by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
This 1974 Danish travel documentary explores the uncanny and even excessive country of Brazil, where extreme poverty is met with occasional celebrations, such as Carnevale in Rio de Janeiro, which is of such riotousness that every year the government nervously attempts to impose some sort of control over it, just short of martial law. The film also travels through the huge provinces of unexploited jungle that are dotted here and there with riverside settlements. The contrast between the lives of the fabulously rich and the poor is sharply drawn, and the director (correctly) envisions a grim future for the native peoples.
