Luiz Carlos Barreto, the Producer Who Helped Build Brazilian Cinema, Has Died

This week, Latin American cinema lost a giant, Brazilian producer Luiz Carlos Barreto. A giant for the enormous number of notable films he produced over 60 years of work, a giant for the struggles he led during that time to turn cinema into a real sustainable industry, and also, let’s say it, because he was a big guy. A big, kind-hearted man with wise conversations, held in a calm voice.

He was born in a small town in Ceará, a dry and poor northeastern state but with good public schools. Emigrating to Rio de Janeiro, he joined the Flamengo under-17 team, became a photographer for the news magazine "O Cruzeiro", and became a correspondent for that magazine in France. He returned, got married, once and for all, had three children, and one day, almost unintentionally, participated in the script of a police film based on real events: "Asalto al tren pagador", by Roberto Farías, 1962, which was a success. Then his friends convinced him to do the photography for "Vidas secas", an adaptation of Graciliano Ramos' novel about northeastern farmers. And he, who loved that land with all his soul, not only did the photography, which was very realistic, but also participated in the production of that film that would be a spearhead of the so-called Cinema Novo Brasileiro. That’s how it all began.

Pivoting between social commitment, new styles, carioca cunning, and governmental suspicion, Barreto formed a company with his family and produced dramas like "Tierra en trance", by Glauber Rocha, and "Perpetuo contra el Escuadrón de la Muerte" (a police group with an easy trigger), incisive comedies like "Toda doncella tiene un padre que es una fiera", "La dama del autobús", and "El beso en el asfalto", based on a piece by his friend Nelson Rodrigues, and great reflections on the evolution of his country, like "Bye, bye Brasil" and "Iglesia de los oprimidos", adaptations of literary classics, and even a comedy set in old times, where a European falls into the hands of cannibalistic Indians, "Cómo era gostoso o meu francês". In that film, everyone, both women and men, walked entirely naked, except for the European, of course. It was 1971, during the height of the military dictatorship, but, unlike the Argentine military, the Brazilians never worried much about those wardrobe issues.

The author, in this case, was Nelson Pereira dos Santos, a prominent figure whom Barreto also produced in the aforementioned "Vidas secas", "Azyllo muito loco", and "Memorias de la cárcel". With the latter, based on Graciliano Ramos' autobiographical book, there were serious censorship problems. But it was already 1984, and the military government was in its last months. Barreto would soon have a new front of battle: the neoliberal government of Collor de Melo, which in just two years managed to bring Brazilian film production to almost zero (unlike Menem's government, when the Film Law of 1994 emerged, not without struggle, which allowed our production to be strengthened). For Brazilian cinema, the solution came in 1995, with a law that allowed companies and individuals to allocate part of the money that the treasury claims as Income Tax to some cultural project. Since the first film produced in this way was a success, the system was consolidated and allowed the resurrection of that cinema. And that film was a Barreto production, the comedy of switched couples "O quatrilho", directed by the youngest Barreto (and with photography by the Argentine Félix Monti, by the way), a film that was also nominated for an Oscar.

Here comes the chapter of the children. Bruno, the eldest, made nothing less than "Doña Flor y sus dos maridos", with Sonia Braga, a worldwide success, and, among others, "Gabriela, clavo y canela", "Cuatro días en setiembre" ("¿O qué é isso, companheiro?"), the delightful "Bossa Nova", and "El casamiento de Romeo y Julieta" (a Corinthians fan with the daughter of a Palmeiras executive), the list goes on. Fabio, besides "O quatrilho", noted "Lambada", "Lula, hijo de Brasil", the local version of "Desperate Housewives", and was going from success to success until a traffic accident left him in irreversible coma for ten years. And Paula, the right hand of the family business, but above all, the support and comfort of her parents.

Old Barreto continued the fight. We met him in Mar del Plata in 1998, when he came as a member of the international jury (the jury president was the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, then at the peak of global fame, now almost forgotten). We chatted with Barreto a couple of times in Punta del Este. The last time was in 2017, when he presented "Joao the master", a beautiful biography of pianist Joao Carlos Martins, who shone despite his joint pains and over time became a promoter of classical music among children in the favelas. That time, Barreto was exultant. Happy with his race, he was preparing a series about famous black football players. In his youth, he had made "Garrincha, alegría del pueblo" and "Esto es Pelé". He then completed the trilogy with that series, "5 x Brasil", about the winners of the five cups. That was his last glory. On Monday, his lungs forced him to be hospitalized. Yesterday, he was taken to the cemetery. Lucy, his wife, and daughter Paula continue to work.

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