The Contemporary Brazilian Road Movie: Remapping National Journeys on Screen in Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo

Abstract

In her chapter, Sara Brandellero examines how Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo (Karim Aïnouz and Marcelo Gomes, 2009) revisits the iconic landscapes of north-eastern Brazil through the experience of a journey that is both physical displacement and an intertextual remapping of the Brazilian cinematic tradition. This film, Brandellero argues, explores the potentialities of the landscape of the sertão and, in so doing, charts a departure from a perspective centered on the nation toward a broader transnational focus. From a space of national allegories, as studied by Ismail Xavier in relation to Cinema Novo, the movie proposes a further step: from a human-centered perspective to one which, at this time of environmental crisis, points to the urgency for a post-human engagement.