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17 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Self-glorifying cliché biopic disguised as uplifting moral lesson, 23 January 2006
3/10
Author: debblyst from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"2 Filhos de Francisco" is based on the real rags-to-riches life story (minus the objectionable bits -- it's supposed to function as a fairy-tale) of the most commercially successful Brazilian singing duo of the last decade, Zezé di Camargo&Luciano. They grew up in dire poverty in a shack in middle-of-nowhere rural Goiás (Brazilian Midwest) and made it big in the 1990s, having sold 20+ million records since, with their "pop-sertanejo" songs (similar to U.S. pop- Country&Western, and just as mellow and repetitive). The film is centered on Francisco, their iron-willed, kind- hearted, semi-literate but highly ambitious, business-wise land-sharer father, who obsessively pushes his pre-teen sons Mirosmar (later called Zezé) and Emival to self-learn to sing and play sertanejo music as the only possible way to escape poverty. The family overcomes all odds and tragic events — including the boys' lack of natural talent and proper education (musical or otherwise); Emival's death in a car accident, later replaced in the duo by younger brother Luciano; the sleazy-with-a-heart-of-gold musical agent; the record company's insensitive exec, etc -- to finally be blessed with glory, fame and fortune in São Paulo, but not before squeezing every tear out of sobbing audiences.

"2 Filhos..." is the highest grossing Brazilian film in the last 20 years (approx. 5.5 million viewers). Not really surprising -- "sertanejo/caipira" culture has always been extremely lucrative in Brazil. Late actor Mazzaropi made dozens of record-breaking hits from the 1950s to the 1980s and remains the 2nd all-time Brazilian box-office movie star (the 1st is Renato Aragão). Great Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos ("Rio 40 Graus", "Vidas Secas") had one of his biggest commercial hits with "Na Estrada da Vida" (the model for "2 Filhos..."), based on the real life of sertanejo duo Zé Rico&Milionário, who played themselves. Sertanejo has been the most popular musical genre in many regions of Brazil for decades, and its stars are some of the richest Brazilian entertainers. Besides, it was co-produced by Zezé&Luciano themselves (why play humble?), distributed by Globo Filmes (subsidiary of the most powerful Brazilian media corporation, TV Globo), with substantial financing from a huge private bank and Brazil's biggest oil company (in-your-face merchandising inserts galore).

EVERY biopic cliché is thrown in by first-time screenwriters Carolina Kotscho and Patrícia Andrade (with help from veteran Domingos de Oliveira as script doctor), keeping things appallingly predictable — every scene screams "formula!". The direction and visual treatment is professionally accomplished -- after all, first-time director Breno Silveira is an award-winning DP and publicity director. The film is made to match the popular lexicon of Brazilian soap-operas (dialog, performances) and TV ads (visually). Its ambition is to "upgrade" sertanejo culture to "mainstream": the filmmakers want Zezé&Luciano's audiences to be in awe with the film's "classy", dignified treatment of pop- sertanejo culture; but they ALSO want people who DON'T like Zezé&Luciano to watch it, as they summon MPB stars (Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia) and even rock stars (Nando Reis) to sing sertanejo songs in the soundtrack. Zezé&Luciano want to go "legit", to be granted a sort of "cultural validation" that musical critics and bourgeois elites never gave them, but when you're THAT rich, who cares?

"2 Filhos..." has its big share of misery-index, just as in Hollywood biopics: poverty, ignorance, prejudice, tragic events, misunderstandings etc, minus sex, violence, smoking, booze, drugs and good music:)). And whereas in the Hollywood biopic the star is blessed with extraordinary musical talents (think Billie Holliday, Tina, Ray, Charlie Parker...), the Camargos are self-reportedly limited: their success is based on sheer persistence, hard work, willpower and...the Brazilian "knack"/"jeitinho brasileiro" (the father buys phone tokens and convinces his friends and workmates to call radio stations in order to up-chart his sons' song!). Music is not dealt with as art or the expression of the soul: it's a way of dribbling famine (a good reason as any, by the way). "2 Filhos..." is NOT about being "blessed" with special musical gifts; it's about licitly escaping poverty any way you can in a country that leads the world's statistics in the gap between the rich and the poor. "2 Filhos…" is the self- esteem booster for the average Brazilian citizen of 2005, disillusioned by the huge political corruption scandals perpetrated by top government acolytes of Brazil's first blue-collar, left- wing President Lula (who, symptomatically, is a big fan of the duo and hired them to sing in his Presidential campaign).

