Palavras de Independência

This documentary by the General Archive of the City of Rio de Janeiro, about Brazilian independence form Portugal, is not aesthetically sophisticated, but has a good content: it is indeed a quite good masterclass on history and politics, providing details that are not widespread known. It is an institutional film by municipal government, what is made clear in the closing credits, which highlight more the town managers and the crew of the Archive than the crew from the film. According the municipal government website, the film shows some documents which were rare and unknown. The film becomes unfocused sometimes when inserts footage of the work inside General Archive, as an institutional film instead of a proper documentary about Brazilian history, but that problem is not serious enough to dampen the importance of the discussions that are present. Among many other interesting issues, it is intriguing to see how the main interviewee, Elizeu Santiago, has a more positive view about emperors John VI and Peter I than usual.