I really enjoyed our class discussion on Di Calvacanti, Rocha’s film honoring his late friend. The film was highly controversial due to the tone it took on and many of my peers, including myself, agreed that the film felt insensitive and disrespectful to Calvacanti’s loved ones. However, if one is able to look past that, one is able to appreciate the film. The whole film portrays an intense feeling of distress. With how Rocha is speaking throughout the film along with the frantic edits and cuts, the film encapsulates Rocha’s potential guilt and regret of not appreciating his dear friend while he was alive. It also feels like a very rebellious film— as if Rocha knew about the controversy that would spark and how he did not care about upsetting anyone. In the film, we hear the lines “film irritates daughters” and we see images of newspapers headlining “Rocha films the whole thing [the funeral].” It felt as though he wanted to show that he knew what he was doing and he knew that this needed to be done. This turned out to be a very intense and emotional film— very well done— but it seems to be made at the expense of others.