Amazon Jail

Amazon Jail (Curral de Mulheres). Oswaldo de Oliveira, 1985.

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Edition screened: Included with Amazon Jail 2 in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #442, released 2023. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.

Summary: Campsite cooking.

Details:

1) Campsite with plucked birds hanging from clothes lines during dialogue, 1:00:32 - 1:00:53.

2) Large fish impaled on a spit over a campfire, 1:18:45 - 1:19:23.

3) A piglet carcass is rubbed with blocks of ice or salt in preparation for cooking, 1:25:00 - 1:25:06. This image is not clear.

4) The piglet is impaled on a spit over a fire during the entire dance sequence, 1:27:42 - 1:29:26. There are several gory closeups. 

. . . and a note for someone else’s “Violence to Polymers in Film” blog:  Amazon Jail also includes a depiction of a man smashing a geometric piece of plastic on his leg while pretending it is an insect.

Amazon Jail 2

Amazon Jail 2 (Prisioneiras da Selva Amazônica). Conrado Sanchez, 1987.

😿 😿

Edition screened: Included with Amazon Jail in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #442, released 2023. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 70 minutes.

Summary: Terrible handling of a snake.

Details:

1) We see a live pet tarantula on a man’s leg. The man then eats an obviously fake tarantula, 6:35-6:45.

2) A man grabs a very large snake that was minding his own business at 28:07 and handles him roughly, culminating in tying the reptile in a bulky knot at 28:26.

Aside from the mortifying snake abuse, the last half of the film is like a 1980s TV advertisement for a Family Fun Drive-Thru Safari. The four hostage girls handle snakes nicely, cuddle jungle kittens, and share the water with small wild pigs. At no point is a ‘jail’ of any sort seen on screen.

The Rabbit Hunters

The Rabbit Hunters (A caça ao coelho com pau). Pedro Costa, 2007.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion DVD box set #508 Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, released 2010. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 23 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. There are two short dialogues about capturing animals. The first is a man simply stating that he had caught a rabbit and a bird that both were near death, and the second is a man describing ways to flush a rabbit from its burrow.

The Rabbit Hunters is Costa’s contribution to the omnibus film Memories (2007).

Tarrafal

Tarrafal. Pedro Costa, 2007.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion DVD box set #508 Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, released 2010. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Man Marked for Death, 20 Years Later

Man Marked for Death, 20 Years Later (Cabra Marcado Para Morrer). Eduardo Coutinho, 1984.

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Edition screened: Mawu Blu-ray, released 2023. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Embodiment of Evil

Embodiment of Evil (Encarnação do Demônio). José Mojica Marins, 2008.

😿 😿

Edition screened: Synapse Blu-ray, released 2011. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

Summary: Desecration of a pig’s body; animals used as instruments of torture.

Details:

1) 1:03:56 through 1:04:27, we see the body of a large dead pig, clean on the exterior and stitched up the belly. The stitches are snipped, releasing a nude woman.

2) Soon thereafter are two torture scenes involving animals. The first shows a woman’s face forced into a crock full of live roaches. The second involves a large rat turned loose on a restrained woman after a honey-like substance has been poured on her body. We do not see the roaches or the rat injured.

Zama

Zama. Lucrecia Martel, 2017.

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Edition screened: Strand Blu-ray, released 2018. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a horse shot.

Details: A gun is fired off screen, then the camera pans to a downed horse, 45:52-46:11.

Redemption

Redemption. Miguel Gomes, 2013.

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Edition screened: Included on Kino Lorber Arabian Nights Blu-ray, released 2016. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime approximately 26 minutes.

Summary: The film begins with the graphic spectacle of a calf being born, but there are no depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Tabu (Gomes)

Tabu. Miguel Gomes, 2012.

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Edition screened: New Wave Blu-ray, released 2013. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 158 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of a recently-shot water buffalo.

Details: A long stagnant shot of a woman contemplating shooting a water buffalo at close range cuts to a tracking shot of an open truck driving away with the dead animal in the bed (1:03:44-1:04:02). We do not see the actual shooting.

The New Wave Blu-ray also contains two shorts by Gomes, A Christmas Inventory (2000, 22 minutes) and 31 Means Trouble (2003, 28 minutes), neither of which depicts any violence to animals.

Arabian Nights (Gomes)

Arabian Nights. Miguel Gomes, 2015.

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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2016. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime approximately 382 minutes.

Summary: Various images of sea animals dead or being killed.

