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ALL THE DEAD ONES
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Favor the birth of leaves
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Do not harm their children
The storm does not harm the water lettuce
The lotus flowers
Dance in the waterfall
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Do not harm their children
September 1899 Independence Day
It's a pity you couldn't be at the funeral, Ana.
It was beautiful.
So difficult and yet so beautiful.
No one will ever drink Josefina's coffee in this house again.
That is what I will miss the most.
It is so hard to get back home
not having anyone to help you wash your feet.
It feels like I'm bringing all the dirt in the world in here with me.
- Sister, what is that on your hands? - I've been gardening.
Be careful, the earth gets in the gaps between the keys.
Have you found a new servant, Maria?
- Ana, I couldn't even... - I thought of Iná.
Ana...
She already knows us. We can send for her on the estate.
It is not that easy to find someone new.
Today, I am buying provisions at the grocery store.
- I can do that in your stead. - No, Ana.
Listen, Josefina has died, but the rules haven't changed.
You must not get agitated,
drink alcohol or coffee.
Remember, the streets dull your senses.
You cannot go out.
Ana, look at me.
You are staying at home, do you hear me?
Mother needs to keep her heart calm, unalarmed.
And she also needs your company.
Iná would know how to look after us.
I felt a sharp pain in my back.
Now it seems impossible for me to get up.
Impossible?
At the slightest movement,
I feel an unbearable pain.
Calm down, mother. Breathe slowly.
You don't have to move right now.
Let's wait, there's no hurry.
Prop up your head.
The cushion, Ana.
I feel trapped here,
as if I would never get up again.
Relax your body.
We will help you sit up, all right?
Not now, though.
Only when you feel ready.
At my signal, prop her body up with the cushion.
Josefina...
Josefina would have certainly been able to help me.
Don't worry, mama, we will find you a better Josefina.
Ana!
- You are so beautiful! - Thank you.
Thank you.
Do you remember my nephew Eduardo?
He's now living with me.
I wish I could play the piano. You play very well.
- Where did you learn? - On our estate.
It must be a pleasant place, the air fresher.
There we had a proper home.
Don't you like this house? It seems comfortable.
It wasn't conceived to be our permanent home.
We came here five years ago, planning to go back.
Nonetheless, we're still here.
But the city...
I believe it is worth living here.
São Paulo is like Europe, more and more each day.
I have been to Europe,
and it reminded me of São Paulo. Funny, isn't it?
Do you think those two... together...?
I've had an intuition for a while. I'm good at this sort of thing.
Romilda...
Are you sure?
I don't know if my intuition
says the same thing as yours.
Perhaps Ana...
Perhaps she is past the age
of dreaming of matrimony.
I don't believe so.
They would make a fine couple.
Many people don't even notice Eduardo is of mixed race.
I think you should let Ana pay him a visit.
We live in the house next door!
You know, Isabel, only once
has Eduardo told me,
"Aunt, what a beautiful girl! I want to marry someone like her."
The only time he said that, he was referring to your Ana.
I believe you.
He rarely speaks about women.
He is a man of a solitary nature.
He acquired it because of his father's contempt.
My brother didn't even allow him to meet his mother.
At the time, she was a slave on his estate.
He gave him a surname and a roof. Nothing more.
Eduardo wandered all alone in the world,
through my brother's properties up north.
Now he wants to settle down here.
I will read a poem I like very much while you play.
It should form a good match with the music.
Do you know Cruz e Sousa?
I know the circumstances of his death.
I believe he is the Brazilian poet
who best understood the teachings of the French masters.
Are we talking about the same poet?
The one I read about in the papers did not look French at all.
I am not referring to his features, but to his poetry.
Ghastly Babel of tears and cries
Of sobbing, moaning, prolonged wailing
The Pain roamed unknown worlds
The remotest and vaguest infinities
Recalling religions, recalling rites It swept away doomed peoples
Through darkness, in horror, desperate In Tantalus's mayhem dismayed.
Blowing horns and trumpets
All generations proclaim The great Pain to frigid spaces
Thus, in mute times, they are like
Breeds of Prometheus Titanic, rough, brutish and colossal
Twisting their arms.
Have you gathered everything, Antônio?
I wanted to sort her things out myself, but I am in great pain.
Almost everything.
Dona Isabel,
I can't find a decorated earthenware jar.
My grandmother kept it very carefully.
Have you seen it?
No.
What about Iná?
I don't know. I tried to send her news,
but the distance doesn't help.
I want to join her and our son as soon as possible.
I didn't suppose you would be able to come this morning.
You had told me it would take a while
until you could take a day off work again.
I did, but it seems this city's open ditches
cannot let their diggers take one day off,
not even to bury their dead.
When I arrived at work this morning, I was...
Anyway.
I shall certainly be wanted somewhere else.
