"Trash" (2014) is a dramatic film that tells of three children in Brazil who collect garbage for a living. One day one of them find a wallet that takes him to an adventure involving corrupt politician, aging prison inmate and an idealistic lawyer. The three, following the male group tradition, become detectives and try to solve the mystery with childlike innocence as they refuse to stop despite the brutality of the policeman that chases them, the damage they cause to their local community and the physical violence that they have to suffer. The three children do not have much to lose, and so they are infused with a sense of saving the world that motivates them until the plot ends. During this adventure two foreigners are helping them: an elderly priest who is busy with fighting with the local authorities (Martin Sheen in a great casting) and his assistance who works as a teacher and gets inside the adventure of the children named Olivia (Rooney Mara from "the girl with the dragon tattoo "). Olivia is the only woman in a major role in the movie and she is surrounded by children, boys and masculinity. Apart from Olivia other women appears on the screen for a few seconds (other women who work in the garbage, the corrupt politician's wife, a cleaner at the politician house or the priest's housekeeper), but these women do not generally have meaningful dialogue. The movie critic the political and police corruption, and shows the hard poverty living but do not forget to be currently relevant and to correspond with the current reality of Brazil's recent demonstrations against the World Cup, but it fails when it comes to female representation on the screen. Although Olivia is a key figure in driving the plot it is not clear why she remains alone in being the only significant female character almost to the end. boyhood films tends to favor boys over girls but to me it seems as if we made some progress from Enid Blyton's books. The criticism of the film is indeed important, but it ignores the fact that women are similarly affected by corruption and poverty and draws a world without women almost completely or portray women who have no voice in the matter. Although it is a good movie with great directing, in a feminist context unfortunately there is not much to say about it.
Review of Trash
Trash
(I) (2014)
A movie with important criticism that fails when it comes to female representation on the screen.
20 January 2015