Diário de Um Novo Mundo (2005) Reviews

• A love story in the New World

  mario_c2008-03-20

  In 1752 doctor GASPAR DE FROES (Edson Celulari) travels in a ship with Portuguese colonists from Azores to Rio Grande, Sta. Catarina, in Brazil, at the time a Portuguese colony. After he arrives there he meets DONA MARIA (Daniela Escobar) and her husband TENENTE COVAS (Rogério Samora). The doctor and DONA MARIA start a seducing game and end up felling in love, but then he leaves, joining on mission, imposed by GENERAL GOMES FREIRE (Jose Eduardo), ruler of those lands, to set up the borders between Portuguese and Spanish Crowns in the New World. He goes but he never forgets about MARIA... DIARIO DE UM NOVO MUNDO is a historic romance drama set in colonial Brazil in the middle of the 18th century. It's slow paced and melancholic but is very well produced. The cast is very good, joining actors from different nationalities: Portuguese, Brazilian, among others. The costumes, the settings and the production in general are great but the soundtrack, in spite of the nice music, I think is a bit out of context! Rock music and electric guitar sounds don't have much to do with the 18th century I think… (Near the end I found a little bit logical explanation to that music's inclusion, but even so I think it doesn't fit well in the movie…). One other problem of this movie is that its plot doesn't follow a straight direction. During plot's development I felt a bit lost about the main topic of this film: if it was the romance between GASPAR and MARIA, if it was the war between Portugal and Spain or if it was the doctor's journey in the New World; but near the end I understood the main topic is really the love story between GASPAR and MARIA. To sum up, it's an interesting movie (even being a bit slow and melancholic) about a love story set in a period and context which I think that is not so largely portrayed in cinema, the Colonial Brazil.