Josefina had good taste in bedsheets.
Did you know my grandmother?
What an odd question!
Of course I did.
She was there when I was born and when my children were born.
She couldn't be there when I was born.
My father was sold as a child to another estate, as you know.
They couldn't stay in contact.
But you were little when you came to our property, if I'm not mistaken.
You knew her as a boy.
I was just lucky to be taken to the property where she was.
You mentioned her taste in sheets, that's why I asked.
My grandmother had a taste for beauty.
Everyone who knew her knew that.
You must come out to see it.
It's worth it. I work there.
I would simply like the noise to cease.
There's no ceasing it. It's progress.
Up until yesterday I heard nothing.
My name is Anísio.
- Yours? - Ana.
Nice to meet you.
If you want,
I'll show you the rails.
No.
Thank you.
You needn't be afraid.
I've been building the streetcar tracks for months.
I've been received at your Portuguese neighbor's house...
Very intimately.
Silva...
Where have you been, Ana?
I needed your help to get up.
I was in the garden.
Tell me what father wrote.
Goodness.
It's September already.
I didn't even notice.
They're only rehearsing today. Tomorrow is the real thing.
Independence Day.
Mother,
Alcebíades came with Silva.
Was the new harvest good, Silva? Profitable?
Good afternoon, Miss Ana. It wasn't bad.
Your father sent the accounts log. I gave it to Dona Isabel.
I know, I haven't read it yet.
I haven't seen Sister Maria in a while.
- Is she well? - She's been busy.
I miss her.
I still have the chaplet she gave me. I pray with it every night.
It must be good to have a sister who's a nun.
She can pray for you
and ask for your protection.
Silva...
Where is Alcebíades?
- Who, miss? - Alcebíades.
I just saw him carrying a sack of coffee.
- It was me. - No.
I'm sure it was Alcebíades.
He walked with a limp.
He died many years ago.
I was a child, I saw it. I've never forgotten it.
He had given up life.
He already looked more dead than alive.
So they sang for him.
They sang to heal him, didn't they?
I belonged to the Macedos at the time. I don't know.
They sang and brought him back to life.
Iná was the person who sang the most, wasn't she?
I wasn't there.
Have you noticed that my mother is decomposing?
Miss Ana!
You don't have to pretend to me.
You just need to look at her, it's beyond any doubt.
I only delivered the letter.
November 1899 Day of the Dead
Ten years since the Republic was proclaimed.
Eleven years since slavery was abolished.
It is only natural, girls,
that our values should evolve.
Rosa.
Yes, Sister Maria.
Listen to what I am teaching. It's an important subject.
Yes, Sister.
What were we talking about?
About...
the United States of Brazil.
The Republic.
Carry on.
And Ancient Romans?
What did Ancient Romans do?
They moved...
They moved from Republic to Empire.
As for us,
contrary to them, we moved from Empire to Republic.
There's no need to hurry, Rosa.
Or to ostentatiously display the talents we recognize in ourselves.
Dear mother, please do not show this letter to Ana.
In my latest visits, I had no opportunity to talk to you in private.
Working at the convent, I cannot be there as often as I would like to.
Although I am certain that cloistered life is my true vocation,
I must stay out in the world to help my sister and yourself.
You have certainly noticed Ana's state.
She gets very agitated.
She even sees people who are not present.
She gives me no respite.
She is obsessed with a memory from life on the estate
and insists on telling me this childhood recollection
contains the only possible remedy to cure your pain.
Obviously, nothing of the sort would be beneficial to your health.
However, Ana's disquiet worries me.
I shall try another solution.
Should it turn out ineffective, though, I have the following request to you:
do not be scared if I pretend to indulge Ana's delusions.
And help me to put on, at home,
a small act to calm her down.
Forgive me this odd request, I only have your wellbeing in mind.
Good morning. Mrs. Giovanna?
Buongiorno.
Do you know Jorge?
Il barone.
He said he would be on the plantation...
Is he expecting you?
Is he home?
Is he expecting you?
He is my father.
Gentlemen, could you please excuse us for a moment?
I need to speak to my father.
We need to discuss family affairs.
Per favore.
Maria...
I have missed you, my daughter.
Is life peaceful at the convent?
I am working at the girls' school. I teach there.
I know that. I am asking if you are well.
Your concern surprises me.
Don't start, Maria, don't treat me as an enemy.
Who should I treat as an enemy then?
The hours, for going by?
The roads, for stretching out between us?
I didn't choose to stay here.
I am striving day after day to save our property.
It is no longer ours.
That is common knowledge.
I thought long before coming here.
It isn't easy for me to get away, many people need me in São Paulo.
But I deemed it important to come in person
to tell you, father, that this situation is untenable.
Mother and Ana need you.
They need resources, this is where I can generate them.
When did you last see them?