At the end of "2 Filhos...", the real Zezé -- his face stiff with botox, though he's just past 40 -- drives back to his childhood shack in his expensive car; his eyes get moist as he says "I've never been never as happy as I was here, back then" (the "money doesn't bring happiness" routine only rich people believe in). This scene symbolizes the film's ambiguous nature. It's a commercial product designed to make millions in tickets and records disguised as a morally uplifting lesson. It's a self- glorification enterprise disguised as a homage to the stars' father and the believe-in- your-dreams-b***s**t. Well, some of us won't buy the "poor, uneducated, but happy" and "we're just like you, only with tons of cash" patronizing stuff. The film's greatest appeal is its greatest fraud: making the audience believe it could be you or me up there, no need to go to school, learn your art properly or even speak plurals correctly! As realistic as winning the lottery:))) 5 minutes after the movie's over, you get this annoying feeling -- hey, THEY're the ones with loads of cash and YOU've just made them even richer!!!! É o amooooorrr$$$$$$$

My vote: 3 stars out of 10 -- 1 for Caetano Veloso/ Maria Bethânia's sublime rendition of "Tristeza do Jeca" in the closing credits; 1 for Dablio Moreira/Marcos Henrique's engaging performances as young Mirosmar and Emival; and 1 for Cláudia Kopke's on-target costumes, the only unglamorous feature in this falsely "humble" film that can't hide its cash-hunting, self-glorifying essence.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Incredibly beautiful, 17 November 2006
10/10
Author: renyipiaoliu from Shanghai, China

A perfect story with wonderful music. Based on a true story, it showed us the bittersweet struggling path of the duet. Such a well-told story, and so many musical treasures made it simply a must see!

Brazil is a rich country when music tradition is concerned. And every successful musician has a story to tell. This is one of them, tells us how music changes life and how life enriches music.

I love folk music and the Brazil music is a major factor when I picked up this DVD. It does have a great number pieces of beautiful music flowing through the movie, which are far beyond most of the musical movies I've ever seen. Moreover, it is a good drama at the same time. The emotions, the feelings, the lives of all characters are well expressed.

Go see it whenever and wherever you can find it. I bet you'll love it like I do.

Highly recommended!!

In my own opinion, it will certainly win the best foreign film in this year's Oscar.

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13 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Forget the Prejudice and Watch a Beautiful and Touching Story, 3 January 2006
8/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I was very reluctant to see "2 Filhos de Francisco", since I hate the popular Brazilian "redneck-duo" singers "Zezé di Camargo e Luciano" and their country songs. However, my son and some friends of mine told me that it would be worthwhile to watch this movie, which was included in the selection for the nomination from Brazil to the 2006 Oscar.

Yesterday I decided to forget my prejudice and I really watched a beautiful and touching story, with an awful music score for my taste, but great performances. The tough life of Zeze di Camargo and his family, and the dream of his father Francisco are wonderfully pictured in this film, and it is a true good example that we should never forget our dreams, no matter how distant or impossible they might seem to be. The expressive performance of the boy Dablio Moreira was very impressive, and Ângelo Antônio's role and performances are very powerful. I regret only the scene with the excessive merchandize of the major sponsor of this film. I really recommend this movie for those like me that are not fans of "Zezé di Camargo e Luciano", because the fans certainly will be in the nirvana with such great movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "2 Filhos de Francisco" ("2 Sons of Francisco")

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13 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Good for the fans, 27 November 2005
5/10
Author: news-87 from Brazil

I've heard a lot about this movie. It's good as cinema, with a beautiful photography, good art direction and fair script and rhythm. There are funny and sad moments. But I can't see this movie as a Oscar-winner, or even as representative of a great Brazilian production. It's great for the fans of the singers; I can imagine them crying all the time... I'm sorry, but it doesn't go farther than a good soap opera, or an Indian Bollywood hit.

Any Brazilian movie with good budget is pointed as a Oscar-winner. It happens every year. Come on, let's face it: this movie is good, but not good enough.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A movie with no self pity!, 24 September 2006
10/10
Author: corinar

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This could have been your typical poor boys work hard and become famous type story, fortunately it was so much more. It was about wanting, and fearing, and being obsessed, and being hurt, and taking risks, and finally the eternal theme of father and sons. A father in love with music, with fierce innocent childlike eyes and children who fell in love with their father's dream with innocent adult all knowing eyes. It was about the hardship of poverty, but it was about it's happiness as well. It was about a crazy man, with a crazy dream who could have gone wrong ... and half way did, but also didn't! I was surprised by the minimalist acting, so much was said with the eyes, and it was in the eyes that parents and children communicated their fears, desires, wants, madness, hurt feelings. Big brown crazy childlike eyes. The children were off course, very cute as kids can be, but the adult actors were very much there, and it's to their capacity that does big brown boy eyes not only didn't make them fade away, but played into the more universal theme of the movie! Francisco, the father, is an incredible presence (and what an incredible good actor has portrayed him). That this movie was named after him and not his successful sons is to the credit of an honesty not easy to find in the biopic world. It is in part what made this movie much so much more!

