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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2016)
December 14, 2016 Page 13 A Refusal to Cave c ontinued froM p age 4 her existence. Reacting to that requires the powerful to behave in ugly ways in order to maintain the upper hand, so they do. The film’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival happened to coin- cide with the ouster of Brazil’s duly-elected progressive female president, by business interests. The cast and director at Cannes protested those events as a coup, apparently reflecting deep divi- sions in Brazilian society. Braga and the film’s brilliant writer and director, Kleber Mendonça Filho, have spoken and written about the parallels between Clara and the Brazilian president, each be- ing ousted from their homes. The tactics used by the developers in the film also feel like a met- aphor for how economic power is sometimes exercised. Mean- while, an opening section of the film grounds Clara’s attachment to the apartment in her personal and family history, a very dif- ferent lens for making decisions about one’s home. The film’s fall release in the U.S. now feels particularly reso- nant. The Brazil of this film has no heroes; Clara and her family are privileged and have benefited from their privilege in ways that they can’t always see. We see the echoes of those power imbalanc- es, too, and of the limited means the poor have for asserting their interests. There are some partic- ularly poignant, though under- stated scenes involving Clara’s housekeeper, whose young son was killed by a drunk driver and who reaches for ways to insist on recognizing his memory in the face of unredressed injustice. Yet the film also contains some wis- dom regarding how those without power can be and often are held to a standard of behavior that the powerful need only pretend to uphold. Filho, Braga, and a uniform- ly excellent cast have assembled a canny film that has the power to stay with you for a long time -- not so much because of its plot but because of the time it takes with the perspective of someone who simply insists on standing up for what she actually thinks and wants, refusing to adjust who she is and what she wants to where the wind is clearly blowing. The film’s resonance is both particular to this one woman, and to the heat of the exchanges her resistance provokes. In the end, though she is sometimes angry, she is not pri- marily so. And she is only crazy in the eyes of those who can insist on a reality that does not really include her as herself. Darleen Ortega is a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals and the first woman of color to serve in that capacity. Her movie review column Opinionated Judge ap- pears regularly in The Portland Observer. Find her movie blog at opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com. It Does Good Things TM This page is sponsored by Oregon Lottery C alendar December 2016 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 12 13 14 15 16 Barbara Emberley born, 1932 Hovercraft Patented (1955) Poinsettia Day National Cocoa Day Susan B. Anthony dollar coined in 1970 First Miniature Golf Course Opened, 1929 South Pole Discov- ered, 1911 Bill of Rights Day Underdog Day David McCord born, 1897 Beethoven’s Birth- day (1770) Boston Tea Party Anniversary (1773) 19 20 21 22 23 Oatmeal Muffin Day Dickens’ A Christ- mas Carol pub- lished in 1843 26 Boxing Day Kwanzaa Begins National Whiners Day Games Day Electric Light demonstrated in 1879 27 Ingri d’Aulaire born, 1904 Visit the Zoo Day World Bank created (1945) First Day of Winter Humbug Day Bright Side Day National Flashlight Day 28 Card Playing Day Iowa became the 29th state (1846) National Chocolate Day R First Christmas Lights, 1882 Mercury Thermome- ter Invented, 1714 29 Texas became the 28th state (1845) Roots Day Federal Reserve System established (1913) 30 Tiger Woods born, 1975 Author Rudyard Kipling born, 1865 SATURDAY SUNDAY 17 18 Wright Brother’s First Flight (1903) National Maple Syrup Day Wear a Plunger On Your Head Day Baseball great Ty Cobb born, 1886 24 25 Hanukkah Begins Christmas Christmas Eve National Pumpkin Pie Day National Egg Nog Day Apollo 8 reached moon, 1968 31 New Year’s Eve
