Time and the Wind

Two hundred years are told through one family in Rio Grande do Sul. Ana Terra grows up on a farm; in the border country the war, the rebellions and the fighting over land never end. The men go to war, are killed or do not come back; the women hold the house together. The narrative proceeds through Ana Terra's life, her descendants, and a man called Bento. Jayme Monjardim directs. The source is the first volume of Erico Verissimo's three part series O Tempo e o Vento, among the best known epics in Brazilian literature. The cast includes Marjorie Estiano, Fernanda Montenegro, Thiago Lacerda and Paulo Goulart. It opened on 20 September 2013, drew 711 thousand admissions and took 7.7 million reais. It was also shown the following year as a three part serial on Globo. The problem is scale. The source covers an enormous span and a two hour film cannot carry it; critics wrote that the cast and the battle scenes were good and that the narrative fell short of its own ambition. The best section is Ana Terra's; a woman left alone and refusing to give up the land is the heart of it. The image and period design are expensive; Monjardim comes from television and the visual care comes from there. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian period film and literary adaptation. Who it is not for: the narrative passes quickly over a very long span, the characters do not separate, and the connections break without the novel.