ONCE UPON A TlME lN 1973
Came to watch?
Sit down.
''TWlSTED FATE''
Give me that letter!
What did I tell you? Guess what's going to happen.
We've got ten days to clear all this trash.
Comes from this house being so disorganized.
Outrageous!
What a bore, my dear.
Meeting at 10 in the backyard.
Get ready.
She...
was aIways...
very angry.
Searching for a reason
To Iive
Damn noise.
Pleased to announce:
that immigrants are the backbone of Brazilian power...
whether they lean to the left or to the right...
they sell the country...
and when they turn the Amazon into...
toilet paper and typing paper.
there'll be no air left.
Of course they don't take anything superfluous.
They only steal the essential.
They can't arrest you for stealing so you can eat.
As a last resort, plead poverty.
Call the human rights committee.
Or flash your lD card. Don't you have one?
But anyway, they can't arrest you for needing food.
lt's as if you had to piss.
lf you're in the street, you can't swallow it.
You just piss in the street!
No one's going to arrest you. You can't hold it.
And most importantly...
what's most important is to keep smiling.
Smiling placidly. That's what you have to do.
Apart from that, don't get paranoid, you know?
And if paranoia becomes reality...
those in power figuring a way out...
dividing their sons...
and letting the two sides kill each other.
He's manic depressive.
Now l'm going to pull your hair...
and you'll feel...
your roots...
your brain cells.
Feel the sound of my fingers.
Now you're completely relaxed.
Now l'm going to excite you.
And you won't move a hair...
not even blink.
At last, you came inside your head.
How they organize supermarkets.
lt's organized filth.
That's what I don't get.
Because the basis of it is wrong. Organize consumption.
Look, l'll tell you exactly what I mean.
What I mean is l'm not worried about the physical garbage here.
What worries me... Really worries me...
is the mental garbage in my head.
That's what worries me, you know?
That's what I don't get. lf I could organize it...
in an orderly fashion...
put it into some kind of code, then l'd understand.
Get it? lf I could put it all in order...
all this trash in little boxes, then things would take shape.
The problem is the problem of organization.
How to organize without reaching that point?
lt doesn't matter.
l'm talking about a totally abstract kind of order. Get it?
He flipped!
Baby, you flipped!
To say you have garbage in your head is to make a moral judgment.
You want the destruction of the very basis of order...
which is the order of speech.
lf you attain a certain point, then you can achieve something.
That's not it. I mean something concrete, the garbage in my head.
That's what I mean.
You're down, aren't you?
Really complicated.
Weren't you telling me how simple things were?
lt's all too predictable.
Predictable.
Everything is very simple.
Like a bird soaring. lt's all here.
No complications.
So is the solution to plant in the city centers?
MORAL TALE
Can I take that wood?
-What for? -To make a fire, to cook.
-l don't think you should. -No?
No, you can't. That's garbage that's been put aside.
That's old, used wood.
lt's been used, you know? Better not touch it.
Then l'll cut down those trees.
Go ahead. Cut all the trees you want.
Just don't touch that garbage.
Garbage is all we've accomplished here. Leave it.
All right. Thanks.
Sorry.
-Hi. What's up? -How is it going?
Hey, guys...
there's more food here for the table.
Hi. Everything okay?
Plenty of space, sit down.
-You're not hungry? -No.
-Not at all? -Some water.
Give her some water.
You're tired, huh?
A little. Long trip.
Where did you come from?
-Porto Alegre. -You came a long way.
But I brought some joints for us to have fun.
-Want some? -No.
-How about you? -Sure.
How about you, Farmer?
Well... Guess it's just us two.
Put it out.
Sit down.
The bad times are a-coming
With Iit cigarettes in each hand
Yeah, it's a show that...
lt's not to make money, you just get there and...
everyone has to do something.
Do you know anybody who wants to buy some?
-Yes, in the house. -Really?
Fine. l'll get it together.
Man, there's nothing crazier than a crazy prick.
Radium is useful, incredibly useful.
lmagine the immediate results of this statement:
this new element is not only of scientific interest...
it is also beneficial.
lt will create a whole new industry.
''The sores appear...'' (Marie Curie)
AMERlCAN ClNEMA.
After a whiIe the rash spreads.
On the twentieth day, scabs appear...
and crusts star to form...
Problems, Star.
The garbage.
-What happened? -He died, didn't he?
You're going to bury him like that?
Of course.
But you have to call a priest!
He's dead and has to be buried.
Without a priest?
What about the police?
We have to call the police.
How awful!
Left or right is irrelevant. What matters is the other side.
Because in the end it's all the same. I mean...
what screws it all up is the lack of food.
Nature will end. lt's not infinite, something without end.
Like Lavoisier said:
''Nothing ever ends in Nature, it is merely changed.''
WeII, everything changes. Into garbage.
