"Tchau Brás" ("Goodbye Brás") tells us a story of nostalgia and of a time gone by when traditional well-formed neighborhood and spaces had to
open spaces for progress and evolution of things modifying things for better or worse. In this particular case, the example shown was Brás, a corner
away from the city of São Paulo's downtown and here the upcoming construction of a subway station is seen with bad eyes by the community. Brás of the
period was one of the major cornerstones of Italian immigrants ever since the 1860's where one of the most important train lines was built and cut to
100 years later the new challenge people have to face is the arrival of a modern subway that will cut the place in half.
Ruda de Andradé's film presents the neighborhood in its "final moments" before the subway comes. It'd take two more years for the station got
there, and by that time the more conversative people weren't enthusiastic about it as evidenced by a church concentration where a priest cries out
complaining about the subway and he congratulates the people who joined in his campaign against the tool of modernity.
For those know Brás now (as I do) is a fascinating opportunity to see how things evolved from the late 1970's up until more recent times. What the film
is a traditional place, filled with culture, nice places to gather around, do some shopping and above all a place where you can actually walk and see
things - even though the film was shot in areas of Brás of which I'm not familiar with. Today's Brás is overcrowded, far from traditional as Mooca still
is today with its Italian restaurants and old houses; all kinds of people and cultures clash at each day on the train and subway stations, and there's also
Largo da Concórdia, a huge square where street vendors occupy the whole scenario to the point one cannot properly walk on the sidewalk, dividing the space
with buses and cars, it's chaotic. And the subway is actually the only modern thing along with the new buildings but it's far from being so modern like
many parts of the city's downtown.
I don't exactly what the film is really about. There's a poet narrating facts from the neighborhood and such but it doesn't conquer our hearts,
just inform things a little and haflway through we see the marches, the priest and the crowd moving from here to there, without any proper testimonies
about what they think about the place they live and thoughts about the subway construction. It's a little empty. It was good because of its nostalgic values
of seeing a place I know in a different light that the one I'm used to see. By the time I was born the subway was already there for almost a decade,
and during my formative years I started to notice how confusing his location is, which divides the whole neighborhood and the major avenues of there are
located one before and another after the station covering long distances and to reach from one side to the other you either cross the subway and walk a little
or cross the bridges from other neighborhoods like Belém, Bresser-Mooca, Tatuapé and countless more all the way from Itaquera to Parque Dom Pedro, where
those roads end paving their way to the city's center.
Do I think the subway and the progress really killed Brás, or as they say it was a kiss of goodbye to Brás? No. It certainly modified several
characteristics, brought a lot of people there and it is one of the major arteries of the city, pumping blood and movement to the city's downtown, it's
economy is very propsperous but that old Brás of the early 20th century doesn't exist anymore but that goes to every other place located somewhat close
to the major areas of São Paulo, all took over in the late 1970's and early 1990's giving up space for new subway stations. We move distances in a better
way, we skip traffic most of the time but there's always chaos and confusion, some elements from the past died over the years and a new landscape was
designed. But you can't have nostalgia, conservatism alligned with progress and modernity all in the same - it exists but it's rare, specially in Brazil
where the past always seems to be forgotten or ignored. And I'd love to see the old Brás as it was back then cause the one we've got is too crazed for me.
7/10.