"A MAN SIGNED TO DIE" TWENTY YEARS LATER
It's an underdeveloped country
Underdeveloped, underdeveloped...
April, 1962.
This was filmed when the National Union of Students convoy
drove around the country to discuss the university reform.
With them went members of the students' Popular Culture Center
whose aim was to encourage local cultural centers in the states.
Images of poverty in contrast with imperialism
were a typical tendency of the art of those times.
"Song of Underdevelopment" is a good example.
As a member of the Center and responsible for these shots
I have paid my tribute to the nationalism of those times.
I filmed an oil field
exploited by Petrobras in Alagoas State.
On April 14th, the students arrived in Paraiba.
Two weeks before, Joao Pedro Teixeira,
founder and leader of the Sape Peasant League, had been murdered.
The day after our arrival a protest rally against the murder
was held in Sape, a town 30 miles from the capital.
Elizabeth Teixeira, Joao Pedro's widow,
attended the rally with 6 of her 11 children.
The people assembled in front of
the Small Farmers and Farm Workers Association
known as the Peasant League.
At that time the Sape League was the largest one
with over 7,000 members.
The league had been registered 3 years before
as a civil corporation in private law.
As rural syndicalism was a non-existent right
the peasants found in the leagues
the only legal way to channel their demands.
Elizabeth Teixeira was 37.
Joao Pedro was 44 when he died.
Before the peasants went to the rally
I made my first contact with Elizabeth.
I had a short talk with her at the League.
Higher rents, forced labor without payment
eviction without compensation
the use of violence by big landowners.
In the struggle against all of this
Joao Pedro forged the unity of the country people.
It was this day that inspired a feature film on his life.
It would be called "A Man Signed to Die".
Produced by the Students' Center
and the Pernambuco Popular Culture Movement
the film would be made on location with the true characters.
Elizabeth and her children would play themselves.
SAPE WORKERS HOLD FIRST PROTEST RALLY
Two years later everything was ready for filming.
But on January 15th, 1964
there was a skirmish in Sape
among the police and guards from the sugar-mill
and the peasants.
11 people were killed.
The region was occupied by the Paraiba Military Police.
So filming was impossible.
The emergency forced me to move the location
and I found the ideal spot in Pernambuco State
at the Galilea sugar-mill where a first league was founded in 1955.
When we arrived there
some 50 kilometers from Recife, the capital we again prepared for filming.
With the League's permission and the help of local people
we chose the locations and actors.
On February 26, 1964
when we shot the first take
we had a cast able to give time to the film.
Now they owned their land, thanks to a 4 year struggle
that ended in the expropriation of Galilea.
Joao Mariano, playing Joao Pedro Teixeira
was not from Galilea.
After being fired from a sugar-mill
he moved to Vitoria, the nearest town.
He was a Protestant like Joao Pedro.
We hired him along with 5 of his children.
These shots were to be used
to open the film with the credits.
The original plan to work with the people involved
now only included Elizabeth as herself.
She came to Pernambuco with us.
35 days after shooting had begun
on April 1, work was stopped by the 1964 military coup.
Only 40 per cent of the script had been shot.
Galilea was raided and its leaders imprisoned.
Some of our crew were also arrested.
But most fled to Recife and then to Rio de Janeiro.
Film equipment, negatives, rush print
tapes, scripts and notes... all were confiscated.
But most of the printed negative was saved
because it had been sent to the lab in Rio.
8 stills were also saved by one of the crew.
2 years later I received a copy of the script.
It was rescued by a lawyer for the Paraiba leagues
when she was held in a barracks in August 1964.
February, 1981.
17 years later I returned to Galilea to finish the film.
There was no script.
Just the idea to try and find the people
who had worked on the film before.
I intended to get statements on the past
including facts linked to the interruption of the film
the true story of Joao Pedro's life
Sape and Galilea's struggle
and people's experiences since that time.
Only 2 who started the fight in Galilea are still alive.
Jose Hortencio da Cruz and Joao Virginio Silva
who is illiterate, but a sort of tribal memory.
The first meeting...
It was him... and his brother-in-law...
his nephew and me.
We got together here, talking...
in this very place.
I told my story and what ideas I had
about founding a society to take care of the dead.
Because here the dead were buried in a coffin lent by the mayor.
We took the body to the cemetery and then the coffin back.
We called the coffin Lolo.
We'd borrow it from the mayor to bury people.
Galilea was a disused sugar-mill the land divided into small lots.
There, lived 150 families of tenants
who did subsistence farming.
The owner lived in Recife.
The tenants paid a yearly rent.
Rent increases were also a cause of the League.
We got together, we had meetings.
We met by the road, by the weir, in houses. Everywhere.
Then we got to the room of this lad's father.
A room in old Zeze's house.
Old Zeze gave me the room so as we could meet.
We put down our aims and the name:
The charitable society for the dead
the Pernambuco Planter's Agricultural Society.
You couldn't call anything a union or else you'd be dead.
Jose Francisco de Souza (Zeze from Galilea)
The respected administrator of the mill for over 30 years
was elected chairman.
The owner of Galilea evicted all the tenants
when he realized that the League
had also aims of mutual assistance.
So the people looked for a lawyer to defend their rights.
That was how I sought justice.
Didn't find it in Victoria, but in the State Courts.
The Chairman of the Courts gave me a deputy, Juliao.
He came, took over and looked after it.
Things were getting better and people came
who were thrown out of the mills.
They all came for help. Galilea has a society
for the country workers.
The lawyer's a real tough guy.
So the men came
and we gave them cover.
After 4 years the mill owner gave up.
He made out he was going to sell up.
So we went to the deputy and he said:
"I'll put it before the Chamber
and we'll see what we can do about it."
There was a real set-to. A real hullabaloo.
One shouted they wouldn't expropriate Galilea
because it would mean
expropriating several Galileas because
the idea would spread like wildfire throughout Brazil
and people would get hooked on the idea.
They'd get organized
and forced the authorities to purchase other property.
- Yes, fortunately we won. - Fortunately.
They voted for us.
The expropriation for social reasons
was carried out in December, 1959
by a fair compensation in money as the Constitution rules.
Galilea became a symbol of the peasant movement.
But even today the people have not received the deeds.
After our arrival in Galilea
we showed what film we had to the mill community
in 1962 and 1964.
The actors were our special guests.
Jose Daniel do Nascimento, 67
moved to Galilea when he was thrown out of a neighboring mill.
His child had sucked some sugarcane without permission.
Braz Francisco da Silva, 52
was one of the leaders of the Galilea struggle.
He doesn't live here anymore.
He had to run away in 1964 and is now rarely seen.
Joao Virginio is greeted by Bia, 56
who left Galilea in 1975 and never returned.
He was a mill watchman, and now is a quarry watchman.
Joao Mariano Santana da Silva, 59
who played Joao Pedro, had not been here since 1964.
He meets these people only at Victoria's fair, where he lives.
He has come with his grandchildren.
Everything was shown as it had been filmed
out of order, unfinished scenes, repetitions etc.
