Hearts and minds | GZH

The conversations between cinema and politics do not always excite the general public. After a long period of indifference Among audiences in general, interest in titles with a political bias seems to have gained new momentum. A reflection, perhaps, of the intensification of ideological conflicts in the world and on social networks. A suitable breeding ground, perhaps, for a film like One Battle After Another was received enthusiastically by both critics and a wide audience – including Brazilians.

Mixing engaging pamphlet, action thriller and pop entertainment, the film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson denounces ultraconservatism in the United Statesembodied in the character of Sean Penn – a colonel with a Hitler-like topknot who dreams of being accepted by a brotherhood Supremacist branch and xenophobic, ridiculously called Christmas Adventurers Club. The retired guerrilla fighter played by Leonardo DiCaprio is an anachronistic idealist, who repeats old revolutionary slogans and spends the day stoned at home, watching films on TV like the militant cinema classic The Battle of Algiers (1966).

Betting on the crossing of cinematographic genres also seems to be the path adopted by Kleber Mendonça Filho to enhance his political drama The Secret Agent. Set in 1977 in Recife, where a university professor becomes involved with police authorities, political dissidents and marginal figures, the film flirts with the thriller and the fantasticwith generous doses of irony and absurdity – as is recurrent in the cinema of the director of The Sound Around (2012), Aquarius (2016) e Bacurau (2019). With premiere scheduled for November 6 in theaters, the film won the awards for best director and actor (Wagner Moura) at the Cannes Festival and was chosen for represent Brazil in the dispute for the Oscar for international production – who knows, perhaps coming to win twice in the last edition of I’m Still Hereanother national production about our lead years.

One Battle After Another e The Secret Agent are examples of films that encourage us to question both political reality and entertainment cinema, thus winning hearts and minds.