Godard’s film was the last censored in Brazilian cinemas

Brazil had already put an end to the military dictatorship when “Eu Vos Saúdo, Maria” became the last film to be censored in the country’s cinemas.

Awarded at the Berlin Film Festival, the feature film by Jean-Luc Godard, who passed away on Tuesday (13/9), saw its exhibition banned by the then president José Sarney. The censorship was the result of pressure from the Catholic Church, “to guarantee the right to respect for the faith of the majority of the Brazilian population”.

In the film, Godard told the story of a woman named Maria, a student who worked at a gas station and dated a taxi driver named José. But a stranger named Uncle Gabriel reveals that she will be pregnant, even though she is a virgin.

In addition to the plot, Mary’s sex scenes also angered the Catholics of the time, who saw Godard’s intention to subvert the story of the Virgin Mary.

Released in 1985 in France, the film would arrive in Brazil the following year. But Sarney banned his release, justifying the censorship by saying it was “based on the Constitution”. Since the censorship was imposed before the 1988 Constitution was enacted, Sarney used the dictatorship’s legislation to ban the film.

The president also said he had taken into account the guidelines of Pope John Paul II and CNBB, which had already condemned the film for having addressed “fundamental issues of the Christian faith, misrepresenting and defaming the sacred figure of the Virgin Mary”.

Prominent bishops and cardinals, such as Dom Ivo Lorscheiter and Dom Eugênio Salles, applauded. But the Minister of Justice, Fernando Lyra, and the director of the Censorship Department that still exists, Coriolano de Loiola de Cabral Fagundes, were also against.

At the time, director Tizuka Yamazaki told the newspaper O Globo that she found “absurd that Censorship, declared extinct by the Minister of Justice, once again ruled against a work that has no popular appeal” and, according to her, to be “assisted by half a dozen intellectuals”.

In fact, when it was finally released two years later, the film attracted around 100 people for its premiere in four cinemas in Rio.

Source: Terra

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.