Isle of Flowers (1989) User Reviews

Woah

[troyd-3 · 9/10 · 14 February 2001]

Saw this documentary short subject in my World Society course at UC Santa Cruz. It's about capitalism, told through the story of a tomato. But, thinking back on it, it was much more than just that tomato, that went into the making of the family's dinner, which was bought with money, which was acquired through the mother's perfume sales, which is an alcohol-based topical fragrance oil. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, this is how the film is paced. It is the very reason the word "Tangential" was created. Furtado is so crafty at taking you to places you never think you'll go; from painfully hilarious irony (the monty python-esque first 5 minutes), to head-battering shock (the history of "the second");just by mentioning a single word, you could travel from a dollar bill to a pile of emaciated bodies, within a matter of seconds. And none of the connections are far-fetched. His story is based on the theory of six degrees of separation, and how he arrives at those final, latent images of haunting truth is a trip that must be taken.

I was recently compiling a list of my favorite movies of 2000, and the best films I saw were the reissues of "The Exorcist" and "Blood Simple", and this, a 15 minute documentary about capitalism. Very weird, but it is true. If I ever get the chance to see this again, I will relish every second of it as if it were the first time. And if you are a student, you should check your campus library for "Ilha das flores", because it is amazing.

Best thirteen-minute film I've ever seen

[devonreed · 9/10 · 20 March 2000]

Not that I've seen a lot, of course. I caught this short in my documentary film class at the beginning of the semester. Unfortunately, I never saw another film better than this one. If you can find it, definitely check it out. The film says more about the human condition in fifteen minutes than most similarly themed films say in two hours. Devilishly humorous, the film hints along the way that there is more at stake than the running joke about a tomato would indicate. It's crucial to know as little as possible, so if you have a good independent video store nearby, seek it out and don't ask questions.

Satire over capitalism

[Atavisten · 9/10 · 7 October 2005]

Beginning at a tomato ranch explaining every step throughout to the Ilha das Flores in a simple, clear-cut manner that is first Monthy Pythonesque funny, but becomes tragic to no end. It starts explaing what happens to the tomato, how it historically is possible to be bought in a supermarket with money and ends up in Ilha das Flores where its inhabitants must pick up food from the dump after the pigs has gotten theirs, this is because in the capitalist world they have 'freedom' and because they are not owned by someone like the pigs are.

The contrast between the funny satire and the serious satire is so extreme because they are treated in the exact same way, but with very different implisions.

Definitely one of the very best shorts, telling a lot with very little.

Will keep you pensive for long

[huineman · 10/10 · 15 January 2008]

Very seldom is one given the opportunity to watch a documentary like Ilha das Flores. It is less a TV product than an essay not written but filmed, and well filmed indeed. The ideas displayed throughout barely quarter an hour are so many and so profound that you might need more than one view to assimilate them all; but the script is so agile that you will never grow bored. Instead, even if you are not in the mood for documentaries at the beginning, will find yourself deeply interested in this humble production within minutes, if not seconds. But remember, you are not dealing with an entertainment product but with one of the best lessons of ethics you might come across ever. Anyway, that you will realize for sure at the end of the film, when its ideas, lingering in your head, will keep you pensive for long.

A little masterpiece

[Struggler · 5 June 2000]

Here's a work that definitely proves how exciting and questioning a short movie picture can be.

Acting as a director, writer and producer, Jorge Furtado couragely aims a dazzling machinegun at issues as assorted as religion, Holocaust, Brazilian government, poverty, capitalism, and how human intelligence has been used throughout the ages.

Using a dialectical method, and narrating the story in a way that "even a Martian would understand", in the words of the author, the film forges a real cinematographical theorem of Brazilian deplorable situation, borrowing as the stage a neighbourhood in the city of Porto Alegre (one of Brazil's most developed ones, by the way). The degrading scenario, however, would apply to any community on the world in which the effects of money (or its lack) on the lives of its inhabitants are more visible.

In the movie's touching final take, Furtado destroys the bourgeois concept of Freedom, quoting a line from one of Brazil's greatest poetesses, Cecilia Meirelles, and leaves us wondering whether modern 'civilisation' is as far as the human intellect can take us.

Funny... at first.

[Trufó · 10/10 · 18 April 2000]

Funny at first, demolishing in the end. When I saw this movie for the first time I spend the first minutes laughing: the editing is fast paced and the voice over explains one after another different concepts that apparently are barely connected. But in the end all grows into a perfectly mounted description of the economical and political aberrations of our times, all in less than 30 minutes.

