Through a Foreigner's Eyes

I'm very much in debt to Ana, from the Rio Gringa Facebook group, for sending me this amazing documentary called Olhar Estrangeiro. While the title on the video was translated as "The Foreign Eye," I think a better translation would be "Through a Foreigner's Eyes."

A Brazilian filmmaker, fed up with the ridiculous stereotypes foreigners have of Brazil, set out on a mission to discover the origins of these cultural misconceptions, tracing them to Hollywood, European cinema and beyond. She based the movie on a book called O Brasil dos Gringos, (note to self: find this book), which studies Brazilian cliches in foreign films. In a way, this documentary justifies all of my griping about stereotypes, because you'd be amazed how just a few movies - even ones that many young people haven't even seen - have shaped people's visions of an entire country.

The film, which is a mixture of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, covers the main stereotypes: beautiful women, hypersexuality and sensuality, African and indigenous influences, party culture, the Amazon, and Carnival. Though the movie seemingly sets out to show just how uninformed so many foreign filmmakers and actors are, there's a few surprising characters who are not only more informed, but are actually fluent in Portuguese. Also, Michael Caine is great fun to watch talking about Brazil.

It's a must see - watch it now!

   

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Comments

[Andrew]

I saw this documentary on TV Cultura (I think) before returning to the US in July. Outstanding, funny, and sad at the same time.

[Ana]

You liked my suggestion, that is nice !
The film industry is always two steps back in what concerns facts about foreign art and culture. It should be the opposite, always portraiting the most updated and surprising facts of a country. Foreign films about Brazil are sooo trashy and false, I even didn't have the stomach to watch the whole documentary. It is a very interesting and valuable film though. Glad you like it and keep doing your wonderful work with your blog!

[mallory elise]

ahk i love this, it makes me so embarassed because i can't even remember what i thought about Brazil before meeting Henrique, only watched part one, will finish it later tonight, but aside from everything they say, the women, the beach, "fruit", "sun" the most humerous is "yeah they dont work down there, they are always in a party at the beach" yes, apparently we obtain items through the barter sysytem....ok maybe their opinion based on film could be one thing if Rio was the whole country. What's annoying is that many people think Rio IS the whole country, the beach population is so damn small!!just goes to show that international history and cultural education in US schools is too low since we only learn through the hollywood...aiaiai. great post, cant wait to finish watching it :)

[Henrique]

loved it, rachel and ana. thanx a lot. u guys gave me a big smile.