Photosensitivity Warning: The opening title/credit sequence before the film begins and all of the breaks between scenes are accompanied by bright flashes of white light. Viewers with photosensitivity issues should watch with caution.
College campuses across the U.S. have been impacted by political activism with protestors setting up encampments and making demands of divestment from foreign countries and weapons manufacturers. These protests have been met with counter-protesters doing everything from chanting slurs to tossing allergens, as well as the appearance of law enforcement that’s either brutally attacked the encampments or merely set up posts for snipers and other members of the advancing team. In Brazil, while a group of students set about to conduct a unified student vote, they found themselves under attack from counter-protesters using a variation of tactics from harmless taunts to potentially lethal Molotovs until law enforcement arrived on the scene to shut down the vote. The first example takes place in 2024, while the second may as well be, though it’s in direct reference to an altercation between the students and professors of the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of the University of São Paulo (FFCL-USP) and oppositional forces on October 2nd, 1968. Though history tells us that the event referred to as the Battle of Maria Antônia took place over more than one day, writer/director Vera Egito (Restless Love) takes a slightly different approach in her film The Battle (A Batalha da Rua Maria Antônia), which had its southeast U.S. premiere during Atlanta Film Festival 2024. Using a cinéma vérité documentary style, Egito drops audiences into the events of 1968 without so much as a set-up or explanation to what’s happening, giving us just enough to infer, enabling the human drama to hook into us from start to finish.
L-R: Julianna Gerais as Maria Elena and Pâmela Germano as Lilian in THE BATTLE. Photo Credit: Manoela Estellita. Photo courtesy of Atlanta Film Festival.
Brazil, 1968: The Student Union at FFCL-USP is abuzz as Student Leader Benjamin (Caio Horowicz) delegates decisions related to the student vote taking place across three campuses and the ballot box on the way to him for tabulation. Whereas some, like Angela (Isamara Castilho), believe in the cause, others, like Lilian (Pâmela Germano), are apprehensive, especially with eyes of opposition organization, Communist Hunting Commando (CCC), right across the street from the Student Union at the Mackenzie Presbyterian University. As members of the Student Union and the CCC start to clash throughout the day, violence flares until it boils over into historical infamy.
Egito utilizes a unique approach to tell this story, framing the entirety of the film as found footage. Opening with flashes of film negatives that appear to have people in profile, Egito immediately gives us the sense that what we’re watching comes from an archive and, given the context of the film, not one that’s necessarily on the right side of things. It’s from here that the organization of the film becomes plain as the number “21” appears before another flash, and then Lilian, acting as our way into the film, appears on screen, walking to school. The “21” represents the shot we’re in as Egito only has 21 in the entire film — each scene a difference shot, each sequence entirely a long take which is what gives the film its cinéma vérité vibe. We don’t know who is recording; they are never mentioned or addressed, a conceit that’s somewhat inconsistent throughout, though remaining a strong technical aspect nevertheless in keeping the audience captivated making these breaking from format forgivable. Because of this single-take style, the audience finds themselves embedded with the students and professors, the camera following, staring, or swirling around whichever character is most important in the moment. Cinematographer William Etchebehere (Elena) is truly a marvel, managing to capture everything that happens without ever making any activity feel practiced or concerted, making them feel authentic to the moment. Of course, everything being in black and white, 4:3 aspect ratio, and with heavy grain/visible abrasions indicative of older and unpreserved film come together to reinforce the sensation of the audience beholding an unearthed document as opposed to a recreation of historical events. Thus, The Battle takes on a ghostly sensation, as if we’re watching something hauntingly timeless.
Isamara Castilho as Angela in THE BATTLE. Photo Credit: Manoela Estellita. Photo courtesy of Atlanta Film Festival.
The one-take-per-scene is a bold move and Etchebehere should be applauded for how well it works whether in a walk-and-talk where the dialogue and actor performance in concert with the movement give the sense of urgency and momentum or something as still as a student playing a guitar and singing, the camera moving around the atrium to see the students in a moment of brief repose. Additionally, what the sequences and their counting down also do is raise tension all by themselves. It would be one thing if the film were to start at “1,” a choice which supports the start of something, a place of beginning even if already in the middle of things, as we are here when we meet Lillian. But by opting to show “21” first and count down from there, the audience, whether they know the history of the Battle of Maria Antônia or not, will quickly realize that things are inevitably coming to a head and that, like in real life, as seconds pass and the future comes, each sequence will tick by like the hand of fate. Who will stay, who will leave, who is to be trusted, and who will betray: all of this explored within each sequence as the tension only rises as we count down all the way to “1.”
The major issue with the structure and execution with The Battle is that it requires that the audience to come to it with foreknowledge as the context clues only get you so far. We understand that the students are voting on something that’s anti-fascist and anti-government, an issue that matters because said-government is being accused of a dictatorship, which makes the accusations by the CCC less of an insult and more of a self-own. We know that the voting is important, but it’s never made truly clear to the audience what the vote is for and it’s only well into the film that it’s made clear that Mackenzie Presbyterian University is one of the schools participating in the voting, even if it’s not made clear why the voting box could get into that building across the street from the Student Union but was in danger of tampering when it arrives for Benjamin’s protection. There are little things like this that make it more difficult to grasp the narrow view of The Battle despite the larger view existing in sharp focus. There are other smaller things as well, such as a specific segment that makes sense within the interpersonal stakes of the characters but the execution and time spent reduce the urgency of the whole. It’s a moment that is important to the characters on screen, absolutely, speaking to the necessity to continue living your life even in such potentially dark times, but the way it’s done is odd given the choices elsewhere.
L-R: Caio Horowicz as Benjamin and Isamara Castilho as Angela in THE BATTLE. Photo Credit: Rafael Barion. Photo courtesy of Atlanta Film Festival.
At the time of this writing, police in riot gear are actively working to clear a student encampment at University of California San Diego. Much like has already happened at Columbia University, a combination of lack of support from administration and overuse of law enforcement is resulting in the violent removal of protestors. It’s important to note that the handbook for dealing with dissenters is not new. What is being done now is what was done in 1968 and well before then. In case you think this is hyperbolic, Columbia University offers a course within their Criminal Law and Procedure area of study that explores domestic and international terrorism and the way law enforcement responds. In order to maintain a moral and ethical high ground, you don’t attack unarmed protestors, you don’t use intimidation to coerce compliance, and you don’t proclaim victimhood where none exists. To that end, Egito’s The Battle screens in the U.S. at a time where its message is not the time capsule it appears to be, but a reminder of the persistent scourge of villainy that is power kept from the people and the use of force to retain it.
Screening during Atlanta Film Festival 2024.
For more information, head to the official ATLFF 2024 The Battle webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Leave a Reply