Salve Geral
Encyclopedia
Salve Geral is a 2009 Brazilian thriller film directed and written by Sérgio Rezende
. It depicts the May 2006 riots perpetuated by the Primeiro Comando da Capital
(PCC) criminal organization in the state of São Paulo
. The Ministry of Culture
submitted it for consideration of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
for the 82nd Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
. The Film won the Crystal Lens Award for Best Feature Film at the 2nd Brazilian Film Festival of London
.
piano teacher whose 18-year-old son Rafael is imprisoned before the riots because of his participation in a car accident which resulted in the death of a girl. While visiting her son at jail, Lúcia meets Ruiva (Redheaded), lawyer of "the Professor", leader of the PCC (referred in the movie as "The Command"). The two women soon bond, and Ruiva starts using Lúcia in tasks for the criminal organization. Lúcia needs the money so she ends up accepting the mission, putting herself in the boundary between legality and crime. Meanwhile, The Command is experiencing a turbulent internal dispute for power, while facing a common enemy: the prison system.
Salve Geral lampoons the mass media
for generating panic among the population of São Paulo with its sensationalistic coverage of the riot and not revealing the real cause of the revolt, which was the degrading situation of the state prison system.
. The riots caused the deaths of several people, most of them policemen. On May 11, 2006, the state government, based on information indicating the plans of PCC to perform a series of rebellions in prisons, ordered the simultaneous transfer of 765 dangerous inmates to maximum security prisons in the state. In retaliation, the leaders of the criminal organization commanded from within the prisons, through mobile phones, simultaneous riots and attacks on law enforcement officials. The message was clear: a "horror party" was to be done in each one of the neighborhoods of São Paulo. "Salve" (literally "save" or "hail") means "attack" in the Paulistano crime dialect of Portuguese language
.
Sérgio Rezende wanted to show, with his film, that not only the criminals should be blamed for the riots. "We must be aware that the state also disregards the law, that the detainees are in subhuman conditions. It's not a matter of good guys and bad guys. It is a matter of reality", he said. Rezende said that the editing process was based on the 2006 Stephen Frears
film The Queen
.
The film costed 9,7 million reais
(around 4,5 million U.S. dollars). It was produced by Toscana Audiovisual and Globo Filmes
and distributed by Downtown Filmes and Sony Pictures. It has grossed, so far, 2,5 million reais, selling over 290,000 tickets.
for the 2009 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
. According to Silvio Da-Rin, Secretary of Audiovisual, "basically three criteria led us to choose for this movie: its high technical and artistic quality, its high production value invested in the project and the contemporaneity of the issue discussed".
The commission which chose the Brazilian contender for the Oscar comprised Da-Rin, movie critic Carlos Alberto Mattos, producer Beto Rodrigues, researcher and professor Ivana Bentes, director Carlos Gerbase, and exhibitor Luiz Gonzaga De Luca. According to the commission, the decision was not unanimous, but consensual. The ten films analyzed were very different from each other, and the ability of Salve Geral to address both social and political levels would have been the most important factor in chosing the films.
Salve Geral disputed the Brazilian submission for the 2010 Academy Award
with Besouro, Síndrome de Pinocchio – Refluxo, Jean Charles
, Feliz Natal, A Festa da Menina Morta, O Menino da Porteira, Se Nada Mais Der Certo, Budapeste, and O Contador de Histórias.
According to some sources, the film, specially Andréa Beltrão's performance, was very well received by the 200 members of the Academy which saw it at its official screening for Oscar voters at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
on November 20, 2009. The five film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film will be announced on February 2, 2010. The award will be handed out on March 7, 2010.
Sérgio Rezende
Sérgio Rezende is a Brazilian filmmaker. He is most known for directing several biographical films, such as Lamarca, Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei, and Zuzu Angel, about guerrilla leader Carlos Lamarca, entrepreneur Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, and stylist Zuzu Angel Jones, which embarked in a...
. It depicts the May 2006 riots perpetuated by the Primeiro Comando da Capital
Primeiro Comando da Capital
Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC , is an anti-establishment Brazilian prison gang and criminal organization founded in 1993 by inmates of Taubaté prison in São Paulo...
(PCC) criminal organization in the state of São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
. The Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Culture (Brazil)
The Ministry of Culture of Brazil was created in 1985.-External links:*...
submitted it for consideration of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
for the 82nd Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. The Film won the Crystal Lens Award for Best Feature Film at the 2nd Brazilian Film Festival of London
Brazilian Film Festival of London
The Brazilian Film Festival of London is a Brazilian-state-sponsored film festival held annually in London. It is currently in its second edition after first taking place in 2009...
.
Plot
The film portrays the fictional story of Lúcia, a widowed middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
piano teacher whose 18-year-old son Rafael is imprisoned before the riots because of his participation in a car accident which resulted in the death of a girl. While visiting her son at jail, Lúcia meets Ruiva (Redheaded), lawyer of "the Professor", leader of the PCC (referred in the movie as "The Command"). The two women soon bond, and Ruiva starts using Lúcia in tasks for the criminal organization. Lúcia needs the money so she ends up accepting the mission, putting herself in the boundary between legality and crime. Meanwhile, The Command is experiencing a turbulent internal dispute for power, while facing a common enemy: the prison system.
