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How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
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Wikipedia article
'How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman' is a Brazilian black comedy directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos released in 1971.
Almost all of the dialogue in the film was written in the Tupi language. The actors and actresses who portrayed the Tupinambas wore historically correct attire resulting in a considerable amount of historically correct nudity and semi-nudity in many scenes.
The location for the entire film was the Bay of Ilha Grande, which has 365 islands and whose shores comprise the Angra dos Reis and Parati municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Plot
In 16th century Brazil rival French and Portuguese settlers are utilizing the indigenous people as allies in their struggle to establish control. The Tupinambs, who live in the Guanabara Bay area, are allied with the French, while the Tupiniquins are allied with the Portuguese.
A Frenchman who has been captured by the Portuguese is then captured by the Tupinambs after they attack and kill a group of Portuguese. He tries to convince his captors by speaking in French (reciting the poem by tienne Jodelle found in Andr Thvet's 'Singularities of France Antarctique') but the Tupinambs don't believe that the Frenchman was a prisoner of the Portuguese they have killed, and the Chief thinks he is Portuguese because "No Frenchman would shoot at the Tupinamb." The tribe's shaman predicted they would find a strong Portuguese man to cannibalize as revenge for the chief's brother being killed by a Portuguese musket ball. Now they have one.
However, the Frenchman is allowed free run of the village area, is eventually provided with a "wife," and adopts traditional Tupinamb attire in place of his Western clothes.
A French tradesman comes to the village and tells the Tupinambs that their prisoner is indeed Portuguese he then promises the outraged Frenchman that he will tell the Tupinambs the truth if the Frenchman finds a hidden treasure that another European has hidden in the area. He also instructs him to collect wood, and pepper for him on his return.
The relationship between the Frenchman and his Tupinamb "wife" remains enigmatic. It is unclear for most of the movie if she intends to save him from the group that wants to eat him, or if she has been assigned to win his trust and prevent him from escaping.
The Frenchman gathers cannon powder from the abandoned Portuguese cannons, and brings it to the Tupinambs, who use it to defeat the rival Tupiniquins in battle. The Tupinambs then eat the Frenchman as celebration.
In the last seconds of his life, the Frenchman refuses to play along with the ceremonial script that the Tupinambs expect him to follow and instead angrily (and loudly) tells the Tupinambs that his death will not revitalize them (as his death and the subsequent cannibal feast is intended to do) but rather will doom them all to extermination.
The movie ends with a postscript that reveals the rival Tupiniquim were later exterminated by their supposed allies, the Portuguese.
Cast
* Arduno Colassanti - The Frenchman
* Ana Maria Magalhes - Seboipepe
* Eduardo Imbassahy Filho - Cunhambebe
* Manfredo Colassanti - The tradesman
* Jos Klber - Ipiraguau
* Gabriel Archanjo - Mbiratata
Awards
The film was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 45th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
'1971 Festival de Braslia'
*Best Screenplay (Nelson Pereira dos Santos)
*Best Dialog (Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Humberto Mauro)
*Best Cenograph (Rgis Monteiro)
'Berlin Film Festival'
*Golden Bear (nominated)
'1973 So Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards'
*Most Promising Actress (Ana Maria Magalhes)
See also
* List of submissions to the 45th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
*Cannibalism
References
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