10/09/2021 - VENICE 2021: This new film by Brazilian director Aly Muritiba tells the story of an impossible love in a chauvinist and homophobic rendering of Brazil

We travel from the South to the North of Brazil, two very different geographical and emotive spaces, in Private Desert [+see also:
trailer
interview: Aly Muritiba
film profile], the new feature film by Brazilian director Aly Muritiba which was screened in a world premiere at the 18^th Giornate degli Autori event in Venice. This sentimental drama dressed up as a road movie sees its protagonist discovering an unspeakable side of himself, and successfully holds viewers’ attention by way of a healthy dose of suspense.

Sara, a woman met in a chat room but never met in person since she lives on the other side of the country, is always at the centre of Daniel’s (Antonio Saboia) thoughts. But our man, a police officer suspended from active service for assaulting a new recruit, has got far, far more on his mind: the trial that awaits him, for example (which has even made it onto the news), and the help needed by his ailing father, a former soldier who no longer talks and who now needs round-the-clock care. The first half of the film follows Daniel through his grey day-to-day life, as he seeks out menial jobs, like serving as a bouncer in a nightclub, and grapples with his sister, who wants to move their father into a care home and who, fundamentally, has fallen in love with a woman, to her brother’s great disapproval.

The only person who can make Daniel smile is Sara, with whom he exchanges messages and photos on his mobile. One day, however, the woman suddenly stops answering her phone and vanishes. Daniel decides to climb into his car and heads off towards the North, dropping everything, including his father, and travelling three thousand kilometres in the hope of finding her.  And it’s here that the director seems to want to start his film, rolling the opening credits roughly half an hour into the movie. Once arrived at his destination, Daniel plasters the small town where Sara lives with posters featuring her photo, hoping that someone will recognise her and tell him where she is. One man does, indeed, call him, and tells him where the woman is, but he doesn’t say much else.

Half-way through the film, the viewpoint changes, in every sense. We see who Sara really is and we enter into her daily and double life. In the meantime, Daniel has tracked his beloved down by phone and asks to meet her with increasing insistence. Sara can no longer avoid the unavoidable.

Private Desert is the story of an unexpected encounter which calls one man’s certainties into question, giving rise to disappointment, anger and ultimately aggression, before gradually helping him to reconnect with himself and his emotions. It’s the story of a broken spell, an impossible relationship which sees two souls suspended between love and hate, but it’s also a meeting between two distinct worlds: the cold and conservative South of Brazil, and the sunnier, progressive North. All of this is tackled with great delicacy and shored up by intense acting performances (Pedro Fasanaro stars alongside Antonio Sabola), resulting in a finely balanced film which questions the concept of personal freedom and the burden of the cages we erect in our own minds.

Private Desert is produced by Brazilian outfit Grafo Audiovisual, in co-production with Portugal’s Fado Filmes. International sales are in the hands of Intramovies.

(Translated from Italian)