Marianna Brennand’s raw and intimate Manas sensitively highlights the bravery of a young girl trapped in a cycle of abuse.
Director: Marianna Brennand
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 101′
Venice World Premiere: September 2, 2024
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA
‘Taboo’ is a word often linked to the subject of abuse, often within the context of it being a topic of conversation. In that instance, it seems that while there’s an understanding of its inherent wrongness, it isn’t something seen as suitable for discussion. Which, frankly, is complete nonsense. Marianna Brennand’s Manas tackles the taboo nature of abuse directly, using the eyes of a young girl to examine a rural community rife with it.
It’s a film that isn’t afraid to be bold and shocking, heartbreaking and infuriating in equal measure. Manas emphasises the importance of speaking up and breaking the cycle, shining a spotlight on the bravery it takes to do so through the eyes of a child.
13-year-old Marcielle ‘Tielle’ (Jamilli Correa) lives on the island of Marajó in the Amazon rainforest, in a small house on the riverbank with her mother Danielle (Fátima Macedo), father Marcílio (Rômulo Braga), and three younger siblings. On the surface it’s a simple and idyllic life of a close-knit family unit, but in actuality Tielle is facing a bleak future in a series of abusive environments. Angry at the harsh realities of her situation, Tielle decides to bravely confront the oppressive system under which she would continue to live in fear.
Manas deals with some pretty heavy themes. A systemic problem of abuse within a rural, isolated and self-sufficient community is perhaps one not typically explored through the eyes of a child. But that’s exactly what Brennand does. While the abuse is never shown on screen and only rarely addressed directly through dialogue, the subject is prominently present throughout the whole film. It’s an undercurrent that starts as a feeling of unease and becomes a heartbreaking understanding, even as pointed looks, heavy silences and scene breaks do a lot of the thematical heavy lifting.
And while Tielle is not naïve, her apparent maturity is undercut with Brennand’s dedication to making sure that the audience never forgets that she is a child. When she isn’t at school or helping her mother in the house, she’s playing with her little sister or drawing and colouring in pictures. As her childlike excitement to spend time with her father diminishes, her childlike vulnerability does not. It’s a heartbreaking encapsulation of the loss of her innocence, one that is echoed in the women around her, and a credit to Correa’s stunningly composed performance.
Sexual abuse within the home and from travelling men on commercial barges – often in exchange for money – is almost an accepted reality for a lot of women within this community. At school, Tielle’s textbook has pages stapled together and labelled as ‘forbidden’, which actually contain educational information about the female body, sexuality and reproductive systems. It’s such a repressed society that young girls are not even taught the correct names for female genitalia.
And that repression is also evident in her mother, Danielle. Whether it’s resignation, acceptance or fear that keeps her silenced isn’t necessarily made explicit, and Macedo’s performance is effectively enigmatic for the majority of the film. But Brennand never suggests that she be villainised for her ‘role’, if one can even call it that, because Danielle is also a victim. She is traumatised by her own experiences and those of her children, for which she is helpless to stop. It’s a really interesting and important aspect of the cycle of abuse to include, and one that gives Manas a lot of its emotional depth.
Pierre de Kerchove’s camera has a claustrophobic nature to it, naturalistic and raw, which gives the film an intimacy and an immediacy. It’s sensitively directed by Brennand – with a poignant dedication at the end to the women whose stories inspired the film, and to the women who have yet to tell theirs – and features a host of impressive performances.
Manas is a heartbreakingly infuriating film that shines a spotlight on vulnerable women, and emphasises the importance of calling out and stopping the cycles of abusive behaviours that impact so many.
Manas had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2024, as part of the Giornate degli Autori strand. Read our list of films to watch at the 2024 Venice Film Festival!