Arabian Nights comprises three full length films, each slightly over two hours in length:

Vol. 1: The Restless One (approximately 125 minutes)

1) Brief images of dead fish in contaminated water in a fantasy environment, 1:22:28-1:23:00 

2) Beached whale, first as a stagnant shot then as background during other action, 1:46:54-1:49:08. 

Vol. 2: The Enchanted One (approximately 132 minutes)

Brief depiction and discussion of a pet parrot who possibly died, but we are quickly informed that he will be ok.

Vol. 3: The Desolate One (approximately 132 minutes)

Killing and cleaning of baby octopuses, 10:38-11:00.

Arabian Nights is a good product. It is well written, enjoyably paced, and socially informed. The Kino BD also includes Gomes’ award-winning short film Redemption (2013).

City of God

City of God (Cidade de Deus). Fernando Meirelles, 2002.

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Edition screened: Buena Vista DVD, released 2004. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.

Summary: Chicken slaughter.

Details:

1) The film begins with a montage of Rio de Janeiro street life including quick images of chickens being butchered by street venders. We then focus on one chicken who flees and is chased by a band of heavily armed street thugs who apparently have some honor-based death grudge against this chicken, or perhaps against all of chickendom. The chicken escapes after being almost run over by a car. That is the first four minutes of the movie.

2) These same clips are recapped at the end of the film, 1:52:40-1:53:35.

@ BL

Mysteries of Lisbon

Mysteries of Lisbon (Mistérios de Lisboa). Raúl Ruiz, 2010.

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Edition screened: Music Box Films 2-Disc Blu-ray, released 2011. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 267 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

@ BL

The Coffin Joe Collection

The Coffin Joe Collection. José Mojica Marins, 1964-1978.

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Edition screened: Anchor Bay 5-DVD box set, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Collective runtime approximately 754 minutes.

Summary: Some simulated, some real, animal murder in various titles. Details provided in the linked entry for each film.

Director José Marin’s persona of Zé do Caixão, loosely translated as ‘Coffin Joe,’ is a small-town Brazilian undertaker, womanizer, bully, occultist, and existential philosopher. The earlier films are strongly plot-based then become more exploitive, yet also increasingly chatty and moralizing, as the years go by. This set includes eight feature films:

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1963)

This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse (1967)

The Strange World of Coffin Joe (1968)

Awakening of the Beast (1970) 

End of Man (1970)

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (1976)

Hellish Flesh (1977)

Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind (1978)

The first two, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul and This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse, establish Zé do Caixão’s philosophy that belief in religion or other superstition is contemptibly weak and will prevent any personal advancement. He uses that platform to intimidate others, steal wives and commit murder, acts that understandably put him at odds with the locals. Zé’s frequent soliloquies indicate his search for a Perfect Woman, pure of intellect, aware of his superiority, and worthy of bearing his child, but he also just enjoys humiliating, bullying, and killing those who don’t admire his philosophy. These first two titles in the set are somewhat charming low-budget horror films with some admirable homemade special effects. They also have better audio and video quality than the later titles.

The Strange World of Coffin Joe and Awakening of the Beast each tell several short stories rather than a single narrative. Strange World showcases three tales of moral weakness, while Awakening focuses on drug use as the door to sexual depravity and worse in a notorious series of exploits. The varying quality of the vignettes in both films sometimes is eclipsed by Zé do Caixão’s long-winded philosophical ramblings. These redundant barrages of vaguely intellectual hypothetical musings start out slightly funny, quickly becomes trite, then settle right into unbearably long and boring.

The third pair, End of Man, and Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures give Zé do Caixão opportunity to focus primarily on the evil that comes from the love of money. He specifically targets a flawed medical structure in which emergency care is available only to the privileged, presumably a serious problem in late 60s urban Brazil. End of Man stars the director as an amoral nekked messiah wandering the city streets, while Strange Hostel casts him as a hotel keeper specializing in travelers who need to be taught a lesson. The unrelated 10-minute opening of Strange Hostel is a dance number featuring eight or so rough Brazilian ladies in harem outfits who awaken Zé from his coffin. The routine apparently was developed and rehearsed in the van on the way to filming. Strange yes, Hostel indeed, Naked only a little but still too much, Pleasures not really.

The last two films suggest that the Coffin Joe vein is running dry for director Marins. Hellish Flesh is a limp revenge drama starring the Zé do Caixão character as a cuckolded scientist. Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind is mostly clips and outtakes from previous Coffin Joe films, strung together with a premise that we are seeing phantasies of a mental patient who believes Coffin Joe is real. Hellish Flesh is horrible. Hallucinations is surprisingly entertaining and constitutes a decent Zé do Caixão’s Greatest Hits.

