LULA, THE SON OF BRAZIL: Brazil’s Controversial Oscar 2011 Submission

Lula, The Son of Brazil: Mother Glória Pires and her seven children, including Felipe Falanga (yellow shirt) as the boy Lula

Unanimity isn’t what it used to be.

First, Quentin Tarantino’s Venice Film Festival jury unanimously decides to hand out awards to the director’s friends.

Now comes a unanimous decision from Brazil’s Official Film Selection Committee to have Fábio Barreto’s costly biopic (some would call it a "hagiopic") Lula, o Filho do Brasil / Lula, the Son of Brazil as the country’s submission for the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Reportedly the most expensive Brazilian movie ever at the time of its release in Jan. 2010, Lula, the Son of Brazil turned out to be a major critical and commercial disappointment, criticized for its glorification of the current Brazilian president and grossing only US$4m.

Based on Denise Paraná’s book, Lula, the Son of Brazil shows how migrant Luis Inácio da Silva (aka Lula) from Brazil’s impoverished Northeast ended up as the top labor leader in the country’s industrialized southern half.

From there — though that’s not in the film — Lula became leader of the newly founded Workers’ Party, and was later elected (and then reelected) president.

Sounds like a Hollywood movie — one of those "Only in America" b.s. tales. In that regard, the choice could be seen as a clever one. Academy members who vote in the Best Foreign Language Film category usually love cheesy sentimentality with a Message, e.g., Twin Sisters, Don’t Tell, Days of Glory, The Chorus, Departures, etc. etc.

But there may be more at work here. After all, Lula, the Son of Brazil was hardly considered one of the better Brazilian productions to come out in the past year.

Anna Muylaert’s É Proibido Fumar / Smoke Gets in Your Eyes won the Best Film award at the Brasilia Film Festival, while Jeferson De’s Bróder! topped the Gramado Film Festival.

Barreto’s film was also mired in political controversy because of its whitewashing of Lula’s past, the timing of its release (an election year in Brazil), in addition to accusations that several companies found among the film’s investors were seeking favors with the Brazilian government.

With the presidential election coming up, Lula’s Workers’ Party has placed its hopes on Dilma Rousseff, the current leader in various polls. The Oscar submission means renewed international publicity for Lula, the Son of Brazil, for Lula himself, and for the political party he embodies.

Additionally, sentiment may have played a key role in the committee’s decision as well. Director Fábio Barreto, 53, was nearly killed in a car crash in December 2009. He has remained in a coma ever since.

Barreto’s O Quatrilho, which chronicled the arrival of Italian immigrants in Brazil, received an Oscar nod in 1995.