Will Maranhão be earth entranced? History, politics and fiction in a Glauber Rocha’s documentary

Abstract

Analysis of the documentary Maranhão 66, of Glauber Rocha, creator of the Aesthetics of Hunger. In recording the sworn in as governor of José Sarney, the cinematographer has produced a shortfeature movie of strong impact, which has provoked an intense polemics and allowed a wide spectrum of interpretations, employing strategies of aggression and the allegorical grotesque. The moviemaker of Cinema Novo has made an aesthetical experimentation with the language of the documentary (conceived as truth-movie), permitting to discuss the connections between Maranhão 66 and the movie Terra em Transe (1967), where it is perceived a singular liaison between history, politics and fiction.