Don't talk about him 'cause he's behind you!
Saturday night was the only time to get them together.
Some had come a long way, to see the show.
Mariano... It's him.
- Yes, it's Mariano. - Isn't? I recognized him.
They reveled in identifying the characters
17 years younger.
- Gonna fight? - Yes, now it's the time!
It's a real maven, isn't it?
Ze Daniel still lives in Galilea.
His house was used as the main set: Joao Pedro's house.
Did you like the film the other day?
- Did you enjoy the movie? - On Saturday? It was good.
What did you think?
I thought it was very nice, very interesting.
All I have borne on duty...
- When did you become a protestant? - I'm a believer...
After the revolution. Wasn't it on April 1 st?
On May 25th I gave myself to Jesus.
- What are you? Baptist? - The Assembly of God.
Look at Braz!
You remember when we made the film?
I remember well. We had such a good time...
- What did you think? - It was really good.
But I missed the sound.
Braz Francisco da Silva is the only prosperous one.
On his 10 acre farm he grows vegetables
which he sells in Recife.
6 of his children live in Sao Paulo
and 3 people help him.
Working since he was 8, now he is tired and wants to sell.
I want to sell up.
If anyone shows up... Want to buy it?
Who? Me? How much are you asking?
For around 3 million I'll sell.
For 3 million cruzeiros up.
Braz, known by his neighbors as Joao
fled from Galilea in 1964 and changed his name
to avoid persecution.
Braz is disillusioned with political activity
and no longer likes Galilea or remembering the past.
It's Cicero!
Look! Cicero Anastacio!
He's down south and we're seeing him here!
Limeira, Sao Paulo State.
Cicero Anastacio da Silva.
- When did you start here? - May 5th, last year.
- What do you do? - Iron rolling.
- Why did you move south? - I was employed there,
but I lost my job and was 6 months unemployed.
I moved south last year, in March.
Are you happy here? Have you got used to it?
Up to now I'm satisfied.
No one get mad at me, not even the boss.
No one says anything against me. Not so far.
- Don't you want to come back? - I'd like to.
I'd like to very much.
It's very cold here. The wife can't abide it.
I only haven't sent her back because I can't.
I had my home and friends in the north.
We had our causes
our movement, we used to talk about, decide what to do.
We used to talk. But here I have no one.
Only thing I did was buy a TV to watch.
I like to watch the news
to know what's going on.
That's all I like to watch.
The only actor from Galilea who could read and write
Cicero was also a production assistant.
What do you remember of the film?
What do I remember? I remember
the scene I did roofing that house.
The other asked me, and I answered:
"Dried meat's so expensive. How can we live?"
I picked up a roof tile and passed it up to the roof.
Roofing the house and asking me...
Then I answered:
"Dried meat's so expensive. How can we live?"
Did you think we'd be back to finish the film?
I always hoped you would come back.
I used to think about it. My mother was still alive.
"My son, that time will never come." I'd say: "Stop it, Mom...
You only don't see those who are dead.
Those who are alive, you see."
- Elizabeth Teixeira, right? - So it is! Look at her!
Although they had not seen her since 1964
the participants in the film recognized her at once.
Elizabeth had disappeared 17 years before.
Not even her family or her old friends in the League
knew where she had gone.
Her eldest son, Abraham, was the only one who knew.
I went to find Abraham in Patos, Paraiba State
where he is a journalist.
After making many demands, he agreed to take the film crew
to his mother's house.
We went to the border and entered Rio Grande do Norte State
still not knowing where we were being taken.
After 4 hours of very bad roads
we glimpsed a village near the Piranhas River.
It was Sao Rafael, a good hideout.
480 miles from Sape and over 800 from Galilea.
The town has only 3,000 people and no television.
Elizabeth lived there with her son, Carlos
the only one she had brought with her.
She had changed her name to Marta Maria da Costa.
Elizabeth wasn't expecting me.
I began by showing her the stills that remained from the film.
- How did you get this? - This is what was saved.
The photographer hid them and so, saved them.
I'm surprised.
I thought they had hidden everything.
They got the originals but not the copy.
I mean: The original was in Rio. They got the copy in...
Ma, acknowledge President Figueiredo's liberalization.
- Yes. President Figueiredo... - We're here thanks to him.
Thanks to him I'm here with you now.
The only government that deserves all our dignity... right?
For having given the right for political prisoners
outside Brazil to come back to their families.
Today, here I am
with my son, meeting you, Coutinho, again.
I never expected to see you today in my house.
And who do we have to thank?
I had no hope left
of ever meeting even my children again.
I was afraid. I've suffered a lot.
You'll bear witness to that. I suffered a lot.
I was persecuted a lot.
They wanted to... to exterminate me.
- Have you been here long? - 16 years.
You came here 16 years ago?
After the movement I had to run away here.
It was pretty difficult. Everyone was after me.
I couldn't stay in Recife.
Things got better when I came here.
I hid. No one knew who I was.
Nobody here knew who I was. Now they know.
You all know. When I came here
I wasn't going to say I had children. To some people
I said I had children and my husband had been killed.
But before I kept quiet. I said nothing.
But, thank God, here I am now telling the story.
And Joao Pedro and Pedro the farmer... these...
Ma, I don't want to influence you...
But all regimes are the same...
if you don't have political protection.
They are all rustic,
violent, arbitrary
dependending on your economic situation.
All factions forgot Elizabeth Teixeira
simply because she had no power.
This is her eldest son's protest.
This film must record my vehement objection...
something for which my mother's heart lacks
intellectual and expressive capacity.
I'll record everything the family wants to say.
I want you to record our rejection to all systems.
It will be recorded. I guarantee it.
- No system helps the poor. - None.
I was thin, in black.
That same night we showed Elizabeth
her two sons and her neighbors the films from the past.
Elizabeth planting peanuts!
Abraham watched without interfering.
That one plays my husband.
The boys are happy!
Ah, my God...
No. That's the family who plays that part!
Our arrival for the second day of filming with Elizabeth.
In all, it was 3 days.
On the first Abraham made his presence felt
especially at the beginning. He didn't come for the rest.
Elizabeth told her life story in two stages:
With and without Abraham.
In the living-room and in the backyard.
Is Elizabeth in?
Come here, Elizabeth.
How's the class going?
- The class is here. We're... - Everything all right?
Is it good?
Not many kids yet. Today's the first day. They'll know
who the teachers are. Less kids came today. Want to come in?
Come on in.
Let's see if the light's good enough.
Right. How are things in the city?
Last night I laid thinking in bed.
I spoke bad yesterday. But I was upset.
I should have started like you wanted.
From the beginning. How we met and got married
and moved to Jaboatao. Should have waited for today.
We'll do it again today. Got a yard here?
Yes. Come in and have a look.
Elizabeth had only the elementary school
and was teaching some children to read and write.
You remember what year you got married?
The year... 1942.
How did you meet Joao Pedro Teixeira?
I met him in my father's store. He was buying there.
We started courting
and eventually we got married.
- Was your father against it? - Yes, he was.