- I'm doing all I can, I write to them. - Eight months ago.
That's right. Eight months ago, father.
You have deserted us.
My presence here secures the house where your mother and sister live.
You must have forgotten what it's like to need a house and servants.
The convent is probably luxurious compared to our present conditions.
Well then...
could we all move into the convent with you?
To live on tomatoes and carrots?
Yes, we have had misfortunes.
The land you grew up in is no longer ours. Other people own it now.
But I feel no shame whatsoever. I am useful.
When people drink our coffee, from Rio to Salvador,
they praise our family name, Soares! Not Vitale.
Not yet.
What keeps me here is my work,
my love for the land and for my family.
Your love for the land does not seem to bear fruit.
All our neighbors are thriving. Our family alone is on the verge of ruin.
I shall look for another solution.
From you, we can only expect sacks of coffee and failure.
Iná,
I want to offer you an opportunity.
My mother is very ill in São Paulo.
And Ana...
Do you remember her?
How couldn't I?
Ana is too sensitive.
She is very upset
about mother's illness, she's restless.
Ana has been saying to me over and over again
that when she was still a child, she saw you treat
a man with swollen feet.
He couldn't even walk anymore.
Do you remember that?
No.
She says you took very good care of him. Alcebíades was his name.
Sister Maria, I don't know what you're talking about.
I suppose so. Ana is probably delirious.
She has been very fragile since we lost Josefina.
Still I think that seeing you would please my mother
and do her a world of good...
Sister...
Josefina died?
Didn't you know?
I am sorry.
How very insensitive of me.
I assumed Antônio had told you.
It was two months ago.
It's been hard to stay in touch with him. Messages travel slowly.
- Have you seen him? - Yes, he attended the funeral.
He is well and healthy, despite the grief of course.
So you know where to find him?
When Josefina was taken ill,
he asked us to send him messages via his employer.
My invitation should sound more appealing now.
It will be an opportunity for the two of you to be reunited.
I want you to come with me to São Paulo.
Tomorrow.
I don't know what Miss Ana expects from me.
Or what she keeps in her memory.
I cannot help her. But thank you all the same.
Iná...
Listen to me.
I'm offering to help you.
I'll pay the trip costs for you and your son.
I can provide accommodation.
And I will give you some money for your first days in São Paulo.
I only need your help for one night.
Think it over carefully, please.
I will stop by at dawn, hoping to take you along with me.
Goodbye, Father. Your devotion to the parish is admirable.
Thank you, Sister.
So, Iná?
It is difficult, Father Inácio.
I had decided never to associate with that family again.
São Paulo is far away, isn't it?
It is, I know.
We have to stay together.
Staying apart will only weaken us even more.
I'm going to bed, Benê. See you tomorrow.
See you.
I want to see dad.
There will be no shelter for us there.
It can't be any worse than here.
I thought you liked it here. With your friends.
Benedito says it is beautiful there.
He only talks nonsense. He's never been beyond the gates.
He's seen a cartoon in the paper. Brazil's tallest tower is there.
And I want to see dad.
We should not let ourselves be dragged there now.
Your father will soon be back.
You yourself said no one ever comes back from the city.
With so much good wood in the forest
The hollow tree rules
Is this where I used to play
While grazed
The large herd
That Alceu left for me?
Are these the places?
They are, but I
Am not the person I was
Marilia, are you calling?
Wait, I am coming
Marilia, are you calling?
Wait, I am coming
Off that cliff...
Thank you.
Mama awaits her coffee.
Dona Isabel, I was bringing your coffee.
Are you sitting at the table or on the sofa?
- How do you feel? - Ravenous.
Everything takes hours.
You like singing, don't you?
You sing well.
Well, the bread is delicious.
- Have you eaten some? - I tasted it while making coffee.
My!
- Do you need anything else? - No.
Carolina.
Don't use this dreadful grocery store ground coffee.
Roast and grind our own coffee beans.
At night in the moonlight To intumesce milky white breasts
Of thin and bluish veins
Of virginity, modesty, shame
May all the misty dreams be carnal Of strange, vague, starry ways
Where visions of love, gelid, sleep
Dreams, palpitations, desires and yearnings...
Carolina!
Do not interrupt me.
Dona Isabel asked me to roast and grind...
Everything is fine, calm down.
They're dry.
- They are. - Dead.
Grab the hoe by the bench and come help me.
If we work together,
we will have finished by the time my sister gets back.
This rends my heart, but I don't feel able to help them.
Besides, one servant for such a house is hardly enough.
Carolina, we have an agreement with the Soares.
It shouldn't last long.
But you have to fulfill your duties and obey my orders.
I know that, Dona Romilda.
You don't need to go back there today, but I need you here.
Take a few minutes' rest,
and wash your dress, it still has coffee on it.
So it does. Look!
Carolina...
