Captains of the Sands (2011)

Load of rubbish!!

Just what I expected

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's important to say that every relevant character displayed in the book is also contained in the movie, although their personalities and acting quality are very poor. That is by far the only good characteristic of the movie. Jorge Amado's novel was produced very badly, once the book's most important passages are completely neglected on the movie which leads to a non-linear and highly segmented story. In this context, if one watches the movie without reading the novel it's very likely that the movie will not be understood, because its main goal was entirely forgotten. Cecília Amado hasn't produced her grandfather's novel in a way it'd be considered a neat contribution to Brazilian literature's history. By the same token, it should be not shown to people who've not read the book yet, it may destroy Jorge Amado's great work. The movie is simply rubish.

I'm not going to say it's an awful terrible film, because it isn't. It lacks the magic of the book, the spirit, the joy and innocence of what being a child is, the beautifully sad way in which the children of the book lived, that Amado described so very skilfully. The film is terribly fragmented, doesn't show us the soul of most characters, their backgrounds, their stories. It doesn't convey the feeling that the capitães de areia are a very tight family. It decides to focus on some parts of the book, and leave others aside completely, and in my opinion, some of the choices are trivial at best. The actors are amateurish, and the dialogue is always done in a very theatrical fake way. Some of the shots, plans and camera tricks are unnecessary and don't add anything to the film. It gives too much importance to Brazilian folklore (candomblé, capoeira and such) while it should focus on much more important aspects. I understand it is hard to convey the power and feeling of such an intense book, but i believe it is possible. That being said, I did enjoy the photography, the beautiful shots of the scenery, and the way that some scenes were explored. It was an effort, but it falls much much much short of the book.