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Welcome to the new era of Brazilian Cinema! The newest Netflix original film ‘Bionic’ (‘Biônicos’ in Portuguese) takes place in Brazil in the year 2035, where a highly technology dominated world is the backdrop of the dystopian thriller written by Josefina Trotta and directed by Afonso Poyart. In a reality where bionic prosthetics dictate the sporting scene, the rivalry between the Santos sisters takes them down a dark and mischievous path. Maria Santos (Jessica Córes) dreams of competing against her bionic sister, Gabi Santos (Gabz), but a just competition is impossible when Gabi has indefinitely enhanced ability with her bionic prosthetic leg, even against a real prodigy like Maria. In a world where Paralympic athletes with their bionic prosthetics have superhuman stardom and completely overshadow non-bionic athletes, a fair play between them is simply beyond the bounds of possibility. To achieve her goal and be the best at Long Jump and beat her sister and any other bionic or non-bionic long jump athlete, Maria is forced to enter a world of crime and violence. As the story unfolds, questions of ambition, greed, moral dilemmas and family conflicts arise in this anxiety-inducing film filled with adrenaline-loaded action scenes.
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Director takes inspiration from real life South African Paralympic athlete
Afonso Poyart was interviewed by CNN Brasil and according to him, the idea for the plot was inspired by real life South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who with two prosthetics started to perform much better than many athletes in the conventional Olympics. His stellar performance generated major controversy within the olympic world. The director confirms that the controversy with Pistorius had him imagine a world where technology is so advanced and such an idea of enhancing performance and giving essentially other worldly power with prosthetics was possible. “We had this idea of imagining a future and we extrapolated that to something that is not real. We imagine a future in which bionic prosthetics give powers and how this would impact the lives of not only athletes, but society” (Toledo, “biônicos”: História de Atleta Paralímpico Inspirou trama de ficção científica), Poyart explains. The Brazilian director revealed that the inspirations for creating the dystopian world of ‘Bionic’ were in titles such as Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) and Neill Blomkamp’s ‘District 9’ (2009). For the director, ‘Bionic’ is a cautionary tale, much like ‘Black Mirror’, where technology is an even bigger factor in our lives and in society than today and how that would shape the world and humanity as we know it. ‘Bionic’ is Poyart’s second film about bionic prosthetics. In 2021, he made the short film ‘Protesys’, starring Paralympic athlete Flávio Reitz and Brazilian actor Cauã Reymond. The director confirms that ‘Protesys’ was a learning experience and something of a controlled experiment to really understand what could be done in a feature like ‘Bionic’.
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The future
It was such a great concept for a film and Poyart did a great job in executing his vision and telling this story. Even though the technological aspects are far from reality, the themes of ambition, power and morality – coupled with family dynamics and a sporting scene – are all universal. The CGI was quite impressive, also taking under consideration this is the first time a Brazilian production goes all the way with a CGI heavy film. The music was very representative of Brazil and it fit well with each scene. The advanced and innovative looking props from the bionic prosthetics, to the clear see through phones are all very good and believable. The set design was a little underwhelming. Each set looked very much like Brazil today, but did not sell as a futuristic version of the country at all. This is normally something that could have passed as a decade from now, had the entire plot not revolved around such advanced technology and took place in such a futuristic world. The acting was perhaps the most remarkable factor of the entire film. All performances were good but Jessica Córes gave an incredible performance as Maria Santos. Córes has a very bright future ahead of her and I cannot wait to see what she does next. Bruno Gagliasso was quite memorable as his character Heitor. And it is impossible to mention acting in this without mentioning the Brazilian theater and Television legend Miguel Falabella, who plays the wicked mob leader. It is always a nice treat to see Falabella in absolutely anything.
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Representation is important
Something has been brought up online and to Poyart himself and that is the lack of actors with disabilities in the film, for a film that highly relies on the main characters’ disabilities. Upon first watch, every time a character with physical impairment appeared on screen, I wondered if the actors shared the same impairment as the characters they played. In an interview for a Brazilian entertainment website, Poyart responds by clarifying that so much of the film and so many of the scenes are action packed and filled with stunts, which would be challenging and potentially dangerous for many with physical limitations. The Brazilian director does reassure us that people with all kinds of disabilities (mainly physical) are in scenes with large groups of people and that are not so action heavy.