Work for work's sake is meaningIess.
The majority of mankind Iives off sIave Iabor.
SIave in the totaI meaning of the word.
SIave in the meaning of an unfortunate choice.
Otherwise, it is just Iike what God said...
to Adam and Eve in Paradise...
that they'd have to work and Iive off the sweat of their Iabor.
It was a curse. I think it's a curse.
A curse that exists today for those who are forced to work...
to mereIy survive.
However, it's aII reIative. Work is onIy good when...
when it's a choice.
When it represents a way of Iife, a choice.
Work is onIy vaIid when it is creative...
when it's usefuI.
When it benefits something or someone.
Someone we choose to benefit, naturaIIy.
PeopIe destroy forests and pIant Iawns.
But they're aIways pIanting.
Of course they seII wood, the country has to progress.
The power of BraziI Iies in exactIy that, in seIIing wood.
Who says there's no reforestation? Of course there is!
She's fIipped, poor thing. She's fIipped.
EcoIogy is stiII in the dark.
There's no hope Ieft now.
Except for a huge fire to change it aII...
into one huge fiery fIame.
We'II start aII over again. Recreate everything.
Do you have a joint?
Hi.
No, I don't.
l stopped. l don't smoke anymore.
And I don't snort coke. l got sick.
Police and everything else.
Mostly health.
Did you hear that pot causes heart attacks?
Then I really stopped.
l'm on a macrobiotic diet and I get high on food.
l managed to solve my balance issue.
Eyes, sight.
With these glasses.
Only one lens. l'm half blind in one eye.
Then I found these.
With a lens over the blind eye.
Now my sight is clear.
Can I have some of that?
A bite of that...
This...
is the negative charge.
Dangerous, you know?
Pass me the wire-cutter.
How about you?
Have you had a lot of people?
You're the best as far as that's concerned.
The community needs it, right?
Electricity was cut, wasn't it?
Yes.
Done. Now, just push here...
Look, it's white.
Sit down. l'm going to tell you a story.
Daddy, mommy, and child.
You know, my stomach has been upset lately.
l crave yogurt and plain skimmed milk.
l love Swedish bread.
Now I can't lose weight. l don't know what to do.
And everything is so expensive.
Do you know what things cost? l didn't.
Can you imagine how much a yogurt is?
Fifteen cents.
And you don't always get Swedish bread.
That's why I can't lose weight.
l keep getting fatter. Full of cellulite, it's terrible.
Now, spread some yogurt on your face.
With carrot juice, it's great for your skin.
Here's what l'd recommend:
put some cucumber in coconut milk...
stir it up...
and put it on your eyelids.
lt's perfect. Wonderful.
And it's cheaper because it's homemade.
But l'm always constipated.
l don't know what to do anymore.
l keep thinking...
l have an idea.
Want to see?
Let's go.
What we have to do...
is surround the Amazons...
with armed guards. They can be white...
to prevent the white invader from getting in.
Because if he gets in...
it's better to kill the native lndians in some hygienic way...
cleanly.
Because slow death...
in the name of integration...
is no good.
Your idea is to surround the Amazons to stop the invasion.
What invasion?
l'm bureaucratic or the invasion is bureaucratic?
My ideas are bureaucratic?
Yes, you must be bureaucratic. Then what?
The ultimate illusion? Preservation?
That's purism.
The native lndians know their needs Of course they do.
Even the need to fight the flu, you see?
The need to fight the white man's disease.
That already happened.
We have to go beyond that.
The flu already exists, the disease already exists.
And a fence isn't going to prevent that.
We have to organize.
But organize with what already exists.
That's what we have to do.
Of course, that's hard for you to do.
Of course, it's easier for you to dream.
To have beautiful dreams.
That's how you think, that's what you talk about.
You're out of it. What we have to do...
is start from what already exists.
lt's not easy.
lt needs organization, something you're not into.
Organization.
We have to think of the actual facts.
lt's no use dreaming about what could have been.
We have to work with what already exists.
lt's terrible, terrible.
I want a new sky, Jupiter, Saturn...
In this madness, everything is acceptabIe.
There's no turning back.
Sorry.
She wiII drop the bomb.
If anyone drops the bomb...
she wiII, my man, she wiII.
There's no hope Ieft here.
OnIy a huge fire to change aII this into...
a huge muItipIe fiery fIame.
I burn in those fIames, Iike Joan of Arc, the Iamb of God.
The expIosion, the action...
the combustion.
You don't fit in.
l think you...
might as well turn into a comet.
Would you like another hit?
But there can't be anything left.
Everything okay?
Let's go. We're late.
We've got a serious problem.
He knows exactly what it is. Look...
we've got ten days to clear this garbage.
lt's everyone's duty, you know?
lt's everyone's responsibility.
Because of the type of life you're all living...
it's been accumulating over all these years.