Did you sing for Ana as I asked you to?
I did.
The very song you had chosen.
What did she say?
She wasn't keen enough to hear the entire song.
Perhaps she doesn't like popular songs.
I understand.
- Thank you. - Excuse me now.
It was perhaps a mistake to introduce you to Ana.
Ana intrigues me.
She appears not to listen to me.
However...
However, you talk to her
as you would to anyone not interested in listening to you.
It is easier to talk to a brick wall
than to someone who truly cares about you.
Aunt, Ana and I would be respected as a couple.
Ana?
- Is everything all right? - Yes.
Look whom I've brought along.
Iná!
- Miss Ana. - It's so good to see you!
So good! I knew you would come.
Do you remember João?
- Good evening. - Good evening.
Iná,
make yourself and João comfortable. The bedroom is over here.
Is this where great-grandmother used to sleep?
It is. For almost five years.
I wish I could remember her face, but I can't.
You were too little.
Aren't there any pictures of her? At all?
There was one at the estate house, but it wasn't ours.
Josefina was holding a Soares child in it.
What is that?
Miss Ana and her piano.
So you are the Nascimento family.
Such a shame things turned out as they did.
Didn't he say where he was going when he left?
He was hurt.
He left without saying goodbye.
I saw him a few times at track-laying sites.
But they prefer white men for that job, skills are required.
To be honest, I don't think Antônio is cut out for building work.
We all have our own talents in life.
I tried to help, but he was in the wrong place.
Mr. Bento, I badly need to request your help.
If you see Antônio again,
tell him we're in town and looking for him.
We're at the Soares' house.
I do not expect to see him again.
But it might happen.
- At the Soares'? - Yes, in Campos Elíseos.
I shall remember.
I know you had to leave the estate because of that.
The new lady owner told me.
Your people...
kept practicing your cult, although it was forbidden.
That is over, Sister Maria. It belongs in the past.
- I promised Antônio that... - Even better.
I don't want you to do any ritual.
At any rate, no real rituals.
Ours is a Catholic house.
- It must be play-acting. - Play-acting?
Just make Ana believe it's real.
Sister Maria, what do you want?
I think you have to talk about souls.
Ana says you people talk to the dead to help the living.
So she wanted it to be on the Day of the Dead.
She also says the place was beautiful, it felt like a party.
We have to decorate the house.
Think of things we can scatter around the living room.
And if you can sing something...
Some song in your language.
I have always spoken Portuguese.
I was born in this country.
Don't you know any of your elders' songs?
I do.
But I don't sing them anymore.
And anyway, they can't be sung in vain, for no reason.
Isn't saving my sister a good enough reason?
Look, Iná, I know what faith is.
It is the core of my life.
You may have changed faiths, but you haven't forgotten your tradition.
Why don't you alter slightly the lyrics to your songs? Or perhaps
skip some verses,
so as to turn them meaningless.
- Ana will not notice. - No, I can't.
I stopped practicing it, but I won't disrespect my ancestors' faith.
The tradition I was brought up in.
Our songs don't have empty words.
Sister, would you mix up Jesus, Saint Francis and the Holy Spirit
in a sequence of meaningless sentences?
They will cease to be the songs your people believe in
to become songs Ana alone will believe in.
Songs that don't invoke any demon whatsoever.
What are you calling a demon, Sister?
To me, they are demons.
Forces that try to blind us to the light of God.
You are mistaken.
They are forces that open paths towards more light.
Do not repeat that!
Or our conversation will become impossible.
Your request is impossible.
We have agreed on a job, Iná, which I have partly paid for
with your train tickets.
We have a deal you can't back out of.
Ana is waiting for us.
A sudden departure would only make things worse.
I have brought you to São Paulo to do this.
Please, let us not get lost in irrelevant details.
Let's try again.
You can start by saying something in Portuguese,
by invoking the dead. Or rather, by pretending to do so.
Can you play?
No.
Look inside the first drawer.
Music should never be locked away.
I used to constantly say that to Ana, but she is sometimes deaf.
The little finger...
The little finger is the most dangerous one.
You have to be very careful with it.
Get off my piano, you brat!
João, come sit next to me.
Can we start?
Let's not hurry, Ana. Iná has to prepare everything.
Don't you?
Yes.
How could I forget that? It has to be done after dark.
Let's make more room. Iná, help me move the sofa.
I was still a child, but I remember very well.
The night was moonless.
I walked over to the slave quarters by myself. I was so scared.
And you got a thrashing. Papa was furious when he found out.
It was beautiful. So beautiful!
There was an old slave, he was ill. Alcebíades.
He had been whipped.
Not many lashes, but he was frail as he was elderly.
He no longer wanted to live.
And there was singing and praying. Right?
- It was such a long time ago. - She remembers it all.
They used to do that often.
