The uprising configuration and the political function of the images in the movie Rat Fever (Claudio Assis, 2011)

Abstract

This essay analyzes the film Rat Fever (Cláudio Assis, 2011), from the configuration of uprisings, actions of political resistance of socially marginalized characters who campaign against the conservative and oppressive discourse of rulers, police and military, in Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil). The discussion contemplates the politics of images, contextualized in the conception of realistic aesthetics, to discuss their meaning in the film's plans, considering the work of thinking about the form and relating it to the feelings evoked in its reception. This is not limited to identifying the modes and resources used in its production, but rather evaluating its political function. The aesthetic and political assumptions of realism are used, situating cinematic movements, such as Italian neorealism and its influences in Cinema Novo, to relate this production in its dialogues with the proposal of militant cinema. In this path, we seek to identify, from a historical perspective, the intersections between marginalized characters, uprising, image politics, realistic aesthetics, cinematic movements, the popular and militant cinema.