Macunaima (film)

Born a fully grown black man in a village in the Brazilian jungle, Macunaima (Grande Otelo) later magically transforms into a white man (Paulo Jose) before making an adventure-filled trip to the city of Sao Paulo. Once there, he becomes something of a dandy, falling in love with Ci (Dina Sfat), a revolutionary who dies in an accidental bombing. After robbing a ruthless industrialist, Macunaima returns to his village where he finds his newly acquired knowledge and possessions of little use.

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Macunaima is a 1969 Brazilian comedy film directed by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, based on Mario de Andrades novel of the same name. It was released in a dubbed version for American audiences in 1972 by New Line Cinema. On June 13 and July 12, 2005, European and Latin American syndicates of the TV5 network aired the film in its original Portuguese with French subtitles. It was rereleased internationally in 2009.

Macunaíma is a lazy anti-hero born black in Amazonas. After the death of his mother, he moves with his two brothers to Rio de Janeiro, but along his journey, he baths in a fountain and becomes Caucasian. Once in Rio, he incidentally meets the killer guerrilla woman Ci, who wears an amulet made of stone, and they fall in love for each other. They live together and a couple of months later, Ci delivers a black baby. While carrying a bomb for a terrorist attack in the stroller, the bomb explodes and Ci and the baby die, and the amulet vanishes. A very strong man finds the stone and Macunaíma tries to recover it. In the end, he returns to the jungle.