Here is a picture, it's been around a bit as you can see, of me in a hammock with a drip full of rat poison being tended by the wonderful Polly MacDonald.

It's 1984 and my first trip to Brasil.....and my slight cramp is actually a DVT ( be warned....wear the little sockies.....)

Polly is working as an outreach worker for a small hospital in Ceres, Goias. It's the original hospital of the now (1985) many in the town and it's still the only one that offers (some) free treatment.

The (then) fascist government has legalised all the minor opposition parties, but not the big threatening ones like the Communist party. It's a divide and rule game, with all the small parties squabbling amongst each other, and getting nowhere. So there are several activists representing different minor parties working at the hospital with Polly.

So just in case you thought I would let the re-election of Presidente Lula pass without my ego getting involved, I'd like to add in my usual selfless way, that when Phil Shep hurled a ticket to Brasil at me and we came over for the first time in 1984/85, along with Polly, we initiated the making of a short film, scripted by local activists, the major contributors being members of the PT,(Workers Party), now Lula's ruling party.

It's a great little narrative film called "O Novo Brasil?" shot on Pro. Super 8 equipment.....our film workshop in Bath had the best production set-up in the country at the time......and features some amazing performances by local political activists. Their integrity (particularly in comparison to mine) always brings a tear to my eye.

The country was still in the grip of the fascist generals at the time, and we went to some lengths to cover ourselves, at one point acting the parts of eccentric English butterfly collectors a la John Cleese complete with silly walks. Personally, I would've preferred a bullet, but our guide insisted we brazen it out....

The film tells the story, in simple acted period sequences, of the attempt by the Vargas government of the 40's and 50's to populate the interior by offering incentives to the landless masses, starving in the drought ridden NorthEast and in poverty stricken Minas Gerais, to migrate to the jungles of Goias and make a new start. Nice idea Getulio.

Once (if) they made it, they would have to cut down, burn and clear the jungle, plant subsistence crops, and fend off disease and starvation until the first harvest. But all would be ok as they were ensured support from the Government in the form of tools and medical assistance, food supplies to get them through to first harvest, and the development of an infrastructure to enable them to market their valuable produce when the time came. Of course none of the promised support found its way to those in desperate need, as it was all soaked up en route by the corrupt local officials placed in charge of the operation, and great numbers of the pioneers and their families fell victim to disease and starvation.

At which point the middle men, the grain merchants, the bankers, even the doctors who had gotten rich on the spoils, flocked to buy up the fertile, ready cleared plots of land for peanuts. They then put the thousands of small plots together to make massive fazendas where they reared cattle.....for export only. I just love it when a plan comes together.

The movie was made in, and only exists in Portuguese. It was made for use in the land rights campaign in Goais, and was in fact used to open meetings and promote debate there in the mid eighties. In fact it promoted quite a lot of debate, and resulted in at least one person being driven out of town, so I was told on my next visit! The film has only been shown in the UK occasionally, and when I showed it here I added live commentary, though it never really needed it.

The end of the film, set in the (then 1985) present day shows an elderly father, a veteran of the Vargas debacle, and his adult son walking away from the camera towards the sunset. The son is saying that the Government is offering support and incentives to those who migrate to Rondonia to set up smallholdings in the jungle, in an attempt to populate the Amazon.

The father shakes his head and says ".....son, I think we'd do better to stick where we are.....I've a feeling I've heard this one before!"

Postscript One: We shot a scene where a family has struggled to the local hospital with their sick children. They exit with nothing but a prescription. The folk song playing over, an original of the period from Goias, explains how, as the family has no money, their only use for the prescription is to boil it up into soup and feed it to the dying kids.

Postscript Two: Ceres, the small town in the area where we made the film, is rich and prosperous to this day, full of grain merchants, banks and private hospitals.

Postscript Three: Ever wonder where all the rootless migrant workers, all the favela dwellers, all the prostitutes, thieves and drug dealers came from and how on earth they got themselves into that position......well now maybe you've got an idea about some of them.....

Postscript Four: If you know Phil Shepherd, hustle him to do a digital transfer......it really is a great little film, and deserves a viewing !! Hello Phil!