São Paulo, Inc. / São Paulo Sociedade Anônima

"São Paulo Sociedade Anônima" is a revelation. It is a brilliant piece of film-making by a man whose short life (he died at 39 in an automobile accident) was marked by a desperate creativity in multiple areas of the arts: as an actor, writer, poet, theater director, entrepreneur, and, of course, film-maker. Sérgio Luis Person's life illustrates the difficulties of surviving as a filmmaker in Brazil where film production by people of extraordinary talent has been chronically underfinanced and where distribution systems for domestically produced movies are poor at best. Given the hard life of even the most dedicated and talented artist, Person sought refuge for two years in Italy at Rome's famous Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. His talent was recognized there; in fact, he made short films that represented Italy at international festivals. The Italian film world influenced his style markedly: "São Paulo S.A." has the formal perfection of an Antonioni film--this time infused with emotion and a deeply human sense of compassion.

The film takes place in and around São Paulo between 1957 and 1961--at a time when the city was being transformed by the building of huge factories by the European and American automobile industry. The protagonist is Carlos, an up-and-coming manager for an auto-parts company. But it is the city itself that is the film's major actor, subject, and set. Person juxtaposes the old and the new and lets the spaces express the physical and social impact of rapid industrialization: A factory building goes up on what must have been farmland at the city's limits; the huge plate-glass windows of a high-rise apartment house look down on the single-story, stuccoed, tile-roofed houses on the other side of the street; a freshly paved road runs along a slope covered with rubbish.

On the human side, we watch as Carlos tries to make sense of his life, his romantic relationships, his marriage, his work. The story structure is extraordinarily complex, yet compelling in ways that are often absent in such complicated narratives. The film opens in a moment of crisis between Carlos and his wife. A lengthy series of flash-backs (which we hardly recognize as such) ends up with the same opening scene. As we recognize the starting point and understand the nature of the flashbacks, the very structure compels the viewer to wonder if Carlos will escape from the situation. Will he stay caught in a strangle-hold? Or will he find a way to rescue himself and his family through some new way of understanding and overcoming the evolving world of São Paulo--this decidedly anomymous, frighteningly inhuman society, the "Sociedade Anônima" of the title (the equivalent of "incorporated stock company" in Portuguese). As Carlos comes back to São Paulo from a brief foray towards the sea (and freedom?), he discovers that his lot is to begin again, eternally--he becomes both the city and the film. But in this equation, neither the city nor Carlos can move beyond the fatalistic limits inscribed as the destiny of their evolution: there is no revolution possible, except, perhaps esthetically.