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A Dog's Will

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Wikipedia article




'A Dog's Will' (, literally "The Compassionate Woman's Play", the woman being the Virgin Mary) is a 2000 Brazilian fantasy comedy film directed by Guel Arraes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Adriana Falco and Joo Falco. It is based on a similarly named play by Ariano Suassuna, with elements of some other of Suassuna's plays, 'The Ghost and the Sow' and 'Torture of a Heart'.

Plot



Joo Grilo (Matheus Nachtergaele), referred to as "Jack the Cricket in the English subtitles, and Chic (Selton Mello) are two poor men living in an arid, desert-like region of North-East Brazil in the 1930s. Joo is constantly hungry and malnourished, relying on his charm and silver tongue to fool the townsfolk for his own gain. Chic is a handsome but cowardly man who tells outlandish stories about his past.

Upon arriving in Tapero, the two look for work from the towns baker. The bakers wife, Dora, dotes on her dog who is fed luxurious food, When Joo and Chic. steal the dogs food, it accidentally eats theirs and quickly falls ill. Desperate for help, Dora begs the duo to have the priest to bless her dog. Joo first attempts to convince the priest to bless the dog by saying it is owned by Major Antnio Morais, a wealthy landowner in the area, and later has the priest perform funeral rites for the dog by saying it left the church money. The Bishop, initially infuriated at the priest for this, walks back immediately once he learns he is able to take some of the money.

Dora seduces Chic and attempts to sleep with him before being visited by her other suitor, the town bully Vicento, and then her husband. Joo takes a job assisting Major Antnio Morais and picks his daughter Rosinha to bring her into town. Vicento and Corporal Setenta are smitten but Rosinha immediately falls in love with Chic. Morais wants to marry off Rosinha to a rich man and promises a dowry of a piggy bank filled with coins as left by his grandmother. Joo devises a plan to pit Vicento and Corporal Setenta against each other which leaves Chic the last suitor standing. Dressed up as a wealthy and educated man, Chic asks for Rosinhas hand in marriage from Morais but Chic talks him into paying 200 crowns to the priest for church renovations which Morais pays for on behalf of Chic and requests the skin off his back in the case that he should fail to pay it back.

Unable to pay the debt, the duo make a plan to fake Chics death with a blood filled balloon with Joo riding into town pretending to be a bandit. On the day, actual bandits, led by the ferocious Severino raid the town and begin looting and killing. Severino rounds up the baker and his wife, the two church leaders, plus Joo and Chic to be shot outside of the church. Joo manages to trick Severino into being shot by saying that his harmonica brings people back to life after stabbing Chic in the blood-filled balloon, but is shot himself while trying to run away.

Arriving in the afterlife, the six dead members are all placed under trial by the Devil (Lus Melo) and is joined by Jesus Christ who oversees the trial. Joo begs for the Virgin Marys help and she arrives to convince Jesus to be forgiving. Before being executed, the baker forgave his wife for her adultery and the two church leaders forgave those who shot them - enough for them to land in purgatory instead of hell. Severino is absolved as his bandit ways started when police members killed his family as a child. The Devil attempts to take Joo but he is granted a second chance at life having been a poor but hopeful man his entire life.

Upon reviving, the duo donate all the money takenfrom the dead townsfolk in the name of the Virgin Mary. Chic and Rosinha get married, attempting to use the dowry to pay off his debt, but it ends up being filled with worthless coins. Using a technicality (that the skin off his back should not come with a drop of blood), they manage to evade their debt. All three now penniless, they find bump into Jesus Christ posing as a hungry man on the road and share their bread with him.

Cast



* Matheus Nachtergaele as Joo Grilo (Jack the Cricket)

* Selton Mello as Chic

* Fernanda Montenegro as Virgin Mary

* Marco Nanini as Cangaceiro Severino de Aracaju

* Denise Fraga as Dora

* Lima Duarte as Bishop

* Rogrio Cardoso as priest Joo

* Diogo Vilela as Eurico

* Maurcio Gonalves as Jesus Christ

* Virginia Cavendish as Rosinha

* Paulo Goulart as Major Antnio Morais

* Lus Melo as the Devil

* Bruno Garcia as Vicento

* Enrique Diaz as Severino's henchman

* Aramis Trindade as Corporal Setenta

Reception



The film was a critical and commercial success in Brazilreceiving four awards at the 2nd Grande Prmio Cinema Brasil and grossing R$11,496,994 ($4,903,192) with a 2,157,166 viewership,and in some South American countries like Chile and Venezuela. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% from audiences.

See also



* Our Lady of Aparecida

* Lisbela e o Prisioneiro

References




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