Title of documentary: We Must Be Dreaming
Director: David Bert Joris Dhert
Year: 2018
Length(duration): 1:00:35
Keywords: (At least 5, separated by ;). Indigenous; sports; brazil; international; rights; football, fifa Link to watch the film: https://boap.uib.no/index.php/jaf/article/view/1494/1318
The tourists will get to know a Brazil that honours it’s cultures and traditions, a Brazil that preserves its immense heritage of biodiversity”, the words of then-President Dilma Roussef are echoed across the screen to represent the sentiment that the film We Must Be Dreaming provides to the viewer. To emphasize the hollowness of these words, we are introduced to different groups of people throughout the film who have been afflicted by exactly the opposite of what their president preaches. Through attacks on their cultures and identities at the hands of the Brazilian government in attempts to quell their culture, or deafen their voice. Director David Bert Joris Dhert provides footage from around the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games to unseat and tear at the facade of the perceptions. One scene, in which the director juxtaposes the extremes of poverty to the development of the Maracanã, one of the world’s most recognizable and grandiose sports arenas. We are introduced to the processes that serve to eradicate the people already living in the area, in order to flesh out and expand the stadium and to better hide the favelas from the general public. Dhert’s composition of the “other” or those fighting against the hands of the bureaucracy that wishes to eradicate them, helps create the narrative showing the classist intentions of the government. In this film, the other is representative of all those who are oppressed by the actions of the government, each person in this film has past interactions with the government, or with government policies, that have led them to where they are today. One of the most startling scenes is in the repeated interactions with the man dubbed “Pelé” who up until recently, was a proud entertainer, until construction of the Olympic Village and for the 2014 World Cup ended his career. The man who had once recruited for demonstrations, such as one for a former president, was left with nothing but memories and a feeling for what things once were. A monologue allows for the viewers to keep track of where he has come since then, reduced to performing and sleeping on the street outside the stadium that once lauded his talents. Through this, we’re able to learn his views on life, and his own personal history. What was once an upward trajectory, had been curtailed through government policies, and we see firsthand the effects of those when a nearby ice cream vendor, who Pelé was seen conversing with earlier, gets his cart seized by police and both men are powerless to change the outcome. The tension in this film climaxes when another group in the film, Indigenous peoples who live in an old museum next to the Maracanã are forcibly removed from their building. Serving to further the point, the Indigenous leaders are lied to and when faced with no solution, met with violence by armed police and military. Because We Must Be Dreaming has no dialogue, it is the directors’ careful layering of monologues, televised news broadcasts, or police radios overtop the images of chaos and emotion to create a narrative. It is most effective when we are able to hear the initial kickoff of the 2014 World Cup, and between the peaceful images inside the Maracanã and violent protests on the street outside it the film presents a clear vision of life for those in Brazil. I think that the directors choice not to include themselves in the film helped to further the point that these stories would be happening regardless of whether the director was there to film, and that the histories of each individual showcased in the film is irrelevant to the directors intervention. It seemed less narrative driven, and more focused on highlighting the individuality of its characters who drive the narrative, and the director’s vision forward. I think it would’ve been interesting to see some footage that didn’t make the final cut, and compare how it would’ve affected the narrative if it had been included. This film incorporates a number of stunning camera shots, highlighting the beauty and diversity of the area, it also uses hand held footage shot from a neutral point-of-view, helping to further extend the immersion of the viewer. As a football fan, I already had some base knowledge of these protests and the corruptive entity that FIFA is, so I was happy to see how this film incorporated the events of the World Cup to act as a timeline for some of these events. I think all football fans, and all sports fans should watch this as it shows in great detail the seedy underbelly of some of these major sporting events.
Citations:
Dhert, David Bert Joris. (2018). We Must Be Dreaming. Journal of Anthropological Films, 2(1), e1494. https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v2i1.1494
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