Trash
Hidden trash
The first thing that most viewers expect, when they propose to watch a Brazilian movie, is that it will show violence and slum. And when the film is made by a foreigner, the expectation is that everything will be misrepresented. Interestingly, “Trash” (“Trash – A Esperança Vem do Lixo”, BRA, 2014) despite bringing violence and slum, manages to show more things, in a movie that has the merit of being different from what we are used to seeing and criticizing.
The story is about three boys, Gardo (Eduardo Luís), Rafael (Rickson Tevez) and Rato (Gabriel Weinstein), who live and survive in a dump, joining canisters and other products for recycling. Always hoping to find something of value, one day Rafael comes across a wallet, which in addition to money contained several objects, among them a key and a bet of “jogo do bicho”, game of chance very common in Brazil.
Intrigued, he keeps the wallet, sharing the money with his best friend, Gardo. They live without a family in the dump and count on the help of the hard-working American priest Juilliard (Martin Sheen). The priest maintains a small church where, in addition to religious services, volunteer Olivia (Rooney Mara) teaches English lessons to children.
What Rafael had no idea is that the wallet belonged to José Ângelo (Wagner Moura), who when being chased by the police, had thrown it in a garbage truck. José Ângelo had died as a result of the tortures inflicted by the police officer Frederico (Selton Melo), but there was no revelation of the information he desired.
A real war operation is set up to search for the wallet in the dump, but the boys were suspicious of the police, and especially the meek-spoken deputy Santos (Stepan Nercessian). The boys begin to follow the clues they have, while the police, in the service of corrupt Congressman, continue to tighten the siege on the dump.
The boys are forced to ask for the help of Olivia, who touched by the situation of the boys, persecuted and tortured by the police, agrees to record testimonials telling their stories. She and Gardo go to prison, where they meet José Ângelo’s uncle, an activist wrongly imprisoned, thanks to the machinations of the corrupt Santos.
The story is based on a book by Andy Mulligan, an Englishman who worked as a volunteer in India, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines, gathering experiences that gave rise to “Trash”, whose plot could have happened in any of these countries.
The approach of director Stephen Daldry with the filmmaker Fernando Meirelles made him choose Brazil, in addition to the experience of the latter with “City of God” (“Cidade de Deus”, BRA, 2002). This also weighed on the choice of the protagonists, who were selected among hundreds of boys from communities, who had never acted before.
Daldry, who directed successful films with “The Hours” (USA / UK, 2002), “Billy Elliot” (UK/FRA, 2000) and “The Reader” (ALE/USA, 2008), spent months in Brazil, knowing the environment in which he would film, and having the opportunity to witness the great demonstrations that occurred in 2013.
The final result was an interesting film, which does not have the usual absurdities that happen when Brazil is shown by the myopic perspective of foreigners, and that presents some of the real problems that occur in large Brazilian cities. Although the script has some minor problems, the story shown on the screens was beautiful, especially when focusing on the good values of the boys.
The supporting cast contributes greatly to the final result, with Americans Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara (who struggle to talk a little Portuguese), and Brazilians Wagner Moura and Selton Melo. Wagner Moura appears little, only in the prologue and in some flashbacks, but Selton Melo, who lives the first villain of his career, shows that he is a complete actor.
“Trash” is a film that deserves to be seen, not only for showing a part of our society that is literally excluded from our eyes, but also by showing the idealistic side that exists in all of us when we have not yet been hardened by the bitterness of life.
This movie can be watched on the Netflix streaming service.