Why Watch Aniki Bobo?
- You like Coming-of-Age films
- For a look at the golden age of Portuguese film – a precursor to Italian neo-realism
- See some street urchins ruled by mob-mentality Lord of the Flies style (this film came out 12 years before Lord of the Flies)
- To see Manoel de Oliveira’s first feature film from a career spanning 8 decades!
The Breakdown
The film starts with 9/10 year old Carlitos reciting the Aniki Bobo nursery rhyme (a Portuguese version of eenie-meenie-miny-moe). His Mum reprimands him for moving around while she is combing his hair and the doll he is playing with falls to the floor and breaks. His mum forces him out the house with his school bag which has “Always Choose the Good Path” written on it. He runs to school, bumping into policeman on the way.
On their way into the classroom, all the little schoolkids throw their hats up onto a row of coat pegs and rush into the classroom. No one is interested in their reading lesson which the director shows by a Battleship Potemkin style tracking shot. The shot moves from the back to the front of the classroom, showing all the kids are playing around. The shot stops on Eduardo smiling widely. The teacher shouts his name to start reading, but he can’t read. So one of the nerds (he has slick parted hair and glasses) takes over and reads perfectly.
Eduardo can’t read, but he does win the attention of the girls. He also leads the other kids in games of thieves and policemen. As a result of the following equation, he is obviously the bully.
Illiteracy+Games Ringmaster+Girl getter = The Bully
Sure enough, he gets into fights with Carlitos over a girl that Carlitos pines for. It is their rivalry which is strongly reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies, and the lack of adults in the film.
Conclusion
Aniki Bobo is one of the best examples from the Portuguese Golden age of cinema. In this film, children replace adults which both conveys the lack of adult authority in Porto during the Second World War and serves as a metaphor for adult class relations in Portugal. A classic from a director that witnessed both the silent and digital age of film.
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