After a gap of nearly eight years, Hector Babenco makes a full-length feature with a personal film “My Hindu Friend” [Bra. Title: Meu Amigo Hindu]. Confessing that this was something that he always wanted to make but never got around to, Babenco’s film isn’t biographical, but certainly draws some material from personal life. In his own words, “What you are about to watch is a story that happened to me and I present it in the way I know best.” Cinematic, it certainly is.
Diego (Willem Dafoe), a successful film writer-director, had been living with cancer for a number of years, and during this time, had also met and been living with Livia (Maria Fernanda Cândido). When his doctor suggests that he requires a bone marrow transplant in the US, and also warns him of the low probability of his survival, he proposes and weds Livia.
His brother reluctantly agrees to be the donor, but Diego’s surgery and its subsequent complications make his road to recovery harder; laying sedated during the day and having after-hour visitations from Death himself (Selton Mello), along with his suspender belt and stockings clad sidekick and wife. Their casual conversations, interspersed with games of chess, are among the more refreshing and amusing parts of the film.
Diego does however, manage to strike a new friendship with someone living – a young Hindu boy and fellow patient (Rio Adlakha), with whom he shares his stories and dreams. After returning home following his recovery, Diego realises that his marriage with Livia is nevertheless finished, with the illness being just one of the contributing factors. With an almost wiped-clean slate, Diego meets Sofia (Bárbara Paz), an actress and ardent fan of his work. Perhaps, there might now be a new story waiting to be written on it…
Babenco’s film makes frequent nods to the golden age of Hollywood, and in a way, is an ode to cinema itself. It’s a story about cheating death, a story about rebirth. Portions of the film, particularly those relating to Death, is reminiscent of a film by another Argentinian-born director Eliseo Subiela. Having said that, Mello and Dafoe take it to a far higher, engaging level. While the fact of Brazilian characters conversing in English takes a little bit of getting used to, the script is nevertheless coherent and mindfully avoids using local idioms that might not work quite so well in translation. Different in tone and intensity to his better known works such as Pixote and Carandiru, Babenco’s latest film comes out as something deeply personal, and the cast and crew appear to have done a commendable job in bringing it to life. Recommended Viewing..!
The Nudity: Ana Clara Fischer, Ondina Clais Castilho, Vera Barreto Leite, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Clara Choveaux, and Bárbara Paz
- Ana Clara Fischer appears briefly nude playing a woman that Diego follows one day, hears her chant Buddhist mantras, and they end up having sex (naturally!).
- Ondina Clais Castilho plays an understandably elderly Mrs Death.
- Vera Barreto Leite flashes her breasts during Diego’s after-wedding party.
- Maria Fernanda Cândido, as Livia, is briefly shown nude in the bathroom, and after Diego had seen her masturbating.
- Clara Choveaux plays a woman thrown out of a club and, surprisingly, has a no-holds-barred encounter with Diego. Finding him unable to satisfy her, she settles for something battery-powered – it’s an explicit scene verging on hardcore.
- Actress and possible future director Bárbara Paz plays Sofia and gives a delightful interpretation, almost in the nude, of a Gene Kelly from the golden era of Hollywood musicals. It’s made all the more endearing in that she starts the dance, as if to give us a hint, much earlier than the music kicks in. There is also a brief performance on stage, a sex scene, and a conversation in the nude preceding this memorable scene.
Bárbara Paz, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Clara Choveaux, and others from the Brazilian drama
“My Hindu Friend” aka “Meu Amigo Hindu” (2015).
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Compilation: Ana Clara Fischer, Ondina Clais Castilho, Vera Barreto Leite, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Clara Choveaux, and Bárbara Paz
Ana Clara Fischer, Ondina Clais Castilho, Vera Barreto Leite, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Clara Choveaux, and Bárbara Paz nude in “My Hindu Friend” aka “Meu Amigo Hindu” (2015, Brazil).
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Mirror 1: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Mirror 2: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
(Mirrors interchangeable. All three parts required. Unpack with Winrar)
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I bought the movie from livrariacultura and I noticed that when the prostitute gets thrown out of the bar and Diego has sex with her, the scene where she resorts to pleasure through mechanical means was kept but towards the end of the film.
In the rain sequences when the lightning bolts shine upon that actress, you can clearly see unnaturally, heavy handed censorship as she dances. Especially, the frontal views. The “rain” actress is clearly wearing a see-through dress, but I found it disheartening that there was censorship, given that “My Hindu Friend” was a Brazilian film.
I found it puzzling, too, why the rating for “My Hindu Friend” was given a 16 and up rating, given the explicit scene mentioned, while, according to a Brazilian friend of mine who used to be a member here, said “Bruna Surfistinha,” the Brazilian film that was on everyone’s lips that year, felt unimpressed by the movie and didn’t know why Bruna was so hot. He recommended another movie. Yet, Bruna is given a R18! To be fair, I haven’t watched Bruna, although I have that film as well.
So, I say again, dancing girl in the rain wearing see-through dress requires heavy censorship while in the same movie, there is a scene where a prostitute demonstrably pleasures herself receives a R16!
Thanks for the feedback Jacob.
I agree with the disappointment of Bruna Surfistinha – the only reason it was sensational was because the real Bruna and her blog was already well known before its release. But the film itself was very tame because the implied sex acts were conservatively shot. The R18 must’ve been for suggesting sex acts that were ‘beyond the ordinary’ rather than the actual nudity or sexual explicitness.
With regard to My Hindu Friend’s R16 rating, I guess Clara Choveaux’s sex scene is something that’s pretty much accepted as normal by mainstream society, despite its apparent explicitness (masturbation, erection, and stroking of penis were often seen in Brazilian films at least from the 70’s, but penetrative sex is rare).
I’m not aware of any censorship in the singin-in-the-rain scene – can you explain which part was censored? If some frames appear blocky or pixelated, that’s because of the DVD transfer itself.
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First, when I buy movies, especially, from your recommendations, I always refer back to the excellent collage of photos that is presented. So, then, I’m thinking, “where is that rain sequence?” When I saw the scenes, I was excited, because she was very beautiful with Defoe’s love scene. But as the rain sequences went on, I noticed noticeable mosaics every time lightning would cast a shadow.
I get it. It’s rated 16 but I feel that mosaics disrupt the artistry of the scene. Then again, TR, maybe I’m mistaken. If you can’t see it, and you review more often. I’m going to have to trust your judgement
Ah, so it is the blocky frames during the lightning sequence you’re talking about. These artefacts were entirely unintentional and happened either during the shoot, post-production or the DVD authoring.
I’ve never worked with raw video featuring lightning, but my guess – and it’s purely a guess – is that whenever you have dark and very bright frames appearing next to each other, it requires care in compensating for tone levels, saturation and detail according to the film speed.
If the scene were originally shot in film, it should be possible to avoid the pixelation during digital transfer. But if it was shot in digital with HDR settings, it might need frame-by-frame adjusting during post-production. If they choose an average of the dark and bright frames to speed up the job (in either of the three stages), you will get artefacts, which is what you see in the lightning sequences as mosaic effects.
That’s a shame really, because it is otherwise a great scene.
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