God Is Brazilian (2003)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I am English, trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese as I want to live in Brazil. I bought the DVD of this movie because the synopsis sounded like my kind of film and I thought it might help me with the language. I'm not sure if I have learnt much, but I really enjoyed the film and it just seems to be better every time I watch it! It's not exactly hilarious, but it's not boring or too predictable. Whilst the plot is necessarily far-fetched, it is well acted and I found all the characters totally convincing. It is a gentle comedy that rolls along nicely and I am happy to watch it again and again. It's the sort of film that will cheer you up when you're having a bad day.

Carlos Diegues, the Brazilian director, takes us on a trip of enlightenment, when he invites us to come along in this road movie, in which God, taking the form of a man of a certain age, appears to a young man who doesn't believe in anything. Taoca, the young man, decides to accompany the God figure in a trip which will make him watch, first hand, what this larger than life figure has in store for him.Mr. Diegues is a director that always surprises. In this film, he is playing with our credibility as Taoca and God travel through the back roads of that vast country that is Brazil. In the process, Taoca goes from being skeptic, to a complete understanding about what this God is all about and what he is capable of doing. Mr. Diegues' films have a great look because of the director's sense of color that must be evident in the places where his movies are set.The film is made more enjoyable because of the interplay of Antonio Fagundes, who plays God, and Wagner Moura, an actor who shows great promise. Mr. Fagundes is perfect as the God reincarnated. Wagner Moura, who we had admired in "Caminho das Nuvems", brings the right blend of skepticism and humor to the situation he is thrown into. We also see Paloma Duarte, who plays Mada, a young woman with a sad past, who goes along with two strangers, leaving her dreary life behind."Deus E Brasileiro" will delight Mr. Diegues' fans.

I've visited most of the places in this movie, beautiful places surrounded by the not so beautiful poverty. This is a light-hearted movie that essentially shares the same message that other Brazilian movies portray. It shows the bad sides of Brasil, and it shows the good and beautiful sides of Brasil. It does this not directly, but with the use of play-full storyline, God on vacation.There are times in which you are shocked with the problems, and times which you are amazed with the beauty of nature. The movie does an excellent job at doing that, showing us the entire picture, not just showing the good side or just showing the bad side.The story in itself is mildly entertaining. I saw the movie in Portuguese, I don't know how some of the dialog is translated. Some people might not understand some things. Like the main character's name, his name is a combination of his mom and dad's first names, something commonly done in the "Nordeste" (Northeastern Brasil).I would give it 7 stars. It was nice seeing some of that beautiful nature that GOD created. Break free from all conveniences and luxuries hat surrounds most of us.P.S. I know I spelled Brasil with an S, Thats the way I learned how to spell it and that's the way I will keep spelling it.

Honestly, Brazilian cinema is not inside my radar. With respect I say I saw the beautiful "City of God" in its original language and I was fascinated. But when you see these actors, a plot like this one and images that want you to stay with them, you can't reject a film.Carlos Diegues must have been the most influential of all. He, alongside many screenwriters developed a premise I have never heard before. I mean: God is Brazilian? I don't think so. But the fact that he could be and could visit the country as an ordinary man because he just wants to take a break and needs a "saint" to cover his position is creatively remarkable.They must have had fun writing this stuff; playing and acting the characters as they were creating them. They created lovable characters. Who doesn't want to meet a guy like Taoca (Wagner Moura), so honest and lost in life, with nothing to loose or to win? The scene where he meets God (Antonio Fagundes) requires perfect comedic timing. Every element must be collaborating to achieve that, as He is standing on a stick and then Taoca looks at him from his canoe as if he was crazy, but He tries to explain, metaphorically, that He created the world. Taoca doesn't believe him and fish start jumping out of water and hit him. The effects, the cinematography, the acting, the writing; it all works together in that scene.When Taoca is convinced about God, they both travel throughout Brazil, looking for this "saint", Quinca Das Mulas (Bruce Gomlevsky). During the journey, there's a lot said about love, animals, the Earth and the other planets, and the couple meets people, including Madá (Paloma Duarte), a young girl who suffered her mother's death, and Baudelé (Stepan Nercessian), a man Taoca owes money too.The strong point about the film is that they took their issues seriously, in able to make them funny and real. They combined the story and elements perfectly. With God on screen all the time, they made us believe music played only when He wanted and objects moved only if he decided that to happen. One fantastic scene where the travelers have to make money and God turns into a magician. Soon, Madá is flying above people, and it is beautiful; how it can be comedy, fantasy, love and character development at the same time.When Taoca and God are walking through the street, a cow passes by, and God looks at the animal strangely. "That's a cow", Taoca says. "Yes, I know…I invented it", God responds. "Yes, but we named it". It's funny! How the main males keep the excuse that God is a literature professor named Emanuel Salvador, when they are both always near to revealing who the old man actually is.Performances are adequate and enormously pleasant for a type of movie like this one. Wagner Moura is definitely gifted, even when he shouts and exaggerates. It works. Antonio Fagundes does it effortlessly. He is relaxed as God itself, as his character says, traveling through galaxies. Paloma Duarte is beautiful, besides being also very talented and memorable."I can't perform a miracle at any moment", God tells Taoca. "It takes time". "God is Brazilian" is no miracle but perhaps with some more time