Was it true you had to run away?
What was that all about?
I eloped. My father never agreed to the marriage.
I eloped.
And so you went to the Massangana sugar mill?
- Joao Pedro went to work there? - Yes.
- What did he do? - He worked in the quarry.
- On the sugar mill land.
- When did you go to Cavaleiro? - That was in 1945.
It was no good, so we moved and he worked in a quarry...
in the outskirts of Recife.
Joao Pedro became friends with Manoel Serafim.
They were neighbors. They went to the same church
and worked together. Manoel still lives and works there.
In Cavaleiro, Jaboatao, in greater Recife.
He was not very dark
with wild curly hair... yes, rather wild.
He had rather wiry hair.
He was built kind of...
He was big built. His face was sort of wide...
A round face with a forehead
that shows these people are good, you know.
A person you can rely on.
A high forehead, without being bald.
Was he lively?
He was big built. Maybe stronger than him.
Muscular... muscular arms.
We lived in Recife.
He began his political life in Recife.
He took part in workers' unions...
- At the quarry? - At the quarry.
Workers at the quarry.
In Cavaleiro he already had those ideas of his.
His idea of always being on the workers' side.
Of working for the worker.
Fighting for the Union and workers' demands.
So they stopped giving him work.
They started clamping down.
He left to Paraiba
to be chairman of the League.
So I said to him:
"There's dangerous people there.
You'll come to a bad end."
And he said: "I don't want to die...
But I'm not afraid to get shot for such things.
It can happen.
I could get shot.
But it's better than dying of starvation."
So Daddy sent for us
and Joao Pedro tried to set up the League.
He organized the peasant's league in 1958.
1958, 1959, 1960...
1961, 1962, and then he was killed.
What was the farm like? Was it your father's?
The farm we lived on was Daddy's.
- How big was it? - I don't know how many acres.
- Was it small? - It was small.
- Could Joao Pedro write? - Yes. Read and write. A bit.
Was he a Protestant when you got married?
- He became one later? - Later.
- In Jaboatao? - Yes. He got into it there.
He spent a lot of time at it.
Then he threw himself into politics.
He concentrated on the leagues and left the church.
Until one day, when he was arrested by the Army...
they asked him questions from the Bible and he answered.
"So you are a true Protestant. You answer everything I'm asking."
- You stayed Catholic all the time? - Yes.
- Never fought over religion? - Not once.
He accepted it. He would say
he wouldn't baptize the children.
They'd be pagans. I accepted it. No problem.
He worked on the farm. He lived and worked on the farm.
Only in his free time on Saturdays and Sundays
would he go out, or they'd come here
to discuss things
and he'd ask them how they were surviving.
Others came to tell him they had been thrown off
that the owner had evicted them out of hand.
He'd say, "Friends, we must unite.
United we can put an end to this style.
That the owners can take our fields, but unless we unite.
They'll keep on doing it."
Market day was meeting day. He'd call the people.
I stayed in the League, stamping cards,
signing them, asked who wanted to join, the payments...
In this sequence of "A Man Signed to Die"
a group of peasants led by Joao Pedro
were discussing rent increases with the administrator.
The dialogue was created by the actors
through an improvisation before filming.
What's all this about?
You shouldn't have come in a convoy.
When you come to pay, let just one come. It looks bad.
I'll change your housing situation.
You're very close to one another.
We pay right but you want to put it up.
You're the leader, Joao Pedro. These ideas of yours!
He's not the leader.
But according to the agreement he can make a reasonable appeal.
We have no choice in the matter.
Look, I'm very upset with you about all this.
You're upset?
You shouldn't be.
I bury your sons and put your wives in hospital.
You have everything you need.
You need a stronger argument than that.
You don't think. You don't seem to have any sense.
You're half-witted and get in the way.
- I want to settle this! - Mill owners don't die
and administrators don't die. Only peasants die.
We don't want a fight with you, but we can't pay.
You know you're mine and I'm yours.
I want you to be satisfied.
I don't want a fight. The land is all ours.
But I won't sign this idea of no rent increase.
I can only sign when the boss gets back from town in a week.
I have my orders.
We can wait a week, can't we?
According to what his answer is, then we'll decide.
Let's think about it. Life is sweet.
Go back home. Talk about it and forget it. We're together.
Next week we'll be back to hear his answer.
The day will come when you won't be able to keep on doing this.
So your father argued with Joao Pedro?
- Yes. - They didn't see each other?
Dad said he wanted to take the land.
Take what wasn't his.
I explained but Dad said it wasn't right.
And Dad really fought with him.
We had some cattle at home.
Dad had sent it there to look after the milking.
Dad had it sent away.
He sold the farm to Antonio Vitor
so we had to go away.
Dad said: "Get some land and go live there."
It was all very unfair there.
What was unfair?
They used to kill the country workers.
They were thrown out without any rights.
People got persecuted.
You couldn't even go out to work.
You were persecuted, saw people die
and families abandoned in the fields
while they took over the plantations.
I met Alfredo at the League. He was a member.
He was a fighter and very long-suffering.
Pedro Ramos put pressure on him.
Until one day, in the fields
he met the landowner's hired thugs
who attacked and killed him.
When they threw stones at the door you sang, right?
They banged on the door and called for Joao Pedro to open up.
They said the lawyer was waiting for him.
Do you remember the song you sang?
- Yes, I remember. - What was it like?
Lady, why is your Baby a-crying?
He's full up and a-crying 'cause he wants his milk
Lady, why is your Baby a-crying?
He's full up and a-crying 'cause he wants a smack
He was arrested several times.
And he got misattentive...
One day when I was teaching the kids
he sat outside on the porch, bare-chested.
Several policemen arrived.
Several policemen.
There was no time. They got him.
They took him off, bare-chested and all.
He believed in the struggle.
The big landowners offered him money.
So he would give up the fight.
They would give him another... any way of surviving.
I remember this day and night.
What he suffered and never gave in.
He never came home and said:
"Elizabeth, I regret it." That, never!
He was as solid as a rock.
He said: "I'm planning a meeting for Saturday."
I said: "It's not possible.
To prepare the meeting." He said:
"I will." I said: "Count me in."
He got a jeep and went around the farms
and that day we had our biggest protest rally.
He believed the big landowners would kill him.
One day I called him:
"Joao Pedro, let's leave the State.
We can't go on. It's too difficult.
People say that
the landowners are thinking on killing you.
They say the day you're killed.
They'll cut your ear off and make a drink of it.
That can't be. Let's leave
and go down south."
He looked at me and said:
"You and the kids are here.
You've got the pictures as a souvenir.
But I ain't gonna chicken out.
I'm positive they're gonna kill me.
I can see hate in their faces.
Wherever I go they're grouching.
I can see their wrath.
I know I've had it.
They're gonna kill me sure as eggs.
Now, I'll tell you something:
They'll do it cowardly."
COUNTRY FAMILY THREATENED
It was on April 2nd... a Monday...
He was going to make a deal with the lawyer
about the land we lived on
and about which we disagreed with the owner.