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It was so refreshing to see Black people play main characters in a superhero like story and not in a tragic story like Fernando Meirelles’ ‘City Of God’ (‘Cidade de Deus’) and José Padilha’s ‘Elite Squad’ (‘Tropa de Elite’). As someone who grew up consuming every Brazilian film and media available, I don’t recall seeing a lot of representation on screen. There were white or white-passing Latinos as main characters and any person of color would play villains, the best friend, or a servant. In an interview to CNN Brasil, actor Bruno Gagliasso (Heitor) expresses how proud he is to be involved in this project, in which the main characters are Black superhumans. As a white father of two Black children, Gagliasso praises the fact that in this story the Black people are the heroes and the white guy (his character) is the villain. “When do you ever see in a Brazilian production three Black protagonists? Playing superheroes, playing roles that will inspire millions of children?” (Toledo, Bruno Gagliasso fala à CNN sobre “biônicos”: “Precisava Fazer parte desse filme”), Gagliasso asks. In the same interview for CNN Brasil, two of three actors that play the Santos’ siblings weigh in in the conversation. Jessica Córes declared that playing Maria was a dream come true and that characters like her have true influence in changing and molding society. “We can deconstruct everything we have seen over the years, and we can also take action, occupy other places” (Toledo, Bruno Gagliasso fala à CNN sobre “biônicos”: “Precisava Fazer parte desse filme”), said Córes. Christian Malheiros, who plays Gus (“Tio Hard”) and Maria’s little brother, welcomes the responsibility of each character he plays, especially Gus. Malheiros tells the interviewer that “cinema, I believe, has a social responsibility, right, and I came to the conclusion that my responsibility in this place is to contribute to telling this story for the creation of our Brazilian heroes” (Toledo, Bruno Gagliasso fala à CNN sobre “biônicos”: “Precisava Fazer parte desse filme”).
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‘Bionic’ (‘Biônicos’) has made history in Brazilian cinema. We have never had this size of a production with a sci-fi premise that requires a whole lot of CGI, which is unprecedented for Brazilian cinema. I consumed every Brazilian media possible growing up and always wanted more than our safe dose of soap operas (“novelas”), I wanted more national films. I wanted to find inspiration in the national media. I knew I wanted to tell stories and make films but except for a handful of extraordinary filmmaking found in some Brazilian films such as ‘City of God’ (‘Cidade de Deus’), ‘Central Station’ (‘Central Brasil’) and ‘A Dog’s Will’ (‘O Auto da Compadecida’); I never had the inspiration from a Brazilian production. I knew I had to pursue filmmaking elsewhere. Watching ‘Bionic’ and seeing how far Brazilian productions have come, it gives me so much hope for future Brazilian filmmakers and their future films. And the fact that a major and globally famous streaming platform such as Netflix bet on a production like this makes it that much more hopeful. I look forward to seeing more of this new phase of Brazilian cinema.
Cast: Jessica Córes, Bruno Gagliasso, Gabz, Christian Malheiros, Miguel Falabella, Erika Januza, Kagga Jayson, Miguel Nader, Emilly Nayara, Luana Tanaka, Klebber Toledo, Paulo Vilhena
Cinematography: Carlos André Zalasik | Editor: Luiz Méliga | Visual Effects: Andrea Alvisi, Lucas Coutinho, Noise, Leandro Oliveira, Felipe Rebelo | Stunts: Agnaldo Bueno, Guilherme Faria, Claudimar Guimarães
Director: Afonso Poyart | Writer: Josefina Trotta | Producers: Claudia Brum, Jatir Eiró, Patricia Galucci, Cristiane Miotto, Rox Shimura
Toledo, M. (n.d.-a). “biônicos”: História de Atleta Paralímpico Inspirou trama de ficção científica. CNN Brasil. https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/entretenimento/bionicos-historia-de-atleta-paralimpico-inspirou-trama-de-ficcao-cientifica/
Toledo, M. (n.d.-b). Bruno Gagliasso fala à CNN sobre “biônicos”: “Precisava Fazer parte desse filme.” CNN Brasil. https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/entretenimento/bruno-gagliasso-fala-a-cnn-sobre-bionicos-precisava-fazer-parte-desse-filme/
By Julia Maia
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