Movie Review: Lower City

by John P. Meyer

Thematically, Sergio Machado's intense and atmospheric film Lower City can be taken as the director/writer's reflections on cockfighting (using that term in its broadest metaphorical sense), so it's appropriate that an early scene in the film takes place at just such an event.

Compatriots and lifelong friends Deco and Naldonho, freshly arrived in the Bahian city of Cachoeira, venture out for some boisterous good times at a local gaming/drinking establishment in an (ultimately successful) attempt to spend as much of the earnings from their just-completed cargo-hauling job as possible. Naldonho (Wagner Moura) develops an ill-fated affinity for the lighter-hued of two avian combatants, and loudly declares a wager - which is quickly accepted by an equally loud fellow of the opposite opinion boozing it up across the ring. [NOTE TO SELF: When wagering on a cockfight, never bet on the blonde, runty-looking rooster: that pale little bastard will be stained bright red before you can say, "D'OH!".]

The burly, wild-eyed fellow to whom Naldonho has lost the bet has no intention of merely accepting his winnings; in addition to reaping the monetary reward, he also wants to let the boys know what huge saps they are, going so far as to offer to buy them drinks (with their own lost funds) so he can continue to disparage them at close range. Several attempts by Deco (Lazaro Ramos) to gracefully decline his ill-humored beneficence result only in more vigor on the part of this confrontational asshole. He's like a boulder that's been dislodged upslope and gained an implacable, slamming momentum. Eventually he pulls a knife and lunges at Deco's back, but Naldonho intervenes and takes one in the gut for his pal, who then belatedly beats the living shit of or Senor Boulder, leaving him stone dead on the barroom floor. Exit Deco and Naldonho, the latter leaking vital fluid in dangerous quantities.

Prior to this festive R&R, Naldonho and Deco took a passenger aboard their boat in the person of Karinna (Alice Braga). Karinna has no funds to pay for her passage, but since her profession is the oldest one, other terms are agreed upon and the boys have each by this time enjoyed a boink athwart the stern bulkhead (in nautical terms), with Deco having drawn the shorter straw and thus settling for lubricious seconds. Karinna now agrees to tend Naldonho's wound while Deco cranks the diesels for their home port of Salvador and the refuge of an acquaintance's apartment.

Eventually, the recovered Naldonho and his pal Deco enter into a joint business venture with Karinna and her prosti chums, instituting a sort of hooker ferryboat service to transport the working girls to and from commercial ships in the harbor. Once aboard a trawler, the girls quickly board the trawler crew, who are of course eager to have them aboard on such convivial terms. Unfortunately for our enterprising young friends, Naldo and Deco are both thoroughly smitten with Karinna, to the point where they attempt to follow her amorous activities in the captain's cabin through a porthole from on deck. (No, I am not speaking in euphemisms.)

After successfully pulling off a variation of the old "Hey, my call girl associate is foaming at the mouth and needs medical attention immediately (or you can just pay me all the cash in your pockets)" scam, and thus replete with discretionary funds, the entire contingent retires to local nightclub Xanadu, where merriment in the form of drinking, smooching, groping and hip-grinding salsa-fueled dancing ensues. There's a steamy scene involving three-way dance floor sandwich action (with Karinna as the meat and Naldonho/Deco as the encompassing bread) which serves as prelude to more serious makeout action when the trio heads out to their waiting boat.

On the darkened dock, Karinna institutes some non-verbal (but heavily oral) maneuvering with the clear intent of unleashing some two-hombre double-duty action on her yummy self (believe me, it would be next to impossible to misread these signals, regardless of one's lingua franca) - but the boys either don't get it, or they're having none of it. As a result, Naldonho (perhaps by virtue of the previously-mentioned longer straw?) ends up bedding Karinna, while Deco stumbles off into the alleys to walk off what must be most acute case of blue balls in Bahia.

Next day, Deco takes out his frustrations by punching the lights out of the fighter he was supposed to be serving as sparring partner for; his relentless pummeling of the poor unsuspecting bastard leads the manager to offer Deco a contract to fight in that fellow's place, thus laying the groundwork for a future career in the ring.

On the other side of town, Naldonho decides (in the grand cinematic tradition of guys who fall for prostitutes) that he's going to take Karinna away from "the life," and so seeks the monetary means to do so. He hooks up with a former shady associate named Dois Mundos (played by... well... Dois Mundos, it says here), who hands him a pistol and tells him which drugstore it might be profitable for him to rob. Naldo, though desperate to make his new plan of love work, is simply not the type who would shoot someone without provocation, but the pants-pissing drugstore clerk has no way of knowing this, so - since he has no cash available in the register - he offers a shelf full of Viagra to Naldonho. When he hears the price of this popular prescription drug (cockfight, anyone?), Naldo quickly sweeps the bottles into a sack and hoofs it out of there.

Karinna, more practical-minded than either of the boys, outwardly maintains a whore's aloofness to their proclamations of love. Deco and Naldonho attempt reconciliation with each other on several occasions, vowing to drop all ties with Karinna in order to solidify their friendship; but both surreptitiously visit her in the evenings for services. Eventually, all three come to realize that they need each other, but by then a great deal of emotional and physical damage has been done.

The three leads are outstanding; in particular, Alice Braga's scorching sensual performance burns up the screen. Though far from pornographic, this movie is, in a word, HOT! And while there's not a lot of deep thought or philosophy behind the script, it never leaves one disconnected with reality - I have the feeling that there may be characters like these and, given their circumstances, they may act and react in just these ways. The South American setting itself acts as a character in the film and is richly realized, pervading the onscreen action like smoke from an exotic barbecue.

The original score is a collaboration of Brazilian percussionist and pop music icon Carlinhos Brown and the more traditionally-trained musician/producer Beto Villares, and the resulting flavor is afro-jazz. For a taste of what this sounds like (and an eerie, otherworldly experience in its own right), have a listen to Brown's recent release, Candombless, or his more traditional rendering of Afro-Brazilian themes, Pure Brazil: Tribal Bahia.

ABOUT THE TITLE: "Lower City" refers to the topography (physical and social) of the Bahian capital city of Salvador, which is built across the split of a 275 ft. escarpment above All Saints Bay. The historic Upper City is home to grand cathedrals and government buildings, while the lower ("new") city provides harbor access and hosts most of the city's commerce.

This story was submitted by a member of the TexasGigs community.