Bye Bye Brazil

Bye Bye Brazil is both a picaresque road movie about the travels (and travails) of a tiny, rundown carnival working in northern Brazil, and a gentle satire on the country's modernization. As Carlos Diegues' 1979 film begins, a young street accordionist from the hinterlands and his pregnant wife join the minuscule circus troupe, consisting of a voluble magician known as the Gypsy King, his sultry girlfriend dancer called Salome, and a laconic strongman. Before their journey through small villages and bustling cities is over, the two couples will have briefly exchanged partners, and their stops along the way will reveal how rural culture is being altered by industrialization (most pointedly—in terms of their livelihood—by the ever more pervasive presence of radio and television). By turns exuberant, ruminative, and poignant, the always colorful Bye Bye Brazil skillfully tells a story of the vagaries of human emotion set against an evocative background of a society in the midst of radical change. A winning example of Brazilian cinema, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)