Had I known what this film was ACTUALLY about, i'd have watched it a day earlier in line with the Easter celebrartions. But 'The End of Man' once again see's the work of José Mojica Marins edge EVER closer to becoming something really truely remarkable.
I've mentioned while reviewing his previous works that I have a great amount of respect for Marins as a director and cinematographer. But I almost always feel let down by his written works. They always strike me as semi pseudo philisophical, which (to me) is annoying, while the ACTUAL plots of these films are simultaineously overly basic in the plot they're trying to tell and overly complex in the way they frustratingly drop dozens of characters into the narrative, have them continuously talk in an indirect and philisophical way that seems to serve no other purpose than to try to make the film 'feel' smarter than it is and to pad the runtime.
Here, with 'The End of Man' we get a lot closer to a more cohesive vision than his previous works since his 'Coffin Joe' films. (at least...in my opinion.) and I feel a bit of context is needed to understand why this film is a little bit more controversial than it would appear at first glance.
So the plot is a (at this point thoroughly 'done') take on 'The Second Coming' as José plays a character who's only identified by a name given to him by a priest, 'Finis Hominis'. Initally he enters the film by washing up completely naked on a beach, before heading into town and using 'mysterious' powers to help the downtrodden, heal the sick and in one instance, ressurect the dead. Leading to slow but growing cult following, and condemnation, with many accusing him of just being a lunatic who's gotten lucky a couple of times in particularly difficult situations.
The main reason for the controversy (Apart from Marins casting HIMSELF as a messaianic figure in a film HE wrote and directed) is obviously down to the fact that Brazil is a HEAVILY religious country, so theres multiple levels of blasphemy on display here. from the surface level depiction of the second coming itself being offensive, through to the casting choices (getting a man whos renowned for playing a molesting dirty old man with demonic connections to play a christ like figure was ABSOLUTELY going to raise some eyebrows) through to the debate on whether this christ like figure is a deity or if he's just mentally unwell...
Its a much less obvious controversial issue, but to do this at a point where the grip religion held over the public was having a strong resurgence AND to do so 2 years before the likes of 'The Wicker Man' and 'The Exorcist' would REALLY cause the religious fundamentalists to PROPERLY kick off...well...it was always going to be an interesting time.
And there is exploitation elements here at play, but this is absolutely a much more subdued offering than previous entries. Its not particularly an anthology film, its a main plot that has several subplots running through it, but the plot elements are consistent, its reasonably placed, has some solid and clear act structuring. The tone of the piece is largely serious, but it does play with a little bit of campness here and there to offer a welcome contrast. The dialogue isnt particularly great, and I cant particularly praise the film for its originality. But it does what it does about as well as it could do. and the end result is just a fairly solid script that delivers on the brief and leaves enough unanswered so as to encourage post film debate...I respect that.
The direction and cine here do unfortunatley take a hit on this one. Its not so much that its BAD cine and direction, quite the contrary...its pretty solid! its just that...well, it doesnt exactly push the envelope in the same way all of Marins other films have up to this point.
This film is shot in a mixture of colour and black and white (its open to interpretation, but I believe the colour footage represents 'Believers' and the black and white footage signals 'non believers'. The black and white stuff looks great, with solid moody lighting, decent composition and excellent shadow work.
The colour footage is fine, but the majority of it is naturally lit. which means...while we do get a richness in the colour work, there isnt much scope for interesting lighting. Composition work is excellent, but theres not really a whole lot of B-roll, which makes sequence building a bit of a slog as we hang WAY too long on some shots, where it would have been nice to have a little more variety.
The perforamances are pretty much the same calibre as previous films,
José seems to be working with a stable of actors at this point. Which in some regards is good because I've enjoyed the physicality of the team in the last few films...But at the same time, I dont think the performances in these films are amazing...just, okay...and sometimes quite fun. Which left me really hoping that the net is cast a bit wider in future films.
'The End of Man' is probably my favourite 'non coffin joe' film so far by
Marins. Its imperfect, but it does feel a bit like a step in the right direction, while I lament the loss of the more absurdist and interesting visuals, trading toning that down for a script that ACTUALLY managed to fully hold my attention for most of the runtime, I see as a trade worth making.
I think if you've seen the two 'Coffin Joe' films, if you go into this one with the question 'What if Coffin Joe put his faith in heaven and kindness rather than hell and Mans own desires?' You'll probably come away similarly happy.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-end-of-man-1971/
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