A Casa de Alice

As we head into the award season for film in America there is often speculation about films from other countries that are in contention for the Best Foreign Film categories of the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

This year Brazil has a contender and its not about the typical hot film subjects we see coming out of South America's largest country and economy - street gangs, violence, poverty, kidnapping and samba. More than any film in a long time, this new film cuts against expectations to give us a richer appreciation for Brazilian life. It is very easy for Americans to get all worked up and think the average life of Brazil is living in favelas but nothing could be further from the truth.

A Casa de Alice or Alice's House is a slice of life film that more greatly profiles an average working class Brazilian woman played by Carla Ribas who has been winning best actress awards around the world. Director Chico Teixeira was influenced by Dogma and documentary-style dramatic films, giving this film a slice-of-life intimacy and makes the emotional intensity of everyday life more realistic.

The films central character, Alice is a manicurist and has been married for the last 20 years to Lindomar a taxi driver. Alice works in a beauty parlour, parents three children, the eldest of whom is doing his military service, and has a mother Dona Jacira, who is slowly going blind and works as a maid in her house. Alice's three siblings pay little attention to their mother, and they treat their grandmother with lack of respect.

The film has won big fans where it has shown in festivals in Sidney Australia, Chicago, Rio and is being hailed as a masterpiece. Definitely put this film on your lists to see for 2007.