The Age of the Earth

For other uses, see Age of the Earth.

The Age of the Earth (Portuguese: A Idade da Terra - pronounced [a iˈdad͡ʒi da ˈtɛʁɐ]) is a 1980 Brazilian avant-garde film directed by Glauber Rocha. It was his final film.

The Age of the Earth
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Glauber Rocha
Written by	Glauber Rocha
Based on	A Idade da Terra by Castro Alves
Produced by	Glauber Rocha
Starring	Ana Maria Magalhães Antonio Pitanga Danuza Leão Geraldo Del Rey Jece Valadão Maurício do Valle Norma Bengell Tarcísio Meira
Cinematography	Roberto Pires Pedro de Moraes
Edited by	Carlos Cox Raul Soares Ricardo Miranda
Music by	Rogério Duarte
Production companies	Glauber Rocha Produções Embrafilme
Distributed by	Embrafilme
Release date	November 17, 1980 (1980-11-17)[1]
Running time	154 minutes
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese

The film had its world premiere at the Golden Lion competition of the 1980 Venice Film Festival.

Cast

• Maurício do Valle as John Brahms
• Jece Valadão as Indian Christ (Cristo Índio)
• Antonio Pitanga as Black Christ (Cristo Negro)
• Tarcísio Meira as Military Christ (Cristo Militar)
• Geraldo Del Rey as Guerilla Christ (Cristo Guerrilheiro)
• Ana Maria Magalhães as Aurora Madalena
• Norma Bengell as Amazonas Queen (Rainha das Amazonas)
• Carlos Petrovich as the Devil (O Diabo)
• Mário Gusmão as Babalaô
• Danuza Leão as Brahms' wife
• Paloma Rocha

Production

Rocha started the film in 1975 and planned to shoot it in Los Angeles, and subsequently proposed it in Paris, Rome, Mexico and Venezuela, but was unable to obtain financial support.^[2][3]

It was finally shot in Bahia, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro.^[1]

Reception

It was Rocha's last film and the one that caused the most controversy.^[4]

It was produced by Embrafilme, a state-funded company, during the Brazilian military dictatorship, despite this, filmmakers had some level of creative freedom while shooting, the dictatorship used to impose its heavy censorship after productions had been completed. Rocha himself had been living in exile during the 70's, after numerous attempts of the censorship were made to Entranced Earth (1967) and Antonio das Mortes (1969).^[5]

Regardless, it was boycotted by international critics and "crucified" at the 1980 Venice Film Festival,^[6][7] especially after an argument between Rocha and Louis Malle at the presence of numerous journalists, shortly after the Golden Lion results were announced.^[8] Atlantic City, directed by Malle, had won the main prize and was deemed imperialist, by Rocha: "You won because your film was produced by Gaumont, an imperialist multinational"^[8]