Iracema (1975) poster
1975 · drama · docufiction · social

Iracema

Directed by Jorge Bodanzky, Orlando Senna1h 36m1975
ElsewhereIMDb7.2500TMDB7.530
  • sombre
  • measured
  • bleak
Movie DNA

Sombre, measured, measured drama / docufiction, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

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A girl from the countryside goes to the city of Belém to take part in the Círio de Nazaré celebrations. Led to prostitution, she wishes to move to the wealthiest Southeast region of Brazil. In a dance club, she meets a truck driver that transports wood. Dreaming with the big city, she asks for a ride, and the two begin a journey through the Trans-Amazon road. In tension with the Brazilian military authorities of the time, the film registers several aspects of the Amazon social tragedy – forest fires, slave work and child prostitution. Awarded in several international festivals, the film was forbidden by the Brazilian censorship. It was only released years later, winning the Brasília Film Festival in 1981.

Our read · Iracema (1975) reads as a sombre, measured, inventive drama · docufiction · social entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Iracema

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want raw 1970s Brazilian road drama exposing Amazon exploitation and lost dreams.

ends devastatingit leaves you shakensteady all the waygrips by minute 18attention 3/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upchild peril

Skip it tonightYou want any uplift or cannot face tragic prostitution and environmental ruin.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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