By Prof. Dr. Ivone de Lourdes Oliveira at the 18th Abrapcorp Congress
(Spoiler Alert!)
Curitiba, May 2024 – After watching the documentary ‘Vale? Is it worth it?’, the French expression “magnifique” came to mind to express my admiration, as it perfectly encapsulates my feelings—much like when I experience a great concert, a captivating show, or a powerful play. This film is a work of art that powerfully depicts the sorrow and suffering of communities affected by the dam disasters in Mariana and Brumadinho, Brazil. The stark and sorrowful imagery stands in contrast to the artistic beauty of the film itself. If I were to name the film, I’d choose “A Struggle Against Silence, Erasure, and Forgetting,” as the documentary revives the memory of an event that shattered communal life, social bonds, everyday routines, and the very sense of belonging. It reignites this memory. The film deeply moved me, especially since I am from Minas Gerais, living near the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, and my research focuses on this theme. I commend the Abrapcorp board for showcasing this documentary, which stimulates reflection on communication, organization, art, and culture, the main theme of the Congress.
The film opens with a sequence of powerful images of the dam breaches, highlighting the contrast between the harshness of mining and the shimmer of hematite on the ground, resembling a carpet of light and silver. This contrast emphasizes the violence of extractive industries, symbolically portraying the lived experiences in exploited territories. This is art—it both impacts and raises awareness by touching the audience’s hearts. It’s an effective communication strategy, using artistic expressions like theatre, music, band performances, circus acts, and soundscapes to foster intense interaction and preserve the memory of the greatest human tragedy experienced in Minas Gerais.
The film emphasizes the strength of religiosity in Minas Gerais and moves the audience with sequences depicting the everyday life in towns where mining operates—workers going to work, trucks and freighters loaded with ore, the calm life—while the music of Gounod’s Ave Maria plays. It’s impossible not to be touched by this message! Another poignant moment is the scene where a priest prays Ave Maria over the church’s loudspeakers as images of the mud engulfing the landscape are shown. Symbolically, this scene contrasts the brutality of mining with the faith of the people of Minas Gerais, highlighting religiosity as an artistic treasure and an integral part of the region’s culture.
Working with five artists from the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, the documentary directors use art to transform pain and mourning into a form of resistance and a fight for social justice and a more humane, conscious world. Lucas Fabrício speaks about theatre and invites the community to watch his play, reinforcing the idea that theatre is reality because it brings to the stage things that have been and may still be lived. Theatre revives the awareness of the tragic-crime on stage. I was reminded of playwright Augusto Boal, creator of the Theater of the Oppressed, who proposed enacting lived experiences and everyday life in small sketches as a way to involve individuals in the process of knowledge and awareness of a reality that fades as it is lived.
The vibrant sounds of the pestle and other instruments resonate deeply, showcasing their power of reinterpretation, while the sounds of the dam ruptures reveal the connection between memory, remembrance, and ancestry. The moment when actor Rei Batuque speaks about sounds and suddenly hears the sound of a freighter, which immediately transports him back to the dam disaster, is particularly striking. He states, “Vale killed and murdered many people.” To aid our reflection, I bring in Bruck and Vargas (2020, p.301), who assert that “Memory is a way of living and re-living the past, of remembering events and feeling in the present the conditions that give meaning to life. It is a way of shaping someone’s or a community’s identity, a unique way of inhabiting space, and projecting expectations for the future.”
The image of the clown Jojoba putting on lipstick, dressing in colourful clothes, and playing an instrument in the dark Mariana Passage takes us to the world of circus arts, directly connected to the small towns of Minas Gerais. Her gestures, filled with the magic and joy of the circus, suggest that dreams can transform. The transformative power of theatre relates to the Commedia dell’Arte, with its connections to the popular, the street, fun, and awareness.
The band is also a symbol of small towns, with a strong influence on the culture of Minas Gerais. It brings people together and revives memory and resistance, while also providing enjoyment. The sequence of images featuring the band and musicians highlights the struggle between the delicacy and harmony of the instruments’ sounds and the inhumanity of the mines. Words aren’t necessary—the chosen images reinforce the idea that although mining robs towns of their wealth and history and disrupts their culture, it cannot erase the essence of the community and cultural roots. This tension between memory and history distinguishes the dimensions of an event and the marks of suffering. The fight is to keep the place where people live and build their community life alive.
In the temporal interplay of past-present-future, the film works with memory. The musical composition “Is it worth it?” by rapper Thiago SKP is striking, representing political action and an effort to prevent the forgetting and erasure of an environmental crime that took lives, destroyed homes, dreams, and stories—a form of resistance and a fight against the impunity of mining. His rap captures the feelings of people who live and work in mining and the ambiguity they experience. As mentioned, there is a relationship of joy and pain in the community because while mining brings jobs, it also brings destruction. Itabira is a prime example of this, and the rap reflects this sentiment well, also expressing the residents’ fear of what will happen to the town once the mine is exhausted. The music tells the truth: Vale is interested in extracting minerals, achieving high economic returns, and is indifferent to the suffering of people and the losses caused by mining.
I conclude my review by highlighting the artistic beauty of the closing sequence, where Gounod’s Ave Maria plays again while the horrifying images of the mud destroying everything are shown. It is chilling and brought to mind the philosopher Paul Ricoeur (pp. 436-437), who stated: “Memory, in which history grows, and which in turn feeds it, seeks to save the past to serve the present and the future. We must work so that collective memory serves the liberation, not the enslavement, of people.” The presented sequence shakes us from inertia, rekindles hope in saving the world from contemporary slavery, and encourages us not to lose heart in the face of economic power, but to fight for the freedom of people, subjugated to the neoliberal logic.
Prof. Dr. Ivone de Lourdes Oliveira / Graduate Program in Social Communication – Puc-Minas.
References
Bruck, M. S; Vargas, H. (2020) Narratives of Memory as a Device: A Siren and the Struggle Against Forgetting. Matrizes v.14, n. 2, São Paulo.
Ricoeur, P. (2007). Memory, History, and Forgetting. Ed. Unicamp.
The film Vale? Is it Worth it? is part of the research project Roots of Resilience.