He'd been called by the lawyer and was going to pick up
the eldest boy's books at the same time. He started high school.
He brought my books, did he?
You're a real teacher to me,
and you are a school. This is, for me
my strength, my reason for living
being able to talk to Mr Coutinho
fighting with him over 100,000 cruzeiros
over 50,000, 10,000, 20,000, 100,000.
I could fight for 10 million if necessary.
Why? Not only was my father a saint
but I have a mother... Well, you can see...
Forgive the interruption. Go on.
When he was killed on the Cafe do Vento road
they even shot up the books he was carrying.
They were covered in blood.
He was smoking when he was shot.
About 8 o'clock, the papers had the news.
A big report on him.
Everyone bought it.
And it said:
"Chairman of the Paraiba League shot."
And his name was there like an important person's.
And we all felt so sad.
As if the sun had stopped. And that cold serenity...
the sadness of snatching a life and leaving emptiness
without joy, that everyone felt.
You only heard of his death next day. Why?
The reasons...
I think the landowners tried to cover it up.
And our friends, I think...
when they heard, they also didn't...
didn't have the courage to come and tell me.
How did you react?
- Did you go wild? - That's it.
I could hardly believe it.
I went to the town where he was
together with Abraham.
We walked, and got transport half-way.
I went to the morgue where he was, dead.
He was riddled with bullet wounds. Horrible.
So sad.
His ear was still full of mud
and there was a pool of blood on the floor.
The criminals were never punished?
There was no punishment.
Joao Pedro Teixeira was ambushed and killed...
on April 2nd, 1962
by two soldiers of the Military Police. Another participant
was a cowhand from landowner Agnaldo Veloso Borges's ranch.
AGNALDO MAKES STATEMENT TO ENQUIRY COMMITTEE
The judge in Sape ordered Agnaldo's arrest
as one of the instigators of the crime.
But he got off by taking a chair on the Legislative Assembly.
Agnaldo was the fifth vice-deputy.
One deputy and 4 vices resigned to allow him into office.
In March, 1965
the 2 policemen who killed Joao Pedro
were unanimously acquitted by the jury.
The film started an hour ago and everyone's attentive.
Joao Virginio and his wife... Braz... Bia...
Ze Daniel... Joao Mariano...
Joao Mariano was the only one who was not politically active.
When we asked him to do the film we told him who Joao Pedro was.
He accepted at once because he had been thrown out of a mill
and was unemployed.
He gradually began to identify with the part.
He is leader of a Baptist church in Victoria.
I interviewed him by surprise the day after the film.
Well, you see...
I don't take part
in certain movements.
I got into this movement 16 years ago, for instance
through the mill where this movement arrived.
Just a minute. There's too much wind. Cut.
Start again. What you said was perfect.
Don't worry, Mariano. Tell us how you live.
OK, Mr Mariano?
I think you know all about it. I didn't want to be involved.
I was at the mill, because of the league and so on.
I left the mill to avoid getting mixed up in it all.
When I got to the town, you came looking for me.
So I took on this... let's say... career
without knowing what I was doing.
Then I realized it was all about property
land, and so on. Because I don't need land.
I've got my bit. I live without meddling with A or B.
But when you came... you were so nice to me...
I was interested in the work, not for this revolution business.
And that's that.
That had nothing to do with it. Tell me...
How do you live now?
Off my own bat. I have no mill boss over me.
And I want nothing to do with them, either.
That's my life.
Were you a Protestant at that time?
Yes. That's why the church rejected me.
I was excluded from it. I was very upset.
That's why I don't want to go on with it.
I can believe you're recording what I'm saying
but you can see from my face that I'm not
that dedicated to this movement.
How long have you been a Protestant?
- 28 years. - The Baptist Church?
Yes, sir.
Once bitten, twice shy.
I was once disappointed. Why would I be again?
Why were you so disappointed?
Because the church wouldn't support the movement.
I don't want revolution. Just peace and quiet.
Everyone to their own life. Let sleeping dogs lie.
That's how it is.
- You sell a few things at home? - Waste of time!
You weren't harmed by making the film, were you?
No, not harmed.
Except by the mill owner.
In the revolution he was after me and wanted to kill me.
Because of a case in 1963?
Because they compensated me at the mill...
Not because of the film. I wasn't called by anyone.
I wasn't disappointed. Only by the church.
Did you enjoy seeing yourself on the film?
I enjoyed it, yes. You do, don't you? I mean the fruits of your work.
I live by my work. My part was natural, wasn't it?
Not something to harm A or B.
So I enjoyed it because I saw the fruits of my work.
Elizabeth went to the south, 20 days after her husband was killed.
On May 5th, 1962, in Brasilia
she spoke to the parliamentary commission on agrarian affairs.
I had to go to Rio
to take part in the Enquiry Commission.
When I arrived in Rio
I went on to Brasilia.
There, the Deputies and the President
thought I had to take Joao Pedro's place to support my children
and to boost the League.
I was the widow of the leader.
I went on. I said I would take over even if I died.
Even if I died.
So I took over and worked at it.
In my fight I protested against Joao Pedro's assassination
and that of all his colleagues who had died.
I was arrested.
Not by one, or two or three policemen.
They shot at my feet.
Even so, I didn't stop but got into the car.
When I got there, they asked me some stupid questions.
They asked me how I got on with things overseas. Rubbish!
That was probably Elizabeth's last rally.
The rally took place at the beginning of 1964.
To celebrate the founding of the Rural Union of Taipu,
near Sape.
In answer to the peasant movement
the Government encouraged rural unionization.
2 weeks after this demonstration there was the conflict near Sape
which didn't allow filming in the area.
A month later, in February 1964
Elizabeth came to Pernambuco for the filming in Galilea.
SAPE WITH GOD FOR DEMOCRACY
THE FAMILY MARCH IN AREIA, PIANCO AND UIRAUNA
GUARABIRA HOLDS FAMILY MARCH FOR GOD AND FREEDOM
JOAO PESSOA IN MARCH FOR GOD AND FREEDOM
MARCH TO RECIFE DRAWS 200,000 PEOPLE
These were the last scenes filmed
on March 31 st, 1964.
It was when Joao Pedro gathered the peasants
to discuss the formation of the Sape League.
Three shots only were filmed.
First, when Elizabeth served coffee.
Then, when she hears a noise outside and goes to see.
The last is when she comes back and says:
"There are people out there."
- There are people out there! - There are people out there!
There are people out there!
- And then? - March 31 st, huh?
March 31 st and here we are surrounded by the Army.
Not from Pernambuco, but the Army from Paraiba.
No one knew any soldiers here.
They walked in. Not by car. They all walked in.
Everybody ran. There were soldiers everywhere.
Just looking for 3 people: Joao Virginio, Zeze and Rosario.
They only wanted those 3.
And the film people, but didn't get them.
That's who they most wanted, the film people.
- And your father's house? - It was over there.
The house was over there.
It isn't there anymore. Very old.
We built in again someplace else.
Ze Daniel's house was Joao Pedro's in the film.
