Vitalina Varela Film Difficulty Ranking: 5
Why Watch Vitalina Varela
- For an entry point into the world of Slow Film
- If you like classical painting – this film is a piece of art
- It’s a stoical story of grief and recovery
From: Portugal, Europe Watch: Trailer, JustWatch Next: Horse Money, From What is Before, Cocote
A Gateway Drug for Slow Film
Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela is the perfect film to watch to test if you’re ready for a venture into the world of slow film. It follows many of the styles of slow film; it’s composed of long, still shots, and has a lot of scenes with minimal dialogue and little action. But it engages you’re attention a little more than the eccentrically long films of Slow Film pioneer Lav Diaz because (a) it’s only 2 hours long, and (b) it’s so interesting to look at. That’s not to say Lav Diaz and other slow filmmakers’ films aren’t interesting to look at, but that this film is more like watching a painting from a classical art gallery. It’s ‘look at me’ beauty grabs hold of your attention more, making it slightly easier to watch.
Every Frame is a painting
If you’ve watched any YouTube videos from Every Frame a Painting you’ll know what they do: they analyze movies for their artistic value. But the YouTube video that best describes Vitalina Varela‘s visual style is Nerdwriter’s video on Rembrant’s ‘The Night Watch’ (see it here). In the video Nerdwriter shows you how Rembrant adds splashes of light to the painting to guide your eyes to certain areas of the canvas. Pedro Costa does exactly the same thing in Vitalina Varela, adding pools of cinematic lighting to the parts of the frame he wants you to look at. It’s beautiful.
consuming darkness
Like Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’, Vitalina Varela is set in darkness. Not just because a lot of the film takes place at night, but because all the windows and doors to her husband’s house in the outskirts of Lisbon are kept shut. The only slithers of light that light up certain points of the frame eke in from the cracks in the windows and doors. The darkness signifies many things: uncertainty, nothingness, and a lack of hope. However, it also reflects the lack of support for this forgotten neighborhood of Lisbon. The darkness doesn’t just plague Vitalina, but all of the Cape Verdean immigrants residing there. They’ve all left their bright lives in Cape Verde (the shots from Cape Verde are the only ones that are bright), for a dark life as a secondary citizen in Portugal.
A meditation on grief
Much like Cocote or Verde from the Dominican Republic, or even Daughter in Law from Turkmenistan, Vitalina Varela creates a feeling of mourning through it’s meditative style. The silence of the characters, slow pace, and darkness create an atmosphere of mourning. It’s as if Vitalina is stuck in purgatory for the death of her husband. Her relationship with the local priest, who is also grieving for the people who died after he refused them from his congregation, attaches the rituals of Catholicism to their visual penance. The visual style, silence, and catholic symbols all come together to make it feel like an extended funeral. But, however grueling and bare the ritual is, the routine of the mourning helps Vitalina to adjust to her new environment and settle, helping her to overcome her grief.
What to Watch Next
If you liked Vitalina Varela and want to check out more Slow Film, you might just be ready for the challenge of sitting through Lav Diaz’s 5h 38m From What is Before or Bela Tarr’s 7h 30m Satantango.
Or if you’re interested in watching more meditative cinema which use slow pacing and ritual to create an atmosphere of mourning, watch Cocote and Verde from the Dominican Republic and Daughter in Law from Turkmenistan.
You could also watch more films from Pedro Costa, such as In Vanda’s Room his docudrama about a drug addict or Horse Money, featuring a first look of the character of Vitalina Varela.
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