Co-directed by a colleague of the Dardenne brothers, the jaw-dropping Because We Were Born spins the classic coming-of-age story, taking it to new, dark heights. Roaring semis, dirt-encrusted feet and rotting animal corpses welcome us to Brazil’s poverty-stricken northeast, where we’re introduced to two young friends who spend their days begging at truck stops, selling knickknacks and foraging for food. The two grow up abnormally quickly but somehow manage to maintain a childlike innocence, as they wrestle in piles of corn husks and strike up innocent conversations with visiting truckers. Throughout the film, the directors maintain a formal purity — there is no voiceover or interviews. Still, they find ways to implicate Brazil’s leadership: we hear the empty promises of campaigning politicians through loudspeakers and the TV. It’s rare to stumble on a film this well-shot in the fiction world; in the ever-changing world of documentary, this is a milestone work that begs to be studied and appreciated.