And now you have to finish this, end it.
l agree with what you're saying, but I have an idea.
We have to give it some ideological meaning.
Just organize, do the job...
You can't organize. You can't do it...
without it having an ideological meaning.
What's the problem? Action is ideological!
That's what organization and action are. Action is ideological!
l don't agree with your statement.
Action can't exist without ideological motivation.
So do it yourself. lsn't that what you're suggesting?
No, l'm suggesting a majority action.
Naturally! Action can only be taken by a majority.
How would you clear up the house?
l think we can only do it when we know why we're doing it.
-lt doesn't matter why! -Of course it does.
Who called this meeting? I did! Now, what's the problem?
-Ask her then! -Why aren't you going to help?
My eye is sore.
l'll only help if you give me a mask and gloves.
What does your eye have to do with cleaning? What's the problem?
You can't do anything without it having an ideological meaning.
Of course you can!
You're going to repeat yourself a thousand times.
lf you don't make everything clear...
how's it going to help? l want the job done.
lt won't get done by itself.
-lt needs motivation. -Yes, it gets done!
l want...
a salad...
of watercress.
Because I want it, you see? l want it!
That's the problem.
Just because you want it badly, you're going to get it?
lt doesn't matter, l'm going to force them to do it.
There has to be some solution to this.
The garbage has to go!
l got the letter...
l called the meeting, l got everyone together.
And I demand that everyone cooperates.
lt's ridiculous that at this point in time...
everyone's so apathetic...
towards resolving such a simple problem!
lt just needs organization. Organization!
There has to be organization, get it?
Comrade, be realistic. Your idea is totally absurd.
You don't understand!
That's the problem. You don't understand!
And when someone doesn't understand, he acts.
My solution is far better.
An empty bottle...
a funnel...
a container of...
gasoline.
Fill the bottle...
to the brim...
the very brim.
We dip in a rag in the gasoline...
and our ''cocktail'' is ready.
A box of matches...
Do you know Lilith Philips?
Of Amarga Ananda?
Revolutionary suicide.
Ond eday, eight people came to see me.
We sat down around a big table. We lit up a joint.
Then I dropped it, and as I went to pick it up...
l saw this incredible sandal...
beautifully made.
l looked at the hem of his pants, and there were stars.
Eight years of the same thing. No change.
The work was amazing, man. Amazing.
Because we all got on well together.
And from that point on...
our work on the film was a great experience for me.
lt was an incredible time. My part was about an actress...
who tried hard. She wanted to suggest something new...
but couldn't.
Once, during Carnaval, when I was a kid, my mother...
decided to dress up my cousin and l.
He went as a tropical girl. l went as a country girl.
They took pictures and everything. lt was all so cute.
l kicked and screamed. l kicked and screamed.
Twenty-seven years later...
l took a look at that picture.
lt was just him and me. His face was the same! The same!
That's fucked up!
What a mean thing to do, l'm telling you.
Once, coming home...
on the corner of the street...
there were flowers on the ground.
l kept walking and saw there was a path of flowers.
l thought, ''Crazy people, making a path of flowers''. You know?
l kept walking, and that path led all the way down to my house.
Fucked up!
Romantic. He bought a truckload of flowers and put them there.
But as far as fucking, he won't fuck.
He doesn't fuck. He doesn't fuck.
Then the character died.
She kills herself in the end.
Because she can't take the pressure.
l don't know if that's...
a good ending. But I think...
it marks a change.
l don't know.
Once I read a book that said...
man's ideal would be...
to work for free and live by begging.
That would be ideal, but it's too mystical a way of life.
l think that work...
is necessary this day and age.
But not forced labor.
Work is only valid if it gives you some pleasure...
and pride in what you do.
For example, l wouldn't know how to work...
if I didn't love my job.
l think we're all a little like that.
A person's success always depends on...
is always related to...
to the intensity or degree to which he enjoys his work.
Work for work's sake is meaningless.
The majority of mankind lives off slave labor.
Slave in the total meaning of the word.
Slave in the meaning of an unfortunate choice.
There was a time in my life...
when I didn't enjoy my work.
lt was heavy, painful.
lt's only by freeing ourselves...
by making a clear and conscious choice of what we want to do...
of what we want to achieve in life...
that we can succeed.
Nothing else matters.
What matters is when we start to create...
when we create something while we're doing it.
Only then work is worthwhile.
Otherwise, it's just like what God said to Adam and Eve in Paradise...
that they'd have to work and sweat in their labor.
lt was a curse.
l think it was a curse.
A curse that exists today for those who are forced to work...
to merely survive.
But it's all relative. Work is only good when...
it's a free choice.
When it is a way of life, a choice.
Work is only valid when it's creative...
when it's useful.
When something or someone benefits from it.
Someone...
that you choose to benefit from it, naturally.
Okay. Cut.