The Blue Trail

Brazilian auteur Gabriel Mascaro made waves at the Festival in 2015 with Neon Bull. He returns to premiere his latest, The Blue Trail, which departs from a dystopian near future and takes us on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and determination.

Self-reliant Tereza (screen and stage veteran Denise Weinberg) has never needed much from others, but at 75 she’s suddenly relieved of her job at an alligator meat processing plant and placed under the jurisdiction of her daughter, who must approve every decision she makes.

In this alternate Brazil, an overbearing government goes out of its way to praise the elderly while erasing them from active societal participation via extreme surveillance and belittling aggressions such as the “wrinkle-wagon” that nabs those who get out of line. There is also the threat of being sent to The Colony, from where it is said most never return.

Prompted by a friend’s question about her bucket list, and refusing to take the nonsense she’s currently facing, Tereza hits the road, jumping aboard a semi-legal boat that might take her closer to Itacoatiara, a place where she wants to fulfill her dream of flying on a plane, even if it’s an ultralight one.

This road movie with no roads but incredible Amazonian waterways has a gentle feel that counters the oppressive ways of a hypocritical society. There’s no going back for Tereza, and the characters she joins along the way show her all the possible freedoms she never knew she didn’t have.

DIANA CADAVID

Content advisory: strobing effects