- Didn't you, Iná? - Whenever someone got back hurt.
- Mama was also hurt. - No, she wasn't.
Yes, she was.
By order of my father, I'm afraid.
What nonsense!
Mama is ill, that's all. But she will get better.
- This is also a healing ritual, isn't it? - Yes.
You all sang in the language of the dead.
In our people's language.
Will you save our mother?
She is here only to do that.
- What about the torches? - Torches?!
The torches that lit up the slaves that night.
They didn't have any lamps back then.
Please, don't be silly, Maria.
- Fire is important. Isn't it, Iná? - Yes, fire...
We can't have torches in our living room.
- Let's go to the garden. - No! We don't want the neighbors prying.
I will hold up a torch then. It will have to be small.
It will be enough.
I think there were some water basins as well.
What else, Iná? It must be exactly like that night.
As far as I can see, you remember everything.
You are so different, ma'am.
You're so...
I request permission
from the dead
to open the doors of this house
and help our dear sister Isabel.
Today she needs...
She needs...
No.
This isn't right.
I will not do this to my faith.
It won't work this way.
It won't work without Josefina's things.
I found this when Josefina died.
Ana, do you keep those pagan objects
inside our house?
The jar.
- You have to use it, don't you? - No, miss.
How come?
Josefina and I do not share the same traditions.
Of course you do!
We're from different nations, the customs vary.
What you're saying makes no sense. Why are you trying to deceive me?
You all follow African traditions.
Africa is big.
Light the candles, Sister Maria.
- What? - Please.
We need light.
Iná... Light?
Yes, more light.
It has to be done my way.
You can take these basins away.
What is that?
Not in our house!
It's all right, Maria.
- Iná, stop it right now. - Maria, don't!
Let her go ahead.
I think it was exactly like this, but there were more voices.
- Ana... - Quiet!
She commands, she commands Yes, she does
Old Matamba commands since the break of dawn
Is it over?
There are more people here.
They're all coming back again.
A procession of slaves.
Right here.
In the living room.
I think we can now start.
The plantation slaves.
All the dead ones.
I recognize them.
What have you done, Iná?
There's no one here.
I only said a prayer.
What about João?
Will I see him again tomorrow?
Ask them to come back, Maria. Now we can start.
I heard everything, mother.
You hadn't sung to Matamba in such a long time.
Such a long time.
Yes, son.
It's beautiful when you call for her.
I like it here.
Are we staying forever?
No.
You were born free.
You know so little.
Listen to what I tell you.
We cannot stay here.
December 1899 Christmas
I think this neighborhood will be better.
Over there is a busier road, with people on both sides.
You got the strategy, right?
I always start asking for 3 vinténs.
Right. It's too expensive.
They'll offer 1. You'll ask for 2 and that's settled.
A friendly price.
Only because you like the person.
I tried that last week, Francisco. It didn't work.
Because you don't know how to sell yet.
They say we all have our own talents in life.
Don't worry about that. If it doesn't work,
offer them 2 for 3 vinténs. It's still advantageous.
- 2 for 3. - Right.
I wonder if this orange was picked by Benedito.
- Who's Benedito? - A friend.
An orange, sir?
Hey kid.
- Do you have pineapples? - No.
- What do you have? - Guavas, oranges...
- I'm back. - You haven't sold everything.
He hasn't shown up today.
- Were you watching? - Luiz was.
He knows everyone in the area.
- I guarantee your father hasn't come. - Thanks.
Are you visiting your friends at the piano house again today?
You look beautiful, mom.
João! You're coming late every day!
Mr. Pedro gave me more fruit today. It took long to sell out.
I've told him not to hold you up.
Also... I stayed a while outside the Soares' house.
In case dad turned up.
Again?
- Did they see you? - No.
I was on the other side of the street.
Don't do that again.
I've already told you, we won't find him this way.
I've told Bento we're not staying there anymore.
Where will Bento tell my father to go then?
Every day we're somewhere different.
He knows I spend the whole day by the Tamanduateí river,
washing clothes.
So when Antônio comes, he can find me there.
The river is long. Dad won't find you.
Can we sleep in the room of your washerwoman friend today?
I thought Clara shared our faith.
I told her I wanted to gather some people
and find a place to hold our ceremonies.
But then she got moody.
She changed the way she spoke to me.
She said those things weren't acceptable in her house.
Are we sleeping here then?
Have you cleaned these beautiful nativity scene figurines?
Yes, I have.
We didn't get them out of their boxes for years.
You can now collect some leaves outside
to decorate the stable where the infant Jesus will be born.
Forgive me, Dona Isabel, but that is not part of my job.
I must still clean the bedrooms before going back to Dona Romilda's.
- João. - Yes?
Get me some pretty leaves
from the garden, would you?
Without destroying the plants.
- Pick small leaves. - Sure.