The film equipment was kept there.
I went through, the wood up there
and I shouted to Daniel's son:
"Duda! Tell them they're coming!
The troops are all coming behind.
They're nearly there."
Duda was playing football, but came up...
and gave the message. You left.
I walked over but they weren't coming.
When I got there, you were climbing the hills.
The film crew had already gone.
They were hiding in the wood behind that hill.
The troops arrived. When I looked from up there
I saw 3 Army trucks.
About 8 at night.
I heard thuds coming from inside.
The Army were ransacking everything in the house.
Turning it upside down.
They took the mattresses off the beds... It was a mess.
The big keg where we kept the flour
had been thrown outside through the kitchen door.
A pan of manioc we were cooking for dinner...
they threw out into the yard.
They broke our bags and cases... my sister's case...
They took the generator, and the spot lights.
They took all the machinery, all the material.
SUBVERSIVE MATERIAL APPREHENDED
ARMED FORCES' EXCLUSIVE ARMS
FILMS TO TRAIN PEASANTS IN SUBVERSION
REFLECTORS
ALL APPREHENDED BY THE ARMY IN GALILEA MILL.
This front-page picture from the "Diário de Pernambuco"
shows cans of films, tripods, reflectors, a megaphone...
Normal film equipment.
It was in Galilea that the Army apprehended material
from the largest subversive communist group in Pernambuco
abandoned by left-wing leaders with the women and children.
In a typical peasant hovel
highly subversive material was found, set up
by international left-wing groups, protected by
the last State government.
There was a powerful generator
for expensive cinema projectors.
Among many others, the film taken
the week of the coup was "Signals of Death".
It showed how the peasants should react in cold blood
with no sense of guilt or remorse when shooting was necessary
or decapitation or other forms of elimination
inflicted on "reactionary" prisoners in battle
or taken to Galilea.
Meanwhile, a sociologist who wishes to remain anonymous
drew up a plan to be used in the case of the mill
to help in the moral and social recovery of the sub-race
to which the communists tried to reduce these peasants.
Ze Daniel took us to a hideout.
At night the troops went back to Victoria.
We were all together in the wood
and later the kids arrived shouting.
"Dad... Oh, Dad! Dad!"
I wanted to go.
"Don't go there, no." I wanted to go.
"Come and have coffee. They've gone."
Old Ze Feliciano said:
"Ze Daniel, come home. They've gone. Have some coffee."
- I wanted to go. - Didn't you answer?
Because Coutinho was there saying: "Don't go. No. Don't go."
I wanted to...
We were worried the Army might still be there.
Might have been there still.
We left the wood early with Elizabeth
and said goodbye to the people.
We split into groups of 3 and got onto the Recife road
a few miles further on.
We all took separate buses
and managed to get to Recife.
We only later found out that 5 crew members
who wanted to stay in Victoria, had been arrested.
The Army went back to Galilea soon afterwards.
The same day, April 3rd, Ze Daniel gave himself up.
I gave myself up. At first I said to him:
"I beg you by your mother's milk,
for the love of Jesus Christ our Savior...
If you can see any reason why I be arrested
or beaten, or shot 2, 3 or 4 times, if I can stand it."
He said: "You're scared to be a prisoner." I said yes.
That's why I respect man, woman and child.
So I can be respected too as a poor old man.
I'm weak, thank God.
I live by my respect and want to die respected and in honor.
I heard you'd called me. I want to die at home.
But not be in jail and beaten.
If that's it, I'll face anything but not give myself up.
Sergeant Saraiva says: "Tell me where the guns are, Ze Daniel."
Well, says I, "There's that gun you took from home
and others, shotguns to hunt fowl to eat
and these are the guns in Galilea."
"No, Daniel. The machine-guns." "I never seen one. I heard of.
I see one now in your hands. I wanted to see one."
We hid the film camera with Daniel's help
in a sort of cave in the wilds.
It was the last piece of equipment found by the Army.
- Under that rock there. - Go on down...
- Can you tell where it was? - Under that rock there.
- What was under it? - The film machine, under the rock.
He asked. I didn't want to say, but I said: "We'll see."
I didn't want to say what I knew.
We came down.
I said, "I think they came down here", but I didn't say I'd put it...
We got there... I saw the slope
and I spotted the camera. I said: "Look over there!"
So they got hold of the camera.
Then he started up shouting: "Look what I've found!"
Joao Jose, Daniel's son was 20 at the time.
The only thing I managed to keep
were 2 books left on the table. The Army took everything else.
I always keep my books in this case.
History of a Manuscript - Kaputt.
"Every morning
I'd sit in the garden
under an acacia tree
and get down to work.
If any of the SS militia
came near the garden,
the peasant would warn me by a cough."
So, when the troops arrived, the other would warn him.
And the Army wouldn't get him. He'd escape.
The story of your film is like that.
"When I had to go to the front
I entrusted the manuscript Kaputt to my friend Roman Suchena
who had hidden it in the pigpen wall.
I will always be grateful to the peasant Roman Suchena
and his daughter-in-law for helping me
to save my manuscript from the hands of the Gestapo."
You associate that book with the film, right?
One of you left it here.
- Whose book is it? - It was left on the table.
- How many years have you had it. - 17 years. And this one.
It's got Fernando Duarte written in it.
- I think he was that thin man. - The photographer.
Must be. I said it was the film people's.
One was about films and things too.
The Army Captain wanted this one because it was about
the World War and Russia or something.
But I said: "It was mine." He said: "It was the Cuban's."
I said: "No siree, this book is mine."
- Who were the Cubans? - You were.
He thought we were Cubans?
He thought you were them bearded Cubans
filming here back then in 1964.
So I said: "No sir, there's no Cubans or communists here."
ACCORDING TO MILITARY INFORMATION 3 ARE FROM CUBA.
He said: "But you'll show us where their arms are.
And where they were. They wanted a revolution."
I said: "They didn't say anything about revolution or about Cuba."
"How did they talk?" "The same way as everyone else."
"Did they have a bit of an accent?"
I said: "Sure, they spoke normal enough.
But people from Rio speak a bit different."
The other said: "They could be from Rio.
People from Rio have an accent, don't they, Lieutenant?"
I said, "They sounded normal." "They talked normal like?
You understood them?" "Of course", I did.
After
he said: "So now you show us where the guns are."
I said: "There be only 2 farmers who have those.
A gentleman from the Bento Velho mill,
and Lourival Pedrosa from the Gameleira mill.
He has a lot. He's a big-time farmer. He's a trouble-maker."
He said: "Ah, so that one's his.
I want to see yours here 'cause Juliao said there was.
20,000 guns for you to start a revolution, d'you hear?
And the communists were filming here for the revolution."
Then he started getting mad.
I said: "There's no Cubans or communists around here.
There's people dying of hunger and ailments, like I am.
People round here need food and medicines
freedom and land to work on."
Then he said: "No! Tomorrow I'll bring medicines.
Call the people hidden out there.
So we can prescribe some medicine and have a talk.
Go call Joao Virginio."
