Divaldo Franco

Divaldo was born in Bahia, in a small town called Feira de Santana. Since the age of four he has seen things he does not see and heard voices he does not hear. When the boy describes it nobody believes him; his father objects harshly and the other children shut him out. For years he tries to suppress it. At seventeen he gives up; he accepts that it will not pass. With his mother's support he comes to know spiritist teaching and moves to Salvador to study it. He is alone in the city. Then he decides to give his life to charitable work. Clovis Mello directs. Bruno Garcia and Guilherme Lobo play Divaldo; Regiane Alves and Marcos Veras are in the cast. It is a Brazilian production. The source is Ana Landim's book about Divaldo Franco, one of the best known spiritist mediums in Brazil. The film divides the story into three periods: childhood, youth and adulthood, reaching from the twenties to the fifties. The matter it treats is acceptance; the character's struggle is not with the world outside but with his own condition. Spiritism is a widespread system of belief in Brazil and the film addresses that audience openly. The narrative also describes the work for children Franco established. Its limit is viewpoint; the narrative does not question its subject and presents events within a frame of belief. Another limit is structure; the passages between the three periods are abrupt and some strands stay unopened. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian cinema and biography grounded in faith. Who it is not for: it is one directional, the supernatural is not questioned, and the narrative is reverent.