If I depended only on you, Carolina...
Can I get back to work?
That boy isn't your servant.
Iaiá, you want to die
If you die, we die together
I want to see how they can fit
Two bodies in one tomb
This is good, so good So good it hurts
This is so good, so good So good it hurts
Ana, this is actually fun, don't you think?
It reminds me of the polka. Play us a polka.
Play Atrevidinha.
I'll play Caçadora.
Come on, João.
Look, João.
Ana will teach you to play polka.
Place that finger there.
And this one on this key.
One, two...
Good, keep doing it.
You need to expand your musical knowledge.
The polka comes from Europe.
One day we will go there together,
and you will get to know the origin of everything.
Coffee, mother?
No, darling, thank you. Later.
Mother, your back.
Come here, Maria. Come on.
Son.
Iná...
I don't understand why you had to barge in this way,
without knocking, through the front door?
I looked for you at the store and Pedro's son told me,
"João must be at the ladies' house, as usual."
As usual?
You know I come here every day.
Stop lying, João. You've never told me you came in.
He's always lurking around outside the house.
Sometimes he turns up in the middle of the night,
with the others who've been hiding in the rooms since that night.
What others?
That isn't true. My son is always with me.
Forgive Ana. She sometimes...
Listen, it is not true that he's always with you.
- He spends his days out and about. - I work. And so does he.
We both work all day long...
Why am I explaining myself to you?
This is none of your business.
I know what's on your mind, ma'am.
He comes to visit once. Then he comes again.
A small task or favor here and there.
- Next thing, he is serving coffee. - Iná!
Don't talk to my mother that way.
- Some respect. - You ladies show me respect first.
He likes it here. We like him.
- What's so wrong about helping a child? - Helping?
Why not?
I've known you since I was born.
I would not turn to you for help if I needed any.
You're talking about the past.
We must look at the present and ahead
into the future.
João is too often on his own
Ana and I are often on our own as well.
We have the time and the will to educate him.
To present things to him he wouldn't otherwise have access to.
He can even
stay here as long as he wants, I wouldn't mind that at all.
- Josefina's bedroom is free! - Dona Isabel...
Please, not another word.
I came here, I fulfilled my part of the agreement.
Now let us live.
No one wants my son to get an education more than I do.
I will find a way that doesn't necessarily drive us apart.
João!
Where else could he learn the piano?
- Let go of my son. - Let him stay.
Ana, please.
Do you want mother to die?
Ana is mistaken. This is not at all about me.
The child wants to stay.
You yourself know
that he wants to stay.
Excuse me, Miss Ana.
Iná,
do you remember the seamstress I told you about last month?
I do.
She needs someone.
She's at 19, Lava-pés street.
Ask to see Doca.
Can I just go there?
Yes, I've told her about you.
Thank you, Carolina.
You must tell me everything, João.
If we start lying, what is going to happen?
You and I are discovering this city together.
I can't teach you everything, I don't know everything myself.
There are things you pick up faster than I do.
But I've known other things for a long time, and you haven't.
Old things disguised as new.
We need to tell each other what is going on.
I don't know what goes on inside you, you never tell me.
What do you want to know?
What do you desire?
Every time I walk in front of the Polytheama theater...
I look at the bills of the shows.
It makes me want to go in.
I've never told you that.
And just yesterday, I stopped washing clothes a while
and allowed myself to watch the river flow.
It's beautiful.
Even with the soap foam.
And you know how much I like rivers.
I always wonder if the source is too far away.
I want to go find it one day.
You don't want to tell me, but I think you've given up on dad.
Sometimes I do feel
it would be better to know he's not coming back.
Better than go on waiting, with no news.
It hadn't rained for a long time.
It was so hot.
I only wanted to cool.
I thought I could...
You know you can't get up without permission.
I know, Sister Maria.
Leaving the classroom in my absence is unacceptable.
That's why I'm apologizing.
For punishment...
You'll remain soaked in today's classes.
This is the new pupil in our school.
Munirah.
She doesn't speak Portuguese, she's Lebanese.
She has just arrived in Brazil.
Munirah will sit down next to you, Rosa.
We'll now talk about discipline.
I must be failing my mission.
At my slightest display of generosity,
you exceed all acceptable limits.
They've come from Paris just in time for Christmas.
Aren't they beautiful?
Do you own your mother?
Pardon?
Do you have any slaves?
There haven't been slaves in Brazil for over ten years, you know it.
Were they all buried?
They're alive. They're just not slaves anymore.
Why don't they go away and leave us alone then?
Ana...
I accept the dresses.
I couldn't have any children with you.
I wouldn't recognize them at birth.
What are you talking about?
The builder's kiss is better than yours.
Who?
I wasn't sure, having nothing to compare it with.
But now I know.
I would like to see him again.
Such a white face.
A little sweaty.
