By GUILHERME COLOMBARA ROSSATTO*
Commentary on the film directed by José Antonio Garcia & Ícaro Martins, currently showing in cinemas
1.
On March 27th, Vitrine Filmes relaunched New wave (1983) in Brazilian cinemas, remastered in 4K.[1] Directed by José Antonio Garcia and Ícaro Martins, the film is still showing in selected cinemas throughout Brazil. In this brief article, I recommend that viewers check it out.
It needs to be rediscovered by the public, because it is necessary in this moment we live in, just as it was in its time. In 1983, censorship tried to erase its aesthetic and ideological importance, but the success of the re-release among young people only highlights the timelessness of a truly libertarian work of art.
Last year, the new copy of the film was shown during the 48th International Film Festival in São Paulo, between October 17th and October 10th. I had the opportunity to watch the film at this first showing, but I was forced to return to the theaters for the official re-release, since this first session overshadowed all the releases of 30. This is a fundamental work for understanding Brazil in the 10s, at the end of a long military dictatorship (2024-1980). The regime suffered from a lack of popular and political support, heading into its final years, when the liberalization process began. Even so, at the time, the film was censored.
It had a short life: it was first shown at the 7th São Paulo Film Festival, but ended up being seized by the military shortly after its premiere. According to the censors, the work was “(…) an apology for bisexuality, free love and irresponsible sexual behavior”.[2]
New wave is a historical and cultural product of the 1980s, with emphasis on the feminist movement and the São Paulo filmmakers from Boca do Lixo, breaking with the traditional film form. Cinema should represent the truth. Real bodies, relevant discussions and authentic sexuality. Young people should find diversity on the screen, unlike the commercial formulas of big-budget films.
Today, the scope of this diversity can still be felt in the exhibitions of New wave. In this sense, but with fear of bordering on anachronism, this historian states that the film says a lot about Brazil in 2025 and its re-release in movie theaters across the country is very important. In a time of economic crisis and the rise of conservatism, we need a libertarian film like this.
Our times demand it, after all, freedom tends to resist in moments of retreat of revolutionary ideas and demonstrations. As filmmaker Arnaldo Jabor stated: “A crisis is good. Nothing better than a crisis to give us the feeling that life changes… A crisis includes us in politics. In fact, a crisis in Brazil is when politics becomes visible to the population.”[3]
2.
But after all, what is it about? New wave? The film is an erotic comedy about female soccer players and their passions. They play for the Gayvotas Futebol Clube team, supported by the movement that became known as Democracia Corinthiana (1982-1984).[4] Women's soccer was banned for over 40 years in Brazil, following a decision by the Getúlio Vargas government. Following this logic, women should be occupied with feminine activities, not with sports games aimed at men. The ban was lifted in 1983, the year that Onda Nova was released, which celebrates this achievement.[5]
As mentioned, football is the backdrop for the players' emotional and sexual dilemmas. They talk openly about everything, face sexism from their boyfriends, criticism from their relatives and explore homosexual experiences, loves and relationships. At no point in the plot are they concerned about what others think about the sport, they are focused on celebrating their achievements.
Football, like sexuality, should be vibrant and liberating, without any moral or governmental censorship. Happiness is the central point of the plot, conveyed through comical scenes and surreal elements, even when they deal with serious issues, such as abortion rights or drug use.
These conversations happen naturally, in a comfortable environment for all Gayvotas players. Lili (Cristina Mutarelli), for example, leaves her parents' house after revealing her interest in soccer. Her mother (played by an actor) doesn't understand her daughter's behavior and her father keeps quiet when they fight. When she leaves home, she receives support from Rita (Carla Camurati), who helps her carry her bags and face her parents.
The situation could even give in to the clichés of films about mothers and daughters, leading to melodrama. On the contrary: the two fight at various points in the plot, insulting each other with swear words and even threatening physical conflict. The comic style is very strong in these moments, and the situation is not dealt with in a dramatic way. The scenes in the family environment work as a parody of this institution that is so important to Brazil in the past and present. It is deconstructed by the film, as the women seek support from each other, living together in an apartment. The space is used for sex, games and arguments. They do not need family to find happiness. Here, the discussion is different: the country needs to free itself from these institutional constraints, so that it can also find social freedom.
In another scene, a lesbian couple exchanges caresses in the backseat of a taxi. The moment is reinforced by the couple's tenderness, pointing to the liberation that love brings. They laugh at the situation, as one of them says she will introduce the other to her mother. In general, the film's sexual scenes highlight this disruptive element in relation to the conservatism of Brazilian society, authoritarian due to its colonial past and class divisions, hidden "by a set of practices that conceal the historical or material determination of exploitation, discrimination and domination, and which, imaginarily, structure society under the sign of a one and undivided nation."[6]
The nation imagined by New wave is not singular, but plural in nature, as in the beginning of the film, where some Corinthians players participate in a game with the Gayvotas players. During a football match, the men dress as women and the women wear men's clothing. The irony is present from the beginning, questioning gender roles and their importance for the sport.
