Xica
1976 film directed by Carlos Diegues
Xica (Portuguese: Xica da Silva) is a 1976 Brazilian comedy film directed and written by Carlos Diegues, based on the novel by João Felício dos Santos, which is a romanticized retelling of the true story of Chica da Silva, an 18th-century slave in Brazil, who attracts the attention of a powerful Portuguese land-owner and eventually rises into the Brazilian high society. The movie stars Zezé Motta, Walmor Chagas and José Wilker.
It was chosen as the Brazilian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
01Plot
The film is based on the 1863 book Memórias do Distrito de Diamantina, written by João Felicio dos Santos (his nephew has a small role in the film as a Roman Catholic pastor). It is a romanticized retelling of the true story of Chica da Silva, an 18th-century African slave in the state of Minas Gerais, who attracts the attention of João Fernandes de Oliveira, a Portuguese sent by Lisbon with the Crown's exclusive contract for mining diamonds, and eventually becomes his lover, rises into power and into the Brazilian high society of the time. Moreover, João quickly lets the intendant and other authorities know that he can be bribed, and gets onto their corruption scheme. Eventually Lisbon hears of João's (and Xica's) excesses and sends an inspector. José, a political radical, is another main character, who provides Xica refuge.
02Cast
- Zezé Motta as Xica da Silva (based on Chica da Silva)
- Walmor Chagas as João Fernandes
- Altair Lima as Intendent
- Elke Maravilha as Hortência
- Stepan Nercessian as José
- Rodolfo Arena as Sargeant
- José Wilker as The Count of Valadares
- Marcos Vinicius as Teodoro
- João Felicio dos Santos as pastor
03TV adaptation
In 1996, the now defunct TV station Rede Manchete successfully adapted the film plot to the telenovela format, directed by Walter Avancini, written by Walcyr Carrasco and starring Taís Araújo as the title character. This telenovela marked the first time an Afro-Brazilian actress played the lead role on a TV show. In 2005, SBT re-aired Xica da Silva.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Xica”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Xica da Silva.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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