It's a pity the works have been completed.
Are you making fun of me?
No.
I wonder if he was better in all aspects.
He told me he had visited your aunt's house.
That's fine, a widow has the right to carry on living.
Such a free gentleman as he is
catches the attention of who's alive.
Yes, his name is Anísio.
Anísio must still be alive.
- Aren't you surprised I know his name? - He is alive.
His skin is fair, so he doesn't come at night like the others.
I knew him.
He came to my aunt's to pay a visit to me.
Not to her.
You and I have many affinities, Ana.
I believe...
I really believe we could have shared some fragments of happiness.
The streetcar!
Come look at the streetcar!
Get off the tracks, kid! Off the tracks!
This is good, so good
So good it hurts...
February 1900 Carnival
All this rain during carnival is such a crying shame.
People are not made of sugar.
My mother worked at a sugar mill.
They'd say that when it rained, so no one stopped toiling.
Our clothes aren't made of sugar either,
luckily.
Carnival won't stop, work won't stop either.
We must be finished by 5 p.m.
In time to decorate the house for tonight's ceremony.
Dona Doca,
I am so happy we've been able to gather around our faith.
I felt a strong intuition when I met you.
But before that, I was scared
of talking about it to people I didn't know.
I've seen many people get persecuted.
I know it only too well.
17 people and I were expelled from the estate because of our ceremonies.
Because of me.
I had become the leader after my mother died.
After that I gave it all up.
I stopped talking about Nkisi.
I pretended to have no faith.
I made a promise to my husband Antônio.
He was afraid of what might happen to us if I kept doing it.
Then we joined a group of people and built a wooden hut in Araraquara.
We stayed there for almost a year.
But there was no work. Antônio couldn't take it.
He came to São Paulo.
I stayed there.
I couldn't come here with João, with no guarantee.
But then our place caught fire.
Or it was set on fire, nobody knows.
We had to live in the church for a while.
I didn't want to leave everything behind.
What about this Antônio?
Does he follow the Nkisi faith?
No, he worships the Orishas.
Like his grandmother did.
But they were a minority on the estate.
New people would always arrive, bought from other estates, including my mother,
and the nations gradually mixed.
At this time of the year, they get very agitated.
Now with the foreign pupils...
How can I teach discipline to someone who doesn't understand my language?
At least,
they all understand the paddle.
Sister Maria,
what happened?
You have been weirdly quiet.
My mother
has decided to die.
Wasn't she getting better, though?
She was.
A brief moment of light.
A fleeting cloud
cannot undo the sun, Sister.
And God moves in mysterious ways.
What about your sister?
Also going down a path of no return, Sister Flora.
If our mother passes...
If Ana is left alone...
The only solution might be an asylum.
Always remember
it is not up to us to understand everything.
Some questions needn't even be asked.
We accept the mystery.
It is the only way to remain sane.
I shall pray for your family.
But I need you to appease your mind and trust God.
Do you think there may be other forms of souls?
What are you talking about, Sister?
Do you know the African cults?
Sister...
Your opinion
is all I'm asking for.
- My opinion about the Devil? - The Devil...
The Devil tries to fool us, but God...
God can also take different forms
to defeat the evil in humankind.
Aren't we liable, in our human ignorance,
to confuse the forces of the Devil and those of God?
I will forget these words, and I hope you will as well.
You are very troubled.
But I prefer to believe your faith remains unshaken.
I prefer this one.
- This one? - Yes.
I'm not sure it's the best one in case it rains.
Iná.
João and I waited for you.
But the months went by.
Almost two years.
I would have found a way to bring you to São Paulo.
I would have.
First I only needed to find a place...
After I arrived in this city, I no longer knew who I was.
I had...
I needed...
Bento ran into me the day before yesterday.
I was lighting the street lamps.
He gave me your address.
19, Lava-pés street.
So this is your work suit.
Not a carnival costume.
The best job I've ever had.
I light and put out
the street lamps.
On party nights,
the drunkards beg me to keep the lamps on longer
into the night.
Nowadays even to fall over on the sidewalk intoxicated,
they want light.
I don't blame them.
It is good
to be able to see.
We can find some space
at the shelter tonight.
My corner is small, but we can move to a bigger spot in there.
We have beds here.
João and I.
Dona Doca lives upstairs.
The mattresses seem good.
This is...
Dona Josefina's jar.
I looked everywhere for it.
I went over to the house...
Iná.
Antônio.
How about João?
Is he mad at me?
He speaks about you every day.
Never stopped missing you.
It's different with me.
He does get mad at me.
We argue, then we make up.
Then we argue again.
And then we make up.
You weren't around to argue with him.
I think...
he somehow understood
it was pointless to waste the love with anger.
This one is beautiful indeed.
Let's keep it on the side.
But I've told you, mama, this makes no sense.