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Great movie, 26 August 2008
10/10
Author: jtrimboli from United States

The movie shows many aspects of the Brazilian popular culture. Also shows what the humblest layers of the population consider valuable. It is not a "cult" movie that a small intellectual elite will appreciate. This film exalts the values of an enormous social layer, materially poor that unfortunately the elites dislike and despise. The singers are really talented and they deserve to be registered in a beautiful movie as this is. Highly recommended for those that appreciate the contemporary popular culture and want to understand better the Brazilian people that live far from Copacabana. The diversity of the Brazilian society is much more varied and rich that what is shown traditionally to the world, and this movie shows one of the multiple faces of the Brazilian people.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent story, very well told!, 26 November 2006
7/10
Author: Daniel Poeira (danielpoeira@gmail.com) from Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Any Brazilian who manage to get past the gigantic wall that divides the two world of Brazil - the real world and the shopping mall world - would have the opportunity to see a very nice piece of movie making. The story is extremely complex and long, and even so director Breno Silveira manages to tell it in a very clear way, with lots of details and beautiful interpretations and cinematography.

One of the main points that made people overlook the movie was that they focused too much on Zezé di Camargo and Luciano. The movie is not about them, but their father, a very poor and illiterate man who simply decided that his sons would have a better life than his. Francisco's stubbornness is amazing, and his unbeatable faith should be more imitated than laughed at.

An excellent movie for all ages, very entertaining and moving, and a lovely soundtrack, built mostly with old classics of Brazilian country music.

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15 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Emotional roller-coaster!, 14 October 2005
10/10
Author: jlizano from United States

I really enjoyed it this movie. I saw this movie while visiting Brasil for the first time during the early parts of October 2005. Despite my limited mastery of the Portuguese language I was quickly taken in by this movie. I laughed; cried, celebrated and cried again as the movie engulfs you with its charm, scenery, music and its superb story line that flowed beautifully. Adding to its magic was the fact that I saw it with my new BRASILEAN girlfriend... Celia. It was truly an uplifting film that leaves you with a sense of hope. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Javier Lizano

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20 out of 39 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful, funny, moving, 20 August 2005
9/10
Author: wel2005 from Brazil

It's about a father that wants two of his children to became country singers. He never gives up, always believes in his dream even if he doesn't have money to feed his family and everybody thought he is crazy. They are poor and live in the countryside of Brazil, Goiás (a state in central Brazil). It's similar to Walter Salles Central Station, with its simplicity and sophistication. Beautiful cinematography. If you want to know how is the real Brazilian soul, watch this movie. There is prejudice against country music, like in the USA. Parts of upper class e high middle class here think that country music is tacky. See the movie made me understand what this kind of music means to people that makes it and listen to it. It's only a different taste. There are lots of classic regional song from Brazil that other countries don't know, different from samba or Bossa Nova. I hope its deserve attention in other countries too. The film is getting the first place in box office for 10 weeks (about 5 million saw it. "The Incredibles" is the second), became the most viewed this year and it's our foreign-language Oscar contender. Its also a huge success with critics. Zeze Di Camargo & Luciano have sold more than 22 million CDs in Brazil.

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Dablio Moreira and Marcos Henrique elevate a good movie to excellent., 30 July 2007
10/10
Author: km004a5534 from Shropshire, England

This movie narrates the true story of the rags-to-riches climb of Zezé di Camargo and Luciano. Though it was not so much a straightforward climb as a roller-coaster ride and it probably would never have happened had it not been for the single-minded determination of their father. Indeed, it is as much his story and that of their brother Emival as it is theirs.

Whilst I do not know what really happened, it would appear that the movie tells the story simply and without over-elaboration. All of this, against the contrasting backdrop of the beautiful scenery, electric atmosphere and depressing slums of Brazil and the intoxicating beauty of the music, make for a very pleasant movie experience. But it is the performances of Dablio Moreira and Marcos Henrique, as Young Mirosmar/Zezé Di Camargo and his brother Emival that elevate the film to a different level. Though I somehow doubt it, I hope that these two talented young performers gained the accolades and financial rewards that their outstanding performances merited. What I do know is that, in the Young Artists Awards (2006), Dablio and Marcos jointly won the award for Best Performance in an International Feature Film - Leading Young Performer, in the face of very stiff competition.

Having watched the DVD several times, I purchased a CD of the "movie soundtrack," but I was hugely disappointed! There is absolutely nothing of Dablio Moreira and Marcos Henrique to be heard and I must admit that I was far more moved by their rendition of the music than that of Zezé di Camargo and Luciano. I am nothing short of amazed that there has still been no International release of a DVD. It's a beautiful movie and anyone believing that it would have no appeal outside of its native Brazil must be crazy!

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