The story takes us to Vitoria, Espírito Santo a state in southeast Brazil, in one year period time beginning on December 31st, 1982. We are introduced to biologist Suzano (Johnny Massaro), his sister nurse Maura (Clara Choreaux), nephew Muriel (Alex Bonini), and his circle of friends. Suzano is back from France where his “rich Gringo daddy” waits for him. Rose Moreau (Renata Carvalho) is a trans friend of Suzano, we watch her walking outside a clinic in need of help, she is in bad shape and yelling a lot but, after a brief encounter with Maura, all the energies change. It is New Year´s eve and there is a party at Genet, the town’s queer meeting place. However, Suzano is not in the mood for partying, he chooses to spend the night in a quiet place, the small house he owns nearby, in the tropical forest. Uncertainty is in the air.
Humberto as the cameraman, records Rose in her dressing room getting ready for a show, people at Genet singing and dancing, its a video exercise in a film. Recordings are also of the daily routines of the group as a visual testimony of their experience.
8 months later, we learn Rose was last seen in Vitoria on January 5th, 1983, we watch Suzano with a terrible cough and very fragile while visiting Genet and leaving there an envelope with revealing Polaroids that explain what he has been into.
This is an accurate portrait of solidarity and the strong bond between a small group of friends affected by the HIV virus in those days, 40 years ago, when the virus didn´t have even a name and nobody knew what was going on with the disease. While watching Suzano, Rose, and Humberto, we learn the way they felt, their fears, wishes, and hopes. Also about the fear and ignorance of a silent community that rejected and isolated them. We get from Rose enlightening statements such as there is a very tall ladder that leads to certain destiny, but each step offers amazing learning… the disease gives us time to die and time to live; the time to discover time, and to discover life…. AIDS frees us from ignorance.
And then January 1st. 1984 arrived…
The moving film is dedicated to the ones we have lost because of the virus. After the film, we learn, in an intimate way, something about the unofficial history of the AIDS crisis in Brazil, and how it is similar in other countries, such as mine.
The movie has been made with people from the community living with HIV, and had its premiere at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival 2021 . Despite its subject matter, the film manages to have a very convincing uplifting ending.
Written and directed by Rodrigo de Oliveira, the movie is set to release in theaters on February 10, 2023, and on DVD
and through video-on-demand on February 21, 2023.
Review by José Mayorga , Guatemala, Central America lawyer and notary public, visual artist, and editor of El Azar Cultural, lives and works in Guatemala City. Cinema lover, curious about the possibilities life brings and eager to live the experience.