You still have a long time ahead among us.
I have lived too much.
I have no memories left. Not a moment or a scene.
When you met papa?
You surely remember that.
I do remember your father.
The foul smell of his clothes.
How he refused to trim his body hair.
You know, there is no wisdom.
My mother used to tell me at the end there was wisdom.
At the end, we'd learn something
we could only learn after bearing the cross of the years.
But the years have passed,
and I have the cross, nothing more.
Am I not here?
Before you?
Am I not the fruit of your life?
Nothing has been in vain, mother.
You can ascend a mountain if you want to.
I would rather descend one.
Rolling downhill.
Find me a mountain.
Introduce me to her.
We shall be friends and she will
send me speeding down her side.
I've brought the wine you like so much.
Mother, shall I bring it for you?
That one.
That is the dress I want to be buried in.
It is the dress I want to wear throughout the 20th century.
A beautiful era is about to come.
We will have peace and beauty.
New means of transport.
New ways of communicating.
New methods to relieve the pains of the body.
A beautiful era indeed.
A beautiful era is coming.
And wearing that dress, I want to welcome this new century,
which will still be ours.
We know this river well. Mom used to work there.
We only know part of it, there's still a lot to see.
You can mark the ones you've already seen, dad.
We want to know them all.
I have had to tread these streets so much.
But I was only able to truly see very few rivers.
I want to go back there with you.
The stream I remember is the Sapateiro.
But I don't want you to see that one.
It flows through the slaughterhouse tanning plant.
I worked there over a year ago.
Its water is red and thick.
Dyed with blood.
And the smell...
I can still feel it now.
We can quickly pass by that one.
But since it exists, I want to see it.
Can you show me on the map where it is?
I'll try.
I think it started around here...
No, I remember it was far from the city center.
So perhaps it is over here...
What's that?
The name of our family.
João is teaching me.
I hail you, I hail you
Upon your arrival, O Kasanji Upon your arrival from Angola
I hail you, blessed Angola
She commands, she commands Yes, she does
Old Matamba commands since the break of dawn
Mother has fallen asleep.
Good?
Good.
- Haven't you ever tasted any in secret? - No.
Should I have?
You know nothing about me.
Of course I do!
I am your sister.
I know nothing about you.
Liar.
See? I can lie.
I haven't had any wine for a long time.
Our father never let you do anything.
When I decided to become a nun, he gave up on me.
But he never gave up on you.
Never.
He didn't even let you stroll around the estate.
He wanted to protect you from everything.
He did give up.
He's not here.
And the letters take too long.
I also miss the time we lived on the estate.
I used to get up earlier than everyone.
It was still dark.
Not earlier than everyone.
There was always someone up.
- Earlier than you. - Not always.
There.
They're back.
Who?
Can't you see?
There's one right there looking at us.
Ana...
Please.
They always come back at night.
I think they're those who weren't buried.
There's no one.
There.
They've all arrived.
Don't you think they get lovelier after they die?
We are alone.
Listen.
No breathing.
Only mine
and yours.
They're dead.
They don't breathe.
Miss Ana, long time no see.
I saw a light and thought about Dona Isabel.
Give her my regards.
Reveling must make you thirsty, doesn't it?
Is your mother awake?
No.
She's asleep.
She's calling.
You'd better see what she needs.
What's wrong?
You are not like the others who appear here.
I think you're still alive.
What are you talking about?
I'm going away, my parents are waiting at home.
Take me to the gate.
You're no use to us anymore, indeed.
Let's go to the gate. This way.
She stares at me empty-eyed.
One day you told me that, mom.
Her eyes became empty.
She picks up a spade. I don't know what for.
For a second, I realize I left my mask on the table.
It takes just a second.
The spade is already up in air.
I fall to the ground.
I feel the blood cover my eyes.
I'm dragged by her.
To the garden.
My heart stops.
I won't let you go without news, mom.
You all will always hear from me.
I'm still breathing.
Can't you see me
sitting
by the river?
Josefina?
Ana?
Good morning, Ana.
I'm sorry I've walked into your house this way.
Just now I thought I heard a loud noise.
Very clearly.
Followed by a scream.
Did it come from here?
Ana, have you been gardening...
This early?
The holes need to be properly sealed so that we don't hear them.
But they never shut up.
Who?
Are you dead?
Goodness me!
How can you say such a thing?
I have to go home.
There's no coffee to make anyway.
My concern brought me here.
But your sister must be about to get up.
See you soon, dear.
I am pleased to know everything is fine for everybody.
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Favor the birth of leaves
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Do not harm their children
The storm does not harm the water lettuce
The lotus flowers
Dance in the waterfall
The waters of the deities
Are in the temple
The waters of divinity
Do not harm their children
English subtitles by Evaldo Medeiros
Subtitling by Parati Films - Paris