2007 Syracuse International Film Festival
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DOSSIER 2006
The official online publication of the
Syracuse International Film Festival, Vol.3
A Point of Contact Production
Playing In The Dark - Brazil
Toni Venturi , Director
107 minutes
This gripping drama explores the inner world of a Brazilian socialist revolutionary on the run. Sheltered in a “safe” apartment in what appears to be Sao Paulo, Thiago is wounded but undaunted. Filmmaker Toni Venturi seamlessly veers us back and forth in time. Sequences of political upheaval, recent memory, and present incident are interwoven so powerfully that we become a surrogate part of the hero’s psyche. Seething with the need to take action, the impassioned fugitive finds himself clashing on various ideological and emotional levels with his comrades and others affected by similar activism, in the past…or in the moment. What results is a multi-layered portrait of driven men and women who risk their lives “playing in the dark.” It is a dangerous playground where toys are lethal, playmates are suspect, and the rule of the game is peril. This is a film that looks its subject square in the eye. Venturi’s camera approaches raw brutality and tender emotion with equal honesty; the former in unflinching scenes of torture, fear and hiding; the latter in moving sequences that touch upon the need for human interaction. For the charismatic Leonardo Medeiros it is a tour de force. Hunted and haunted, his Guevara-like fighter never loses sight of his cause. Women seem to embody the varied aspects of his life. Sacrifice. Courage. Vision. There is his lost, captured comrade, she who endures torture with a strength that bespeaks martyrdom. There is pretty, loyal Rosa, the woman in the safe house. Alluring, ultimately surprising, Rosa nurtures even as she beckons. And there is Dona Nene, the mature neighbor whose unexpected maternal presence brings a breath of old world civility and a voice of reason into the fearful universe of the pursued. First-rate performances, a sense of authenticity, and a distinctly Brazilian esthetic prevail, most notably in the score. Sometimes the music is primal, tribal, and ominous. Other times it is seductive, languid, and hypnotic. Always it evokes the scene. A stunning coda dedicates this compelling piece to the Brasilians who confronted darkness…and in the fight for freedom paid with their lives.