The Wild Brazilian Capitalism, or The Difference Between Tomatoes, Pigs and Poor Brazilian People

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 25 November 2006]

The ironic, heartbreaking and acid "saga" of a spoiled tomato: from the plantation of a "Nisei" (Brazilian with Japanese origins); to a supermarket; to a consumer's kitchen to become sauce of a pork meat; to the garbage can since it is spoiled for the consumption; to a garbage truck to be dumped in a garbage dump in "Ilha das Flores"; to the selection of nutriment for pigs by the employees of a pigs breeder; to become food for poor Brazilian people.

Today I have had the chance to see "Ilha das Flores", one of the first works of Jorge Furtado, one of or maybe my favorite Brazilian director in the present days. With a perfect logic, and a pace of video clip, Jorge Furtado exposes the wild Brazilian capitalism, where there are two countries: for those that can afford, and for the millions of miserable that are below a pig in the hierarchy of disputing garbage. This documentary is a devastating and overwhelming social critic to our modern society and may be seen as a funny satire by foreigners, but unfortunately reflects the sad reality of my country. Mandatory masterpiece! My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Ilha das Flores" ("Isle of Flowers")

The best short-movie I ever seen in my life

[jordani · 10/10 · 4 January 2003]

Jorge Furtado needed no more than 13 minutes to prove his theory "there's no God", showed in the beginning of the movie. This movie is as raw as fresh meat and cuts like a knife. No more words to describe. You must see it for yourself. Believe me, after you watch this movie you won't forget it never more.

Impressed with the subject and execution

[RichardGTeague · 10/10 · 5 November 1999]

This short is a fine example of people with something crucial to say, having to bend to commercial whims of entertainment in order to hold the audience's attention span long enough to get the message across. It is remarkably witty, and runs at a fanatical pace. The jokes cause a smile, but when the holocaust clips arise, we get the clue that there are weighty matters at stake here. People need to see films like this. Remarkably effective.

A thrilling social documentary

[thbzcrt · 10/10 · 30 July 1999]

That's the kind of movie you'll see quite by chance, one evening on television. And you will never forget it.

"Ilha das flores" is the story of a tomato, from the field where it is cultivated to the dustbin, and beyond. It's fun, and, at the same time, it tells you a lot about the economy and the Brazilian society. What is really unique for a documentary is that the story is as pleasant to follow as in a fiction, and the end is one of the more stunning and moving end I have ever seen in a movie.

It's mostly about environmental awareness

[eliepoliti · 10/10 · 6 March 2005]

I'm using my personal VHS copy of this excellent short in my environmental awareness classes for high school, and students are always stroked by its accurate and intelligent issues.It always provides very large and useful discussion about environmental issues.

With a very well humored screenplay and very well balanced use of fiction, documentary and table top animation, this short gives you an overview of what happens in our affluent society with any natural or produced good, with domestic and industrial waste and discussing some very special social issues.

Interesting thing is that this short Ilha days Flores ( Flower Island, in English pronounced Ilya Dass Floresh) it is not outdated, not growing old and unfortunately still shocking when you think of what is happening with all the waste in our society, when people are less important than the profit made.

A quick lesson on everything

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 1 June 2015]

This Brazilian book-based short film fits as much information as possible in its 13 minutes. Most of it is about basic economic connections in random people's everyday life, for example how they buy goods, sell them for more money and use this money to buy food for their families. But apart from this economic context, there are also references to history, agriculture, environment, freedom and society in general. Here and there, it is slightly funny, but as a whole I found this short film fairly forgettable. I am surprised it is so popular and highly rated. Maybe people mistake a fast movie for a good movie. Also the title couldn't be any more random. It looks like a decent student movie and there is nothing really outstanding about it, even taking into account that it was made over 25 years ago. Jorge Furtado was not even 30 when this was made and he has been enjoying a prolific career in the last almost 30 years. I guess he must have improved a lot since then as there is nothing particularly memorable about his work here. Not recommended.

Das Kapital - de te fabula narratur

[chimera_s · 10/10 · 1 December 2006]

If there is one out there who already read the "Das Kapital" of Marx, this film might look like well mastered image of that great book. Apart from this, you can feel the genius in this film's montage. A real gem for short film category. Anything, you just touch, buy, eat, drink or listen to is in fact not just itself. In this case, Jorge Furtado tells us what a single tomato hides in itself. Maybe one point lacking, that would have fulfilled the whole story: it would be a fulfilled circle, in regard to story telling (if ever in this case) if the wages of workers of that Japanese tomato plant owner were incorporated. Ie, how much mister suzuki gains, and how much from this is given as salary, and so the bare profit for mister suzuki. It is forcing you to watch over and over again, and to think, what really makes a human being coming after a pig in this world, for the 'chance' of getting some decayed food. Sure, it is a Brazilian movie, but: One thinks about Venezuelaen people that favor Chavez. I guess, those you see on the last screens, do vote for him and will, until they have more rights than those PiGS. And for last: this film told me the best Freedom definition i ever heard.

definitions

[Kirpianuscus · 15 January 2024]

A satire great for its precise definition of terms implied in story. A powerful message about deep poverty , using a tomatoe and its way between a Japanese gardener, a supermarket, a lady prepairing the dinner for her family, a rotten tomatoe at garbage and his way from pigs to people.

