Tattoo

Brazil, the end of the seventies. The country is under military rule. In Recife there is a small theatre troupe: their shows are musical, indecent and political. Paulete is the star and says what she likes on stage. One day a young soldier comes to the troupe; Fininha is the brother-in-law of one of the performers and is on leave. He stays. A relationship begins between him and Paulete. He has to go back to barracks and is caught between two worlds. Hilton Lacerda writes and directs. Irandhir Santos plays Paulete and Jesuíta Barbosa plays Fininha. It is a Brazilian production. The troupe it describes rests on the real stage practice of the period; there were cabaret groups like this working against censorship in Brazil under military rule. The matter the narrative builds is the body being political; the show on stage works directly as a form of opposition. The film shows sexuality openly and gives it not as provocation but as the daily life of the troupe. The period reconstruction is detailed; the costume, the music and the staging carry the cultural climate of the late seventies. The narrative does not show the repression directly; the threat is always in the background and felt through the barracks scenes. The film won awards in Brazil and was shown at festivals. Who it is for: viewers who like Latin American cinema and love stories on political ground. Who it is not for: some scenes are explicit, the structure is loose, and the pace uneven.