The Anchor Bay box set also includes the 65-minute 2001 documentary Coffin Joe: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins by André Barcinski and Ivan Finotti. It is better than some high budget director bio pieces, and made me feel some compassion and understanding for Marins as a person, such that my overall regard for the Coffin Joe films was elevated a bit.

@ BL

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (À meia-noite levarei sua alma). José Mojica Marins, 1963.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: Depiction of crushing a bird.

Details: A woman is holding a pet bird in her hand while bing attacked. Her grip tightens in the suggestion that the bird is being crushed, 44:02-44:08. The dead bird is picked up and then dropped, 44:42-45:02.

@ BL

This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse

This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse (Esta noite encarnarei no teu cadáver). José Mojica Marins, 1967.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: Depicted crushing of a white rat.

Details: A rat seems to be crushed under a stone suspended by a rope, 48:22-48:42. The stone is lifted and we see something meant to depict the crushed body, 48:50-48:58.

@ BL

The Strange World of Coffin Joe

The Strange World of Coffin Joe (O Estranho mundo de Zé do Caixão). José Mojica Marins, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Strange World of Coffin Joe is a portmanteau of three short films, The Dollmaker, Obsession, and Theory. Theory is translated as Ideology in the subtitles for this film, won which your excellent non-ungrammar award for movies made in not your country.

The Dollmaker (18 minutes) is a straightforward Tales from the Crypt-style horror narrative. Weak and badly acted, it is the most enjoyable of the three.

Obsession (28 minutes) tests one’s patience. About half of the running time is devoted to several stagnant medium shots of the crippled balloon seller hobbling across a room in a crypt. It is worth noting that Hollis Frampton’s continuous loop of a close-up of a lemon is a compelling viewing experience, while Obsession’s necrophilia, fetishism, and grotesque morgue imagery might challenge even the most easily titillated to remain awake.

Theory (34 minutes) casts director Marins not in his Coffin Joe persona, but as a professor of philosophy who illustrates his thesis by presenting a carnival of sadistic horrors. 

The three shorts are unified somewhat by themes macabre, but more so by shamefully poor subtitle translations and audio tracks so noisy and garbled that even a Portuguese speaker would be doggy paddling. Such spine-tingling deviations from normal communication contribute significantly to the sense of mystery and torture.

@ BL

Awakening of the Beast

Awakening of the Beast (O Ritual dos sádicos/O Despertar da besta). José Mojica Marins, 1970.

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Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Awakening of the Beast is a series of vignettes illustrating the link between drug use and depraved behavior. Most scenes are introduced or bookended by thin “can you beat this” discussions between sociology professor types. There is a travelogue-like feeling to the film, and Marins may have been influenced by ‘seedy tourism’ films like Miller’s Primitive London and London in the Raw.

The first scene involving a heroine-using stripper given a gift by a small group of ogling men might be the sexiest and most interesting segment of the film. A scene beginning with a woman leading a donkey into her house is effective and startling, and the orgy ending in accidental death is tightly filmed and shocking. Awakening of the Beast is an interesting viewing experience, banned for decades not so much for sexual content but more for exposing that drug abuse with extreme consequences is real and common among all social classes rather than a vague threat among the disadvantaged.

@ BL

End of Man

End of Man (Finis hominis). José Mojica Marins, 1971.
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Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

@ BL

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures

Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (A Estranha hospedaria dos prazeres). José Mojica Marins, 1976.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Electrocution of various animals.

Details: An apocalyptic montage includes a two-minute sequence in which animals are electrocuted, 1:04-35-1:06:28. We see several groups of insects, some mice, and a group of crabs standing on an electric mat that is first off, then turned on, and the animals quickly writhe and die. These 3-second scenes are intercut with typical end-of-times images.

@ BL

Hellish Flesh

Hellish Flesh (Inferno carnal). José Mojica Marins, 1977.

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Edition screened: Included in Anchor Bay 5-DVD set The Coffin Joe Collection, released 2009. Portuguese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: Animal experimentation.

Details: Chemicals are dropped on a seemingly dead caterpillar in a laboratory experiment, 15:49-16:13.

This plodding revenge story is dreadful even by ‘Coffin Joe’ standards. With varying degrees of success or entertainment, Marins’ earlier films combined elements that were ghoulish, sexy, exploitive, philosophical, bombastic, campy, and tedious. Marins does include views of a heavily decorated mid-70s upper-middle class Brazilian interior, the only entertainment offered in the film.

@ BL