Scripta 9_2_link_final.pdf - Uniandrade

Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair for which love groan’d for and would die,
With tender Juliet match’d, is now not fair.
Now Romeo is belov’d, and loves again,
Alike bewitched by the charm of looks;
But to his foe suppos’d he must complain,
And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks.
Being held a foe, he may not have access
To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;
And she as much in love, her means much less
To meet her new beloved anywhere.
But passion lends them power, time means, to meet,
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. (SHAKESPEARE, 2006a, p. 122)
By bringing rappers as a chorus, and forming a dance group made
of several dance groups in Rio de Janeiro, thus working with the Brazilian
ethnical and cultural diversity, the film re-configures William Shakespeare’s
tragedy. Just as the English playwright brings to his play “plenty of
information on Italy, Verona, social habits and many other details which are
useful for the building up of the play” 1 (HELIODORA, 2006b, p. 124),
Lucia Murat leads the spectator to visit the odd universe of the parallel
power settled in the slums of Maré. As film director and screen play writer,
she takes up her role of interpreter of one of the best known Shakespearean
plays. In this sense, her intersemiotic translation of Romeo and Juliet can play a
role of major importance, allowing for democratization and popularization
of a Shakespearean text brought into contexts which are more familiar to
the socially excluded spectator.
In the filmic translation, the brand of exclusion is inscribed in the
separation of both worlds: the organized urban legal universe versus the
transgressive and entropic universe of the slums. The ruptures generate
astonishment on both parts, making translation between discourses nearly
impossible. Fernanda, the ballet instructor, who comes from the legal world,
believes it is possible to reestablish peace and dignity by means of dancing.
But she is not able to reason with Dudu, her “protector”, leader of the
Blue faction, Jonathan’s brother. Fernanda’s involvement with the community
is not seen with good eyes by her friend who’s also a ballet dancer, a typical
Scripta Uniandrade, v. 9, n. 2, jul.-dez. 2011 123