Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2001)

Director:

Laís Bodanzky

Writers:

Luiz Bolognesi (writer)
Austregésilo Carrano (book)

Release Date:

22 June 2001 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A trip to the mental institution hell. This odyssey is lived by Neto, a middle class teenager, who lives...

Plot Keywords:

Mental Institution | Drugs | Maconha | Latin America | Brazilian Middle Class

Awards:

38 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Rodrigo Santoro	...	Wilson Souza Neto
Othon Bastos	...	Sr. Wilson Souza (Pai)
Cássia Kiss	...	Meire Souza (Mãe)
Daniela Nefussi	...	Neto's Sister
Jairo Mattos	...	Enfermeiro Ivan
Altair Lima	...	Dr. Cintra
Lineu Dias	...	Interno Jornalista
Caco Ciocler	...	Interno Rogério
Gero Camilo	...	Interno Ceará
Marcos Cesana	...	Interno Bil
Luis Miranda	...	Enfermeiro Marcelo
Valeria Alencar	...	Leninha
Gustavo Machado	...	Lobo
Cláudio Carneiro	...	Alex
Talita Castro	...	Bel

Also Known As:

Brainstorm (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

74 min | Canada:90 min | France:84 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Brazil:14

Company:

Buriti Filmes

Trivia:

The odd title ("animal with seven heads") is actually a popular expression in Brazil, and is used to describe something very complicated or complex.

Movie Connections:

References One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Soundtrack:

O Seu Olhar

A good drama, an ADORABLE documentary!

Bicho de sete cabeças is a kick in the gut. Documentary style scenes constitute the skeleton of the movie, and makes the movie approach the status of masterpiece. The acting of Rodrigo Santoro is really good. I've seen him on Abril Despedaçado before, and I can say I see a bright future ahead of this guy. He's handsome and talented. I hope to see such great movies of his in the future. The madman called Ceara in the first mental institution is also showing signs of a PERFECT acting. I've never seen any actor that can act a crazy guy so well before. I was absolutely stunned by his performance! It's really sad how a young man is turned into a wacko by his revolting father's stupid strategies. What's worse is that, he experiences all that just because he doesn't take his father's tyranny, and smokes weed occasionally, like loads of people at his age. And what's even worse is that, this is a real life experience. I'd really like to sit down and have a coffee with that guy one day, and listen to his experiences in his own words. The movie made me want that.

The Brazilian cinema is the rising star of these days, and I sure hope it'll keep up the good work. A country with such a diverse culture, people experiencing extreme incidents in different walks of life, and great filmmaking skills to show those things to us. For this particular film though, I strongly doubt only Brazilian mental institutions are like this. Most likely, several terrible places like that exist all over the world. It's not certain that you're mad if you go there, but as this film depicts, it's almost certain for you to leave mad, if ever. Also make sure to see Abril Despedaçado with the same actor if you can. Brazilian movies rule!

9/10 for this all in all great movie.