Bicho de Sete Cabeças

Bicho de Sete Cabeças (Brainstorm)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Laís Bodanzky
Produced by	Maria Ionescu Sara Silveira Caio Gullane Fabiano Gullane Luiz Bolognesi Marco Müller
Screenplay by	Luiz Bolognesi
Based on	Canto dos Malditos by Austregésilo Carrano Bueno
Starring	Rodrigo Santoro Othon Bastos Cássia Kiss
Music by	André Abujamra
Cinematography	Hugo Kovensky
Editing by	Jacopo Quadri Letizia Caudullo
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar and RioFilme
Release date(s)	October 2000 (2000-10) (Festival do Rio)
Running time	74 min
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese
Budget	R$ 1.5 million (U$ 700 mil)

Bicho de Sete Cabeças (English title: Brainstorm) is a 2001 Brazilian drama film directed by Laís Bodanzky and written by Luiz Bolognesi based on the autobiographical book Canto dos Malditos by Austregésilo Carrano Bueno. The film was made with the partnership between Brazilian producers Buriti Filmes, Dezenove Som e Imagens Produções Ltda. and Gullane Filmes with the participation of Brazilian Rio Filme Distribuidora and the Italian Fabrica Cinema, and had big names in the cast as Rodrigo Santoro, Othon Bastos and Cassia Kiss.

The film tells the story of Neto, a young man who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital after his father discovers a joint in his jacket. There, Neto is submitted to abuse. In addition to abuse ​​by psychiatric hospitals, the film also deals with the issues of drugs and relationships between fathers and sons.

Bicho de Sete Cabeças was acclaimed, receiving several awards and nominations. Among them, Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for "Best Film", Cartagena Film Festival for "Best Actor" and Locarno International Film Festival, as well the most awards in the Brasília and Recife festivals. The film paved the ways for new thinking about psychiatric institutions in Brazil which led to a law approved by Congress.

Plot

Wilson de Souza Neto (aka "Neto") is a São Paulo teenager that seeks thrills skateboarding and spray painting walls alongside his teenage friends. He perceive his acts as rebellion towards his domineering father. The father considers the acts to be criminal. Things get worse between the two when the father finds marijuana in his son's backpack.

Fearing to lose his son to drugs, the father sends Neto to a locked mental institution under the guise of "treatment". In the hospital, Neto is slowly turned into a even more rebellious nonconformist and sad character. Forcibly administered psychoactive drugs to calm him down, Neto has trouble re-adapting to "free" society.

The documentary style gives this movie a sensation of reality distortion that increases the impact of Neto's emotions. In the mental institution, Neto is forced to mature, becoming depressed and paranoid. His transformations alter his relationship with his father in an unfavorable and permanent way.

Cast

• Rodrigo Santoro (Neto)
• Othon Bastos (Mr. Wilson)
• Cássia Kiss (Neto's Mother)
• Jairo Mattos, psychiatric institution employee
• Caco Ciocler, Neto's companion at mental asylum
• Luís Miranda
• Valéria Alencar
• Altair Lima
• Linneu Dias
• Gero Camilo, Ceará, inmate in the same asylum as Neto
• Marcos Cesana

The book that inspired the film

The movie was inspired by the book Canto dos Malditos (The Chant of the Damned or The Corner of the Damned), written in the late 1970s by Curitibano author Austregésilo Carrano Bueno. The book is autobiographical. Carrano tells his personal tragedy after his father sent him to a psychiatric hospital after he found out he smoked marijuana. Carrano's book is a visceral chronicle that denounces the monstrosity of the Brazilian psychiatric system and the hypocrisy of the Brazilian society concerning drugs. The book was recommended for publication by writer Paulo Leminski.

The movie didn't need much updating as not much has changed since the book was published. It is still common for families to send their children to psychiatric hospitals for drug use. Research by the director, Laís Bodanzky, found women in these hospitals due to marriage infidelity and an many cases of alcohol abuse. (The Health Ministry reports that alcoholism is responsible for 12% of the cases).

The writer Austregésilo Carrano became a supporter of the anti-mental institution movement. Not only did Carrano write Canto dos Malditos (Song of the Damned), but also Textos Teatro (Theatrical Texts), a compilation of six plays. He also worked on a novel titled Filhas da Noite (Daughters of the Night) that deals with drug trafficking, homosexuality, prostitution and the police. Carrano died on May 27, 2008, due to liver cancer.

While the script was being elaborated, Luiz Bolognesi invented situations and characters. Another book that inspired the movie was Letter to His Father by Franz Kafka.

The title

Brainstorm is the official English title, but a more literal translation of Bicho de Sete Cabeças would be Seven-Headed Animal. This is a common expression in Brazil used to describe difficult subjects. A student, for example, could say that math is a "seven-headed animal", meaning that it is hard subject.

The expression is often used to describe an overreaction. When saying that someone "made a seven-headed animal", the person is in fact saying that this "someone" is seeing difficulties or problems when they are small or even do not exist. In the movie, Neto's father overreacts when sees the marijuana cigarette. Instead of trying to solve a small problem, he thought that it was a huge problem that should be solved with psychiatric intervention. So, it can be said that he made a seven-headed animal.

Soundtrack

1. "Fora de si" Antunes
2. "O Caminho das Pedras" Zona Proibida
3. "Satélites" Infierno
4. "Abertura e Corredor" Abujamra
5. "O Buraco do Espelho" Antunes
6. "Eletrochoque e Fuga" Abujamra
7. "Carnaval" Antunes
8. "No Ponto de Ônibus" Abujamra
9. "E Só" Antunes
10. "Refeitório" Abujamra
11. "Seu Olhar" Antunes
12. "Janela de Apartamento II" Rocha
13. "Bicho de Sete Cabeças II" Ramalho, Azevedo e Baleiro
14. "O Nome Disso" Antunes (remix Abujamra)

External links

• Official website
• Bicho de Sete Cabeças at the Internet Movie Database
• Bicho de Sete Cabeças at Rotten Tomatoes