I said: "I don't know where he is."
I gave myself up. I spent 7 days hidden.
Unable to go anywhere. So I gave myself up.
When I spent...
8 days in the 4th Army...
On April 15th, when the Government took over...
Castelo Branco... they took me to the Police.
I had to make a statement.
Two cops beat me up.
Two other leaders were arrested the first half of April.
Zeze da Galilea, freed after 3 months.
Severino Gomes da Silva, Rosario, Zeze's adopted son
who was in jail for 45 days.
I produced here
half a truck of goods a week.
The Army got me and threw me in jail.
I was blinded in one eye.
I lost the hearing in one ear.
Another beating and my heart went.
I spent 6 years in jail.
What good did I do for Brazil behind bars?
They took my watch, my belt
and my money.
They took my jeep. It's behind City Hall in Victoria
at the police station. They never gave it back.
Call that revolution? Put me in jail, my kids left hungry?
They took a car, my papers, everything.
Why should the Army do this to me?
Better to have me shot than do that.
I got even more angry than I was.
Leaving my kids to starve and me beaten up in jail.
I spent a day in a tank full of shit.
Turds this big, and soup and piss up to my waist.
I tiny space, and me...
I spent one hour like this, another like this...
I stood up for 24 hours. Only the devil can bear it!
Standing up for 24 hours in a tank of shit.
Only Satan... I don't believe...
I'm alive, because I never saw a spirit like me
bear it, even so many electric shocks.
There's nothing better than days with a night in between.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will protect us.
God's grace is continually upon us.
I trust in God, because this misery...
One day the people got to realize who they are.
We can't stay trampled on for ever.
Condemned to 10 and a half years in jail
Joao Virginio was released in 1970
after serving 6 years of his sentence.
The Recife Penitentiary was turned into a cultural center
in 1976.
On April 3rd, 1964, a week before Joao Virginio's arrest
Elizabeth left Galilea with the film crew
and went to Recife.
Unable to return to Sape or stay in Recife
she decided to go to Manoel Serafim's house in Jaboatao.
The direction assistant, Vladimir Carvalho, took her there.
She changed her name to Marta
and pretended to be Manoel's sister-in-law.
She stayed indoors always.
2 months later, she gave herself up to Paraiba's authorities.
- Did they treat you well? - Yes. The Army treated me well.
They asked you about Cuba?
- Yes. - What did you say?
I said I'd gone to visit my son there
who had gone with a grant
from the government there
and the government had sent me an invitation
to visit my son.
That's why I went to Cuba.
Did they accuse you of squatting or anything?
I didn't know about squatting.
It must mean a falling out of owner and tenant.
Because no owner wants a tenant to have rights.
He wants him bound and gagged.
So the tenants has to see to his own problems.
After 4 months in jail, Elizabeth went back to Sape.
She went to her father's where her children were.
Then the persecution came.
The police came to get me again.
- At your father's? - Yes. So the police came
to get me again to take me away.
I could be tortured or even killed.
I thought about it and asked my Dad.
I said: "Dad, I can't go with so many policemen.
Since they say they're friends of yours
tell them to go away
and I'll go there tomorrow."
I was sick. Dad spoke to Colonel Luiz de Barros
and said I couldn't go
but guaranteed I'd go there next day.
So they took his word for it that I'd go.
Next day I couldn't. I got the car and said I'd go
but I couldn't. I knew I'd be tortured.
Or even killed like Alfredo and the kid.
In September, 1964, just before Elizabeth's release
Joao Alfredo Dias and
Pedro Inacio de Araujo, founders of the Sape League
disappeared after leaving prison.
They were never found.
3 days later
a paper told that 2 mutilated corpses
had been found on a road in Paraiba.
The paper said they were victims of the Death Squad.
The bodies were never identified.
Your parents helped you all this time?
Don't even know if they're alive.
- I don't even know. - Why didn't he help you?
I really don't know.
Maybe he doesn't have our address.
Didn't he help to bring up the kids?
Yes. He raised two of my brothers.
He raised two of them?
We've never told where we are.
Going to say now?
- Right. - From now on...
From now on we tell everything.
Makes things easier.
I want to find the rest of the family. I'm going to try.
Why did you choose to keep Carlos especially?
Well, you see...
Dad didn't want him 'cause he found him like Joao Pedro.
- He said he wouldn't have him. - Is he like him?
Yes, he is.
In 1962 the persecution spread wider.
3 months after Joao Pedro's assassination
Paulo Pedro, one of his sons, was mysteriously attacked.
What happened to Paulo? What was the attack?
That was...
a thug on orders from big landowners...
The same ones that murdered Joao Pedro.
- What did they do? - They shot him...
They shot him in the forehead, in the fields.
- Bad hurt? - He got hurt bad.
I don't know if he's still alive.
- Never saw him again? - Never.
- Don't know where he is? - No, I don't.
Never heard any news.
What happened to your daughter, Marluce?
She poisoned herself and died.
- Was she so upset? - Yes.
She said that since her father was killed
she hadn't had a single day of happiness.
She was always upset.
She said she felt so sad...
that it got to such a point.
In December, 1962, 8 months after Joao Pedro's death
the eldest daughter, Marluce, took arsenic and died.
GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE BY TAKING ARSENIC
MARLUCE, DAUGHTER OF JOAO PEDRO TEIXEIRA, WAS 18
When did you meet your first brother?
I met him in 1978.
That's when I went to Patos.
In Patos I looked for him.
- Abraham? - Yes.
- You don't know the other eight? - I don't know any of them.
How are you known here?
I'm known here as Marta Maria da Costa. Even legally.
Why did you choose Marta.
It sounded like a martyr...
The name of someone who has suffered, like me.
But after this film you'll go back to the world, won't you?
Yes. I'll go back to the world.
The neighbors know...
The neighbors, everyone knows who I am.
Now I'll see my friends,
find my kids, my parents...
Will you visit your parents?
Yes, and especially my kids out there.
I know they're out there and I must find them. Right?
The first week of April, 1964,
8 of Elizabeth's children were rounded up
and shared out among grandparents and aunts.
Abraham stayed in the capital to study.
Isaac was in Cuba since 1963 with a government grant.
15 days after my meeting with Elizabeth
I went to Sape to retrace the past.
A few miles from the town, where he was killed
there was a stone monument and an iron cross
and a bronze plaque in his memory, blown up in 1964.
The plaque said:
"Here lies Joao Pedro Teixeira, martyr for agrarian reform".
Actually, Joao Pedro is buried in Sape Cemetery
in an unmarked grave.
Joao Pedro was born in the nearby town of Guarabira
and lost his father early on.
Little is known about his youth.
Not even a photo is left of Joao Pedro alive.
The house he lived his last years in seems abandoned.
After the founding of the Sape League
Elizabeth's father, Manoel da Costa, a small landowner
quarrelled with Joao Pedro and sold the farm.
Threatened with eviction, Joao Pedro went to Court
for the right to live there or receive compensation.
After his death Elizabeth stayed but cut her father.
