Found Memories( Julia Murat,2012): Brazil

Reviewed by Nathan Chinchilla at the Metro Theater, Santa Barbara

This film has truly taken its own original take of what a mellow drama can be and I always have been one to see these kinds of movies but Found Memories was definitely different from all other dramas. Also that it is taken place in Brazil and the language of the film is in Portuguese gives the film a very different feel to it. The movie doesn’t begin with an introduction of any character or specific event that causes the movie to start. Rather it starts off a bit rhetorical with the old lady doing the same thing in each scene but you can already tell that something different is bound to happen that will cause the entire to change. Julia Murat takes the movie into a different direction by showing that the people of the village along with the main characters have a lot more history than displayed at first.

The movie highlights on the daily activities of the old lady, Madalena who wakes up everyday to make bread then off to the coffee shop to see her old friend that runs the coffee shop and each day they each share the same stories. The movie shows the daily activities of other characters of the film and shows how small their village is but that they each care for each other like family. The climax of the movie or more like the turning point is when a young women comes to stay with the old lady. She wants to see what the village is like and who the people of the village are that make this town a place that still lives beyond its own history. She soon discovers that his town has a lot more to it than what she had originally thoguht. She learns a lot of what the value of what being neighbor is and appreciates everything about it.

Many may think that old people may not have to much to say since they tend to forget things and have lost their touch of being able to live a life full of energy but Julia Murat has displayed the contrary. She shows the fictional lives of these characters in a place that has been forgotten because of its elders that now run the town and thrive together in it. Julia Murat shows the value of appreciation to wisdom and age with the introduction of the young lady to the village and how her life has changes by just spending a couple of days with them.