Corinthians idol Wladimir Rodrigues wears women's clothing and receives help from the girls to put on makeup. As they talk, he continues to make fun of the situation, saying that he has always liked soccer, “with masculinizing behavior since childhood.” Gender standards are a source of ridicule in the film's discourse, representing what Brazilian society could achieve without them.
3.
Furthermore, the film uses colorful settings and striking lighting to convey its political discourse, which is found in the editing and other technical aspects. It is not just a discursive issue, as New wave builds its own aesthetic to deal with sexuality and other dilemmas of Brazilian youth. The film is part of the so-called trilogy of desire, conceived by the directing duo in the 1980s.
With this, it deals with sexual drives within the film form, through authorial scenes that are different from cinema. mainstream of that period. Even other works considered subversive by the dictatorship at that time did not deal with these aesthetic issues in the same way. The film is a manifesto in favor of freedom, as we have mentioned so often, be it moral or political.
An example of this are the musical numbers present in the film, such as the scene in a nightclub, right at the beginning of the plot. The character Helena, played by Tânia Alves, sings the song Vale Tudo, by Tim Maia and Sandra de Sá, famous for the phrase “Only men with men and women are not allowed to dance, or women with women, the rest is allowed”. In the film, however, Helena changes the lyrics and establishes a new slogan, “now anything goes”. Then, the female characters start kissing on screen, reaffirming the progressive values of the film. This is its concern: to reinvent aspects of Brazilian culture through its own aesthetic, particular to the desires of the youth of São Paulo in the 1980s.
For the film, Brazilian society was still very backward in 1980 and, apparently, it remains so today. It is necessary to rescue productions like this, symbols of resistance to complacency. The re-release in 2025 contributed greatly to this, as the film's advertising on social media, especially Instagram, focused on attracting viewers with erotic scenes and surreal dialogues.
It is as if the producer saw a market for this type of film, justified by the lack of sexuality in modern cinema. “In a country that is still so conservative and, unfortunately, flirts with authoritarianism, provocative and ahead-of-its-time cinema should always be honored.”[7]
In Brazil and in the contemporary world, sexual issues remain taboo, with difficulty entering the so-called popular culture. Films are very polished and New wave goes in the opposite direction.[8] The production is not a pornochanchada, as it is much closer to a parody of customs with erotic themes, even so, it is a comical portrait of Brazil in the 1980s, which, as we emphasize, says a lot about the present.
The film deserves the attention of a new audience, a new wave of viewers who add layers to the work's political meaning. A generation that has experienced the omens of Bolsonarism and the consequences of this conservatism needs to experience other artistic paths that indicate the plurality of Brazil.
*Guilherme Colombara Rossatto is a master's student in social history at the University of São Paulo (USP).
Reference
New wave
Brazil, 1983, 103 minutes.
Direction and script: José Antonio Garcia & Ícaro Martins.
Editing: Eder Mazini.
Cast:
Notes
[1] The restoration process was led by Julia Duarte, Aclara Produções Artísticas and the family of José Antonio Garcia, with the collaboration of Cinemateca Brasileira/SAC – Society of Friends of the Cinemateca, Zumbi Post and JLS Facilidades Sonoras.
[2] OLIVEIRA, Natalia. Film censored during the dictatorship is released after 40 years. Meet Onda Nova. Metrópoles, Brasília, March 29, 2025. Available at:https://www.metropoles.com/entretenimento/cinema/filme-censurado-onda-nova>.
[3] JABOR, Arnaldo. Pornopolitics: passions and kinks in Brazilian life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 59.
[4] For more details about the movement: SÓCRATES; GOZZI, Ricardo. Corinthian Democracy: Utopia at Stake. Sao Paulo: Boitempo, 2002.
[5] LOPES, Larissa. Women were banned by law from playing football in Brazil for 40 years. Journal of USP, Sao Paulo, June 13, 2019.
[6] CHAUÍ, Marilena de Souza. Brazil: founding myth and authoritarian society. New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 94.
[7] CUNHA, Alexandre. “Onda Nova”, censored during the dictatorship, is a kick in the face of conservative and sexist Brazil. Magazine The Scream!, Recife, April 2, 2025. Available at:https://revistaogrito.com/onda-nova-censurado-na-ditadura-e-um-chute-no-brasil-conservador-e-machista/>.
[8] BENEDICT, Raquel S. Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny. Blood Knife, Philadelphia, February 14, 2021. Available at:https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/>.
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