Response to Four Days in September

 

Based on Fernando Gabeira’s account of the MR-8’s kidnapping of US ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick, Four Days in September provides an emotive, ambiguous approach to the struggle between the Brazilian military dictatorship and the revolutionaries of the urban guerrilla opposition movement. The movie uses situational and semantic contrast to evoke an ambivalent response from the audience and, ultimately, convey the complexity of the situation. Perhaps the most glaring piece of irony in the film is revealed through Artur’s statement that “[the MR-8] and the military seem very different, like two ends of a horseshoe, but actually [they are] very close.” This observation is strengthened by the rigid, militaristic structure of the opposition group, which, like the Brazilian dictatorship, obliges its members to blindly carry out orders regardless of moral complications. By conveying this similitude, Four Days in September blurs the line between “right” and “wrong” in the context of the struggle. To be sure, the film is undeniably critical of the military dictatorship and praises the intentions of the protagonists. However, the assertion that these characters are merely “innocent kids with big dreams being used by dangerous scum” reveals the uncertainty of the ambitions of the opposition leaders. Ambassador Elbrick’s letter to his wife employs contradistinctive language to further pit the protagonists against the opposition leadership. In the letter, he describes Julio as “a child involved in a very dangerous game” and wonders,“What kind of sad destiny led [Reneé’s] delicate hands to pick up such a cold weapon?” The image of a child with “baby-soft skin” in a perilous situation and the juxtaposition of delicate hands on a cold weapon push the audience to question the morality of the existence of such an opposition group. Certainly, many scenes in the film, particularly final scene, elicit a response that is sympathetic to the opposition movement. However, this response is ultimately muddied by the irresolution that stems from the unmistakable similarities between the military dictatorship and the MR-8.