Indeed, smart humor . For a bitter taste because the film proposes a truth so easy ignored time by time.

Seductive, precise, honest and creepy because it is not about Brasilian reality in 1989 year but about the indifference and self perception of the viewer.

The result - not exactly a social indictment but a profound inspired and useful at whole embroidery of simple...definitions.

Best Film I've Ever Seen

[dropshop · 10/10 · 18 January 2007]

This film is amazing and I consider it the best one I've seen so far. This documentary is not simply about information, it is about conveying a message to the audience and getting them to fully digest the gravity of the director's message. What it does is to take simple information and piece it together in a creative way with cut-out visuals and animation, as well as real-time footage, engaging the audience in a way that is unfamiliar to the pop movie goer. At the same time, Furtado does well to entertain the audience with witty lines and states the obvious to drive into the viewer's mind that we often ignore the obvious, and the problem he eventually highlights is one of them. Kudos. Love it.

Tragicomic social satire

[Bored_Dragon · 8/10 · 3 August 2019]

"Ilha das Flores" (Island of Flowers) is a thirteen-minute documentary by Brazilian writer and director Jorge Furtado, which in a very striking way presents a social critique of Brazilian society, and the dark side of capitalism in general. Furtado doesn't say anything new with this movie, but he captures the essence of the commonly known in an unexpected and interesting way, making his story at the same time hilarious and depressing, entertaining and upsetting. Unlike many reviewers, I would not call it the best short documentary ever and I cannot say that I am thrilled, but the movie is excellent and very original and definitely worth watching. You will spend less than fifteen minutes on a movie that, if not unforgettable, certainly isn't easily forgettable.

8/10

Raw footage of every impoverished reality

[rodolfoandrade-46951 · 10/10 · 6 May 2019]

Since it´s still winning prizes in 2019 soon this review will be flooded with bots from the government´s minions that say nazism is a left-wing doctrine and everything made from a person of the left is bloodshed and Gramsci indoctrination.

This short movie is a must see masterpiece of everyday life in any big city. You may like or dislike it, but can´t be indifferent after watching this. It´s pretty commom herer in Brazil to be seen in schools or universities because it raises questions and open eyes for one kind of reality.

It´s based on some books and is not a documentary as stated by the director as being a fiction work. But it´s as real as it gets.

Capitalism for Dummies ??

[ericlecorvec · 9/10 · 4 October 2020]

A dazzling demonstration carried away by the terrible black humor of its author, this film describes by the meanders of digression and the profusion of images and words, the journey of a tomato from the field of its Japanese farmer (what- what a Japanese? What is a human being? ...) to the Isle of Flowers, a landfill where pigs feed ... and the poor (What 'a pig? What is a poor man? ...). The documentary and political impact of this film, which stems from the revelation of the existence of this place where the survival of men comes after that of animals, emerges from a delirious and funny pastiche of didactic documentary (commentary + illustrative images) of which it marries the most varied forms. And the indignation only increased tenfold.

A tomato's odissey can tell a lot about us

[brunolermann · 10/10 · 18 July 2022]

This goes beyond a short-length doc. It kind of creates a brand new genre, mixing educational stuff, irony, philosophy and comedy. First time I saw, almost 40 years ago, I could already notice its magic. Not an image or word is wasted.

A satirical portrayal of a time and place still sadly akin to our present day

[ReviewingHistory · 9/10 · 23 June 2020]

"Ilha das Flores" offers a humorous, satirical, but educational lens into poverty, scarcity, and inequality in Southern Brazil and beyond. This short, 13-minute documentary runs as a satire, humorous, and nuanced as it shows and discusses the persisting social problem of hunger and poverty.

While defining every concept explained, the narrator, ultimately leaves undefined the great social issue at hand. Thus, it remains the responsibility of the viewers, therefore, to make sense and define the problem for themselves.

All in all, the film is a remarkable showcase of irony and, so, it feels poignantly humorous. In sum, it is a film worth watching that shows harsh realities in an accessible and sophisticated way.

Poignant

[Rectangular_businessman · 9/10 · 14 July 2012]

What an incredible short this one was.

It starts being something funny and satirical, combining in a very clever way several visual elements commonly used in documentary films, with some cut-out animations, but as it advances, it turns into something way darker and disturbing (Not for what it is explicitly show on screen, but for what is heavily implied through the situations that take place in this short) The result is something very bitter and very bleak, being able to express in a short format all the cruelty and unfairness of the modern society.

That being said, it is masterfully done, with a great visual work and a superb direction. But it is for the message of this short what makes "Ilha das Flores" a masterpiece.