To go along with most of the films we have watched in class,
I really enjoyed o Herói. It was a
movie that really made you feel for the characters. Even though people
surrounded all of them, it seemed like the main characters were always searching
for someone or something. The little boy was longing for his parents, Judite
was looking for her long lost son, and Vitório was just looking for something
the whole film. As viewers, we quickly find out Vitório was a war hero, lost a
leg, and waiting for a prosthetic. This prosthetic is an object that can make
him feel like himself again, rather than becoming one with the fact that he
came back from war a changed man. With the prosthetic he was more confident and
seemed ready to start his new life. Without it, he has to face the facts that
he is not the same man that went to war all those years ago.
I
liked how the ending was kind of open ended. It was getting to the point where
the viewers might think that Vitório is the boy’s real father, or that Judite
is his mother, but we never actually find out the truth to that. We just see
Vitório and the boy bonding and creating the father figure that the boy really
needed in his life.
Heather, I enjoyed reading about your idea that the prosthetic symbolized who Vitorio was and that he uses this as a way to try and be 'himself' again. He doesn't seem to realize until the end that life goes on after war and that is not going to be what he was, but he can take his lessons and share them with others.
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point that everyone is searching for something. Vitorio is actually a very interesting subject because he seems to be unsatisfied with everything he finds- at least when it comes to love. At first he interacts with the prostitute Rita, and then even when he does seem to be in an actual relationship with Judite he immediately tries to pursue the young boy's teacher. Perhaps this is because of a feeling of displacement after the war, he was made a soldier before he could create roots and after he was drifting; he was unable to make a real connection to anyone until he met Judite and Manu.
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