In 1981, 17 years after her escape
her children didn't know where she was hidden.
Nor if she was dead or alive.
Near Joao Pedro's house we looked for his daughter
Maria das Neves Teixeira, or Nevinha.
We only knew she was married and was a teacher nearby
the place where Joao Pedro was killed.
How long is it since you saw your mother?
A long time.
15... maybe 12 years.
Do you miss her?
Of course... She's my Mom.
And your brothers, Abraham and Carlos?
We haven't seen either of them.
The others are nearer.
Did you know you father?
Yes. I was 6 or 7 when he died.
- Do you remember him? - Not much.
- Your daughter? - Yes.
- What's her name? - Juliana Elizabeth Teixeira...
- You called her Elizabeth? - Juliana Elizabeth.
- Why Elizabeth? - My mother's name.
How can we see Peta, your brother?
At my grandfather's, by the flour house. Know it?
Would your grandpa welcome a visit?
Well, he's a bit funny about this sort of thing.
The other day...
some people came in a car. I don't know if they were...
cattle rustlers, or something.
I know they came everyday, every week.
He was quite... many people round here thought that...
Elizabeth might try to kill him.
A lot of people thought so. So, he got it into his head
that she wanted to kill him or steal something.
I know people did try... cattle rustlers, I think.
Manoel Justino and Joao Pedro Teixeira Jr
agreed to be filmed.
Elizabeth's father chickened out and went back in.
- Your grandpa brought you up? - Since I was little.
He brought the whole family here.
Then one uncle took one, another took another.
Everyone raised the family. We'd have died otherwise.
Because 12 children in one house...
hungry... If it hadn't been for the family...
Everybody took someone and 3 stayed at home.
I'm still here. 2 girls went to Rio.
We are alive thanks to the family.
Even so I'm not mad at my mother. I'll see her any time.
I'll go wherever she is.
- Got a picture of your Dad? - No, I haven't.
Nor of my mother. I can't remember anything.
I was 4 years old.
- You were 2 when your father died. - No. I was 4.
I was born in 1960. They killed him in 1964.
- No. He died in 1962. - He died... in '64.
I was little. I can't remember.
You built his tomb again?
People destroyed it. I'm the only one here...
as his son. I said, I'll raise his cross because
they can't do that. I can make another.
I said I would make one because I remember him.
I knew where the place was.
So I made one again.
I lit a candle and all that.
Why wouldn't Manoel have his photo taken?
Because an old man thinks like the kids.
We eventually persuaded him to come out and talk.
You never got on with Joao Pedro, did you?
No. I didn't ask him. He came.
I gave him some advice but he wouldn't listen.
- So you never got on with him? - Never.
- But he was a good husband? - Yes.
He became my enemy. He said if I went...
if I set foot there he'd give me a good hiding.
- Who said that? - Her husband did.
He said I'd better not meddle with things.
I'd better get back to work.
Elizabeth's father never once said the name Joao Pedro.
Still active at 84
Manoel has a small flour mill
and goes everyday to buy wood and manioc, at nearby farms.
Joao Pedro Jr help him as a driver.
On this road, further ahead
on Manoel's land, Joao Pedro was killed.
Elizabeth used to come by here
to head demonstrations to her husband's memorial.
Caxias, Greater Rio de Janeiro.
October, 1981.
8 months after Elizabeth's declarations.
- Is Marta in? - That's me.
- I'm a friend of... - My mother.
- Your mother's. Did you know? - More or less.
Is there light here?
This is your brother, Carlos.
- Do you remember him? - Yes.
We went to see her in Rio Grande do Norte.
Here she is washing clothes in the river.
She sent you a big hug.
She's coming to see you.
She's got to get your brothers.
Carlos...
Abraham. Carlos and your mother.
I remember her well.
This is on film.
- When did you come to Rio? - I came here in 1971.
- And never went back? - I went there about 5 years ago.
Do you hear from the people in Sape?
- No. - Don't they write?
It's me that...
- You don't say where you are? - I cut myself off.
- Why? - You see, the family...
When you most need them
that's when they didn't help. Especially my brother.
I'm not mad at them. But when I most needed them
they didn't help. Especially my maternal grandparents.
- They didn't help you? - No.
And they have some money, don't they?
The family does, except my mother.
- Any grudge against your mother? - No. Even though she gave me...
Even before I was born she gave me to my grandmother.
- Why did she do that? - I really don't know.
We were 12
but she only gave me away.
Not even...
- You remember your father? - Yes, I do.
I adored him. Not just because he was killed.
I adore my mother too. I bear no grudge... really.
I adore her. When she comes...
Will you now go back to the world? Will you see everybody again?
Yes. I will go back to the world. The neighbors know now...
Everyone knows I'm in Rio Grande do Norte.
I'll get in touch with my friends,
find my kids, my parents...
- Will you visit your parents? - Yes,
and especially because of my children.
I know they're out there. I've got to get to know them.
- The neighbors didn't know? - They knew nothing.
Dad thinks I'm overseas or dead.
- Why did you come here? - For work.
- Where did you work? - I worked...
I forget the name of the street. Here in Caxias.
I was pregnant when I came.
My firstborn's now 10.
- You came with him? - I was pregnant.
- He was born here? - Yes.
I was well-off at the beginning.
I even had a car, jewelry, everything.
Then the man I was living with... You went there...
Manoel Alves in Felizardo Fortes St, number 66.
I lived with him for 10 years. I have 3 kids by him.
Then he acted up. We couldn't go on with it.
We separated and I came here penniless.
But, it doesn't matter.
- And the children? - I have 4.
Santa Clara Faculty of Medicine.
Capital of the province of Las Villas in Cuba.
December, 1981.
Isaac Teixeira is in the 5th year of Medicine.
Film shot at our request by a Cuban film crew.
What I remember about Brazil and my father's struggles
is that it was about 20 years ago.
At that time the peasant leagues began
and my father had to...
was committed to working in the Northeast
where he founded
and worked for the Sape League.
I think he was a pioneer
of the peasant leagues.
And it had great repercussions.
His struggle and his death...
Everyone
thinks highly of a peasant
a simple man dedicating his life
to the struggle of the Brazilian people.
Jose Eudes. Do you know him?
Yes, I do.
- Could you call him? - Certainly. Follow me.
He's the watchman here, right?
You from Educational TV or from Globo Network?
No. Movies. It's a report but for a film.
By Avenida Brasil, Rio de Janeiro.
The warehouse of an engineering company.
May, 1982. 1 year and 3 months after filming Elizabeth.
- Who's Mr Coutinho? Excuse me. - It's me, it's me.
Only you come in. I want to talk to you.
Pleased to meet you. Jose Eudes.
Only he comes in. Excuse me.
I want to talk to him in private.
Take it, please.
After a long talk and a few demands
Jose Eudes Teixeira agreed to be filmed. But outside.
- Do you remember your parents? - No.
No.
Who raised you?
An uncle who I call Dad. His name's Eudes.
He's my uncle, but I call him Dad.
You were 4 when your father died?
- And you remember nothing? - Nothing.
