Modulations between documentary and fiction in Iracema - uma transa amazônica

Abstract

We present an analysis of the film Iracema - uma transa amazônica, co-directed by Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna in 1974. We first provide information about the historical and political context of the Amazon during the period in which this film was made, to highlight aspects that are significant for understanding the movie’s relevance in modern Brazilian cinema. We then present essential information about the origin of the film, highlighting elements that are decisive in understanding the filming methods that would be adopted in its production. To promote an original analysis of its filmmaking, we present the concept of modulation between documentary and fiction, a situation in which the subject who operates the camera also exercises the position of director of the film, so that, from this privileged position, he can manage the situations and establish technical operations that guide the filming, sometimes calling upon conventions from the domain of fictional cinema, sometimes conventions from the domain of documentary cinema, resulting in a film whose aesthetic dimension is original precisely because it is the result of certain intersections between these traditions. To make this reading objective, we will analyze passages from the film Iracema, to illustrate certain arguments that aim to clarify what we understand as gestures of modulation between fiction and documentary that we consider being present, especially in the film in question.