juliana
  • Brenda Luana Rodrigues Lima as Brenda
  • João Vitor Leal Barroso as João Vitor
  • João Miguel as Le père
  • Izadora Fernandes as La mère
  • Rômulo Braga as Oncle Terez
  • Paula Regina Sampaio da Silva as Rosa
  • Maria das Graças Leal Macedo as La grand-mère
  • Pedro Trovão as Vacher Jé
  • Flavio Bauraqui as Seu Deográcias
  • Raimundo Nonato Soares da Silva as Luisaltino
  • Eduardo Moreira as Homme de la ville
  • Onilo José de Souza as Vacher Onilo
  • Wellington Fernando de Aguiar as Fernando
With the exception of João Miguel, Izadora Fernandes, Rômulo Braga and Eduardo Moreira, the cast is composed of non-professional actors chosen by the director and scriptwriter from inhabitants of the sertão of Minas Gerais, where filming took place.

Release

Mutum was well-received at multiple film festivals world-wide, and was eventually released in the United States as part of the Global Lens series, a series set to showcase international cinema and promote cross-cultural understanding.

Reception

Abus de Ciné felt the film captured the beauty and simplicity of childhood, and they praised Kogut's choice of using non-professionals in the roles of the children. They wrote the film Mutum was "a simple and authentic portrait of the lives of the Brazilian countryside, seen through the eyes of children, the pure vision we can take from this world to the raw beauty." Geo Euzebio of Tele Cine was positive in her review and gave the film 9 out of 10 stars. The adaptation of Campo Geral by J. Guimarães Rosa, was modified by director Kogut. She found when the original work sounded mechanical when recited by the actors, so she adapted the script and dialog to be based upon her own research and truer to the lives of the non-actors and the area in which they lived.

Awards and nominations