Honestly, I can't remember anything.
But you remember your mother? You were 6 in 1964.
No. I don't remember her.
I know her from these photos. I didn't recognize her.
- Would you like to see her? - I miss her very much.
When I got her first letter, I cried.
I couldn't remember her.
I called mother the aunt who raised me.
I still consider her my mother.
My mother had to disappear when they killed my father...
so none of us were baptized.
So my godparents baptized me and brought me up.
I have 4 brothers I don't know.
Paulo, Abraham, Isaac...
and Carlos. I don't know Carlos either.
- Don't you know Paulo? - No.
- Why? - Because... Paulo...
When I was there he went to Nazare da Mata with my uncle.
So I never knew him either.
- What does he do now? - He's a driver for a company.
And he's married.
My brother went to his place.
He said Paulo is upset with the whole family thing.
He said he drinks a lot and is very angry.
Me too... I used to live with a woman
and she said: "You're different from everyone else."
I don't know... Sometimes I just don't speak to anyone.
My family history makes me so angry.
Olaria, a district of Rio de Janeiro.
Film shot on the same day as Jose Eudes. May, 1982.
Does Mrs Marinez live here?
Yes, but I don't know if she's in.
Could you see for me, please?
Pity. The window's closed.
- What? Like this? - No. It's very simple.
- How are you? - Fine.
- How lovely. What's his name? - Rodrigo. And Elana.
- Are they both yours? - Yes.
- How long have you been in Rio? - 7 years.
Why did you come? Why did you move?
- Marta sent for me. - Did she?
I lived with an uncle. She sent for me.
- You remember your mother? - No, have never seen.
I've only seen her in one of Marta's photos.
- Don't you remember your father? - Never seen him.
- You were 8 months old... - 3 months.
- Would you like to see her? - Of course.
- Or do you feel hurt? - Hurt? No.
Not at all.
- Did she write to you? - Yes. She's written twice.
This is the first one.
Would you read a bit?
You say you don't know where you came from.
You came from the love between me and your father.
Of course I'm so glad you're coming.
I asked her if I could go and see her.
That's what I want, to meet
all my children
and be with you all. Thanks to the political liberalization
I can now see all my children again.
I wasn't able to live with, raise and love you.
Destiny was against it. It must be as God wills.
But I shall be
so happy just to have one day go get all my children
together again.
The filming we did in St Rafael
in February, 1981
meant the end of Elizabeth's reclusion.
After she was filmed, she was no longer Marta
but Elizabeth once again.
- You take in washing, Elizabeth? - Yes.
What else do you earn a living?
Washing dishes in a bar.
And I teach the kids.
- 4 times 1. - 4.
- 4 times 2. - 8.
- 4 times 3. - 12.
- 4 times 4. - 16.
- 4 times 5. - 20.
- 4 times 6. - 24.
- 4 times 7. - 28.
- 4 times 8. - 32.
The neighbors knew nothing.
What was their reaction?
They looked for photos, tried to find out who I was.
I said I lived in Recife and worked
as a maid, that it hadn't worked out
and I had moved to the backlands. That's what I told them.
- Are they glad to know now? - Yes, they are.
Did you enjoy the film about Elizabeth?
It's very important because Marta...
I mean Elizabeth, had a very sad past.
Many things were really very sad.
Now you know, has she changed?
She's the same old Elizabeth, my friend.
Who else wants to speak?
When she arrived here
she was my neighbor first.
We've always been great friends.
My Zorro was her first pupil.
And for me, she's just like a mother.
Did you think she only had one child?
- What did you know about her? - Nothing, when she arrived.
Where did you think she'd come from?
From Jucurutu.
She'd come from Jucurutu.
- Thought she had just one child? - Yes, I did.
- Are they all your friends? - Yes. All good friends.
She was my nextdoor neighbor.
We really felt for her and her suffering.
We say she seemed sort of sad.
But she said nothing except that her husband
was dead... had been murdered, and she had other children.
But that she never saw them.
We saw something awful had happened to her.
We wished her happiness since she is such a nice person.
We're going to miss her.
RURAL WORKER'S UNION OF ST RAFAEL
He's the Union chairman.
We talked a lot
about the Union
and its present activities.
We also talked about the people in Vale do Azu
and how they'll be compensated
when they have to leave.
He knows more about it as he's the Chairman.
St Rafael is a dying town.
The National Department Against Drought
is carrying out an irrigation scheme
and is building a dam.
The water will cover the whole area.
As they have no deeds, the small landowners
will receive what they consider poor compensation.
The local Union is heading the fight.
Elizabeth helps you?
She advises me from what she has suffered
and I advise her. We've talked a lot about it.
Did you know she was Elizabeth?
- Yes, I knew. - For how long?
For about a year, since we got to know each other better.
- Did you know who Joao Pedro was? - Certainly.
- Who was he? - A great leader.
- Where from? - From Paraiba. From Sape.
She telling me about what she went through...
and me backing her up...
I understood what all persecuted Union leaders suffer
from landowners and the authorities in Brazil.
Well, let's get our things together
and say goodbye.
I thought I'd never see you again and our friends.
But now... I see my house...
old friends visit me...
and that's really wonderful for me.
I never gave in, never gave up the struggle.
What I did was the only way.
We must thank our President
for giving us the honor to be able
to talk and speak and see our children and parents
and all our relatives.
You really caught me close to tears. I'm really moved...
It was 16 years. Abraham hadn't been here.
Never had the chance.
I was moved.
I never expected it.
He called up and said he was coming.
The girl heard and said he was coming with
another brother, then Carlos, 3 brothers coming.
When he got here he said: "Carlos is here."
"No, Mom, Coutinho's here and the reporter people."
I said, "I wonder what's happening." I was... really moved.
- Was the report good? - Yes, very good.
I'm sorry I couldn't help. I can't help, but...
it certainly touched me.
- See you soon. - Are you really going?
- Yes, we must be going. - I hope everything was OK.
The fight goes on. The same needs as in 1964
are still with us. They haven't budged.
The workman, the peasant, the student have the same needs.
The fight goes on while there is hunger and poor wages.
Who wouldn't fight for better days? You must fight.
Whoever has the good life, let him keep out of it.
I have suffered, I have to fight and I dare to say
the regime must be changed. We must fight while
this so-called democracy, this hunger exists.
- Democracy without freedom... - Wages of hunger and misery?
While workmen's sons have no right to study.
Like now, when I...
when the kids pay I don't know what. But no one can.
A month later Elizabeth left St Rafael to live in Patos
with Abraham and Carlos.
Until June 1983, when this text was written
Elizabeth had only seen 2 of her other 8 children:
Nevinha and Joao Pedro Jr, in Sape.
We last filmed Joao Virginio in his yard
on Carnival Sunday, 1981.
10 months later he died of a heart attack in the same place.
He was buried in Victoria cemetery
next to Zeze from Galilea.
1964 Crew
1981-83 Crew
Translation revised by Carlos Roberto de Souza
Translation coordination HBO BRASIL LTDA.