Bicho de Sete Cabeças

Brainstorm aka Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2000) - Seven Heads Animal - an expression that means "a very hard obstacle to fight or a complex thing to do" is also the name of a song written by Arnaldo Antunes, whose songs were used as soundtrack in the movie. His lyrics are great - he is a recognized writer, lyricist and singer in Brazil - and fit perfectly the movie plot and atmosphere, as well as the instrumental part of the songs. The atmosphere is full of darkness and sadness. This is not an easy movie to watch. I can't say much about the plot, but I can tell that it's about the asylum system in Brazil. For you to have a picture of how bad some places were, there is a famous book about one asylum called "Brazilian Holocaust", by Daniela Arbex... The film portrays with an astonishing realism the routine on an asylum with focus on the life of Neto (Rodrigo Santoro). The technical features are great. The locations, the make up, the costume design and the cinematography make the film disturbingly real. In addition to all of this, the acting also helps a lot making the movie believable. Rodrigo Santoro is fantastic in this film. He totally embraced the character and brilliantly showed his behavior changes through the story. The movie seems short when we notice the length, 74 minutes, but the editing is great and helps with the pace. It's not fast nor slow and I really liked it. The editing also helped creating an escalating narrative, with a suffocating climax and a great ending. A very worth watching movie directed by Laís Bodanzky.