Sissel Morell Dargis: Balