Dir. Aluisio Abranches, Brazil/Italy, 2002, 90 mins, subtitles
Cast: Marieta Severo, Carlos Vereza, Julia Lemmertz, Maria Luisa Mendonca, Luiza Mariani, Tuca Andrada, Enrique Diaz, Wagner Moura
They know how to look after themselves in Brazil. And if they don't - well, there's always somebody ready to extract revenge.
The Three Marias in question are the three daughters of Filomena Capadscio (Severo). Filomena's husband and two sons didn't know how to look after themselves and, at the bloody and stylised start of the film, are picked off one by one in a series of horrible deaths, including being burnt alive, and being hung by their own entrails.
The motive? Long ago, Filomena rejected the advances of her then betrothed, Firmino (Vereza), to marry another. Thirty years later, a second rebuffal spurs him into sending his own sons to slay the men of Filomena's family.
Filomena, however, is made of stern stuff and - in true 'eye for an eye' style - gathers her three remaining daughters, Maria Francisca (Lemmertz), Maria Rosa (Mendonca) and Maria Pia (Mariani), and commands them to stop weeping but to use their womanly wiles to ensnare three killers who will execute a bloody revenge on their behalf.
The film then follows each woman's story as each finds a suitable man. They appear in the strangest of guises - a knife-obsessed policeman (Andrada); a snake-loving woman hater (Ramos), and the battle-scarred, tattooed jailbird (Moura). There are moments of poignancy in the comedic relationships these determined women build up with their men. However, ultimately, fate intervenes and each woman is forced to seek vengeance herself. As such, this is a film that depicts the inner strength of women, particularly in the face of adversity, and the courage and solidarity to be gained from working together. Sisterhood is examined, both in terms of family ties, and the female sex as a whole.
A classic tale of revenge, The Three Marias is high octane, gory action, set against that dazzling, golden landscape that is rapidly becoming a motif of South American cinema. The plot twists are contrived and yet are a hymn to the idiosyncrasies and ironies of fate - serendipity is the villain here.
The film confronts us with a moral dilemma - Filomena, we feel, is justified in her actions but at what price? The daughter's have no choice - for their father and brothers, for their mother, and for themselves - but to carry out their mother's wishes, but what effect will this have on them as people? This tale is a tragedy of the truest sense - we do what we have to do, whatever the price - even if it kills us, or something within us.
Such is the way of the world. Or at least in this corner of Brazil.
Jean Lynch
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