The series ‘Tremembé’, a new Brazilian venture from Prime Video, bets on the popularity of true crime to delve behind the scenes of the ‘prison of the famous’; read the interviews
In the first episode of Tremembé, Susanne von Richthofen She is transferred to the “famous prison” after a rebellion in the Ribeirão Preto women’s penitentiary puts her life at risk. In his new home, it’s as if he’s parading into the “hall of fame” of crime reporting: Elize Matsunaga, Anna Carolina Jatoba, Alessandro Nardoni, Daniel AND Cristian Cravinhos AND Roger Abdelmassih They are all there, although separated, of course, into male and female wings.
To Suzane’s relief, in her new home she is not the only one whose crime has shocked Brazilian society. But this fact also means that it is no longer at the top of the food chain, a place occupied by Sandrao and whoever your girlfriend is. Suzane then begins to develop her strategy to get the queen bee’s attention, which would turn into an infamous love triangle that would captivate TV and viewers, and now takes on the air of fiction.
Despite the nickname “prison of the famous”, the Tremembé penitentiary complex is more complete than that. Its second prison unit, known as P2, has since 2002 had the main feature of housing people who have committed brutal crimes against the lives of members of their own family, criminals who would not survive in a common penitentiary. Given the nature and intense fallout of the crimes, the unit ends up hosting some of the most notorious characters on the police pages.
“The craziest things in the series actually happened,” Campbell explains. “We passed the legal scrutiny, both from the producer, Paranoid, and from Prime Video. As for the adaptation of the books, I was very proud. It is a great achievement for a writer to see his work adapted for audiovisual, especially if it is a reportage book.”
True (The battle of via Maria Antonia, All of us), confirms, however, that there are some poetic licenses used to convey dynamism.
“We have the facts. There was this love triangle, there was the love story between Duda and Cristian, there was Roger who tried to evade justice by pretending to be ill,” he underlines. “But we have to organize all this into a dramatic line, and fiction comes into this context. How can we fit this into a narrative line? Fiction involves the temporal organization of real events.”
At this point, a second challenge is to find the limit between improvisation and attention to unavoidable facts. “Because the characters are real, it’s maybe even more difficult work, because you’re not imitating an existing character, a person,” notes Daniel Lieff. “We improvised the actions, based on the court documents, but with the freedom to create the character together with the cast.”
“It’s not without scars that you leave a job like this”
Those who are used to seeing Marina Ruy Barbosa among the bad guys and girls in soap operas will now find a new side of the actress. She debuts as Suzane in her first project without a fixed contract Globesomething he defines as a new phase with the promise of good results. While the casting may seem strange to some, she sees it as something positive.
“I have a career spanning 22 years, I started very young. I have just turned thirty and I am very happy to start this new decade with Tremembé“, he says. “In these 22 years I have made many soap operas, but also series and films. It’s my first job in streaming and each time I feel more confident and mature in seeking new levels to add to my career. I love acting and my search is for characters that are exactly different. What haven’t I done yet? What do I want to do differently? How do I want to surprise the public? It’s a new level and people will get another vision of Marina, the actress.”
Carol Garciawho plays Elize, dives headlong into the challenge and emphasizes that the function of the series is to help develop critical thinking. “When theater was born, kings were put in the front row to see the atrocities they committed, and this generated a reflection. Any artistic and dramaturgical work directs us towards critical thinking. And we aim to do this too.”
According to the actress, playing a character that elicits all kinds of reactions from the audience is an invitation to embrace all the complexities of acting. “You have to deal with it as a person, with all the contradictions, the fears, the explosions. I have already received many messages with absolutely different opinions. During the research process, I opened myself up to try to understand what people were talking about. Without romanticizing, they were crimes that were judged, that people served their sentences. But they are people.”
Already Philip Simaswho plays Daniel Cravinhos, confesses that his journey with the character is painful. Suzane’s boyfriend at the time of the crime, he goes through disturbing moments in prison, which will be present in the series.
“We always say that a job like this leaves no scars. There are many hours of dedication. Daniel is a young man, who at the time was becoming a very introspective person,” he analyzes.
The actor lets off steam. “The external sentence he was paying was nowhere near the internal sentence he was exposing himself to,” he says, noting that he always looks at the character and tries not to judge him. “I don’t want to give spoilers, but a person who questions their existence, the true meaning of life, deserves attention and care. Every human being deserves to be loved.”
The point of view tries not to expose the victims
Real crime, which has gained strength during the Covid-19 pandemic, continues to rise in Brazil even as it loses popularity in other territories. Widely explored by streaming platforms, the genre also raises concerns about the approach to stories, especially recent ones, as exposure to survivors or victims’ families should be spared.
“I think the main concept of the series already solves this problem, because it is not about the biography of these people. We will not work on what was necessary [a pessoa] “When they commit the crime, what matters is what they do after the crime,” says Vera Egypt. “When we enter the life of the criminal, perhaps it creates a feeling that the crime is justified. So we didn’t even go there. Every episode begins with a crime. It was our desire not to forget why these people are [em Tremembé]’.
The director notes that an aesthetic decision, born from Lieff’s idea, helps compose the proposal not to diminish or forget the acts committed by criminals, but to avoid further exposure and sensationalism. The reconstructions of crimes take place from the point of view of the victims. “In the entire series there is no image of a victim in a degrading situation, which was also a norm, a precaution precisely because these people are real and the family members are there, alive.”
Daniel adds: “When we were in the daily lives of these people under the same roof, sometimes we even forgot a little about what had happened. So we used some flashes of crimes. Sometimes this was very interesting. We’re in the middle of the episode and suddenly we’re back to showing it.”
Campbell reiterates that, even in the face of the wave of true crime productions, he believes that the point of view of Tremembé it is unprecedented. “We show what people did to be there, but also what they have to do to leave. Everyone has the same desire.”
Tremembé There are five episodes in total, all available now on Prime Video. The first chapter – the only one made available to the press before the official press release – does not eliminate the inevitable comparisons with Orange is the new black, as it also wears a certain acidic tone that causes the viewer to create antagonistic feelings towards those characters. Marina, in particular, enthusiastically accepts the challenge and delivers a Suzane who impresses not only with her characterization, but with the unmistakable cynicism in her eyes.
“As actors, we are there on the set to defend what the character feels. Our opinions, feelings and personal judgments end up not being able to enter, we leave this aside”, underlines the actress, aware of being in a series full of debates and controversies.
“Any opinions we have privately are left aside, off set. We only come with what we have to provide for the project,” he concludes.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