Salve Geral lampoons the mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
for generating panic among the population of São Paulo with its sensationalistic coverage of the riot and not revealing the real cause of the revolt, which was the degrading situation of the state prison system.
Cast
- Andréa BeltrãoAndréa BeltrãoAndréa Viana Beltrão, commonly known as Andréa Beltrão , is a Brazilian actress, better known as Marilda in the Brazilian TV series A Grande Família.-External links:...
as Lúcia - Denise Weinberg as "Ruiva" (Redheaded)
- Lee Taylor as Rafael
- Bruno Perillo as "the Professor"
- Guilherme Santana as Pedrão
- Chris Couto as Ângela
- Juliano Cazarré as Zé
- Taiguara Nazareth as Tirso
- Giulio LopesGiulio LopesGiulio Lopes, , July 24, 1959, is a scenographer and Brazilian actor of plays, telenovelas and movies.- Biography :Born in Poá, São Paulo, Giulio Lopes made his first exhibition as an actor in the 1982 theater O Apocalipse ou o Capeta de Caruaru, of Aldomar Conrado, with the group "Caentrenós", of...
as Dávila - Michel Gomes as Xizão
- Kiko Mascarenhas as commissioner Raul
- Otávio Martins as China
- Rafael Losso as Beto
- Fábio Herford as Rubinho
- Almir Barros as Tavinho
- Celso 'Not Dead' Camargo as Diguinho
- Catarina Abdala as Female Guard
- Luciano Chirolli as Secretary
- Pascoal da Conceição as Dr. Pereira
- Fernão Lacerda as Prison guard
- Henrique Neves as DEPEN Agent
- Marizilda Dias Rosa as Tiana
- João Signorelli as Careca (Bald guy)
- Neco Villa Lobos as Military PolicePolícia Militar do Estado de São PauloThe Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo is a law enforcement agency of the military kind in the state of São Paulo, Brazil...
officer
Background and production
Although Salve Gerals main storyline is fictional, its background story is based on actual events that took place on 2006 Mother's DayMother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
. The riots caused the deaths of several people, most of them policemen. On May 11, 2006, the state government, based on information indicating the plans of PCC to perform a series of rebellions in prisons, ordered the simultaneous transfer of 765 dangerous inmates to maximum security prisons in the state. In retaliation, the leaders of the criminal organization commanded from within the prisons, through mobile phones, simultaneous riots and attacks on law enforcement officials. The message was clear: a "horror party" was to be done in each one of the neighborhoods of São Paulo. "Salve" (literally "save" or "hail") means "attack" in the Paulistano crime dialect of Portuguese language
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
Sérgio Rezende wanted to show, with his film, that not only the criminals should be blamed for the riots. "We must be aware that the state also disregards the law, that the detainees are in subhuman conditions. It's not a matter of good guys and bad guys. It is a matter of reality", he said. Rezende said that the editing process was based on the 2006 Stephen Frears
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
film The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
.
The film costed 9,7 million reais
Brazilian real
The real is the present-day currency of Brazil. Its sign is R$ and its ISO code is BRL. It is subdivided into 100 centavos ....
(around 4,5 million U.S. dollars). It was produced by Toscana Audiovisual and Globo Filmes
Globo Filmes
Globo Filmes is a Brazilian company of movie productions, owned by Organizações Globo.- History :It was founded in 1998 by Roberto Marinho. The films produced or co-produced by the company obtained more than 90% of box office revenue from the brazilian movie industry and more than 20% of the total...
and distributed by Downtown Filmes and Sony Pictures. It has grossed, so far, 2,5 million reais, selling over 290,000 tickets.
Academy Award submission
The Secretariat of the Audiovisual, a body linked to the Ministry of Culture, submitted the film for consideration of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
for the 2009 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. According to Silvio Da-Rin, Secretary of Audiovisual, "basically three criteria led us to choose for this movie: its high technical and artistic quality, its high production value invested in the project and the contemporaneity of the issue discussed".
The commission which chose the Brazilian contender for the Oscar comprised Da-Rin, movie critic Carlos Alberto Mattos, producer Beto Rodrigues, researcher and professor Ivana Bentes, director Carlos Gerbase, and exhibitor Luiz Gonzaga De Luca. According to the commission, the decision was not unanimous, but consensual. The ten films analyzed were very different from each other, and the ability of Salve Geral to address both social and political levels would have been the most important factor in chosing the films.
Salve Geral disputed the Brazilian submission for the 2010 Academy Award
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...
with Besouro, Síndrome de Pinocchio – Refluxo, Jean Charles
Jean Charles (film)
Jean Charles is a 2009 British-Brazilian film depicting the life of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian immigrant shot dead by the Metropolitan Police at Stockwell tube station in London on July 22, 2005.-Cast:* Selton Mello as Jean Charles...
, Feliz Natal, A Festa da Menina Morta, O Menino da Porteira, Se Nada Mais Der Certo, Budapeste, and O Contador de Histórias.
According to some sources, the film, specially Andréa Beltrão's performance, was very well received by the 200 members of the Academy which saw it at its official screening for Oscar voters at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
The Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a movie theater in Beverly Hills, California named after Samuel Goldwyn.Currently, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses the theater in January to announce the nominations for their Academy Awards....
on November 20, 2009. The five film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film will be announced on February 2, 2010. The award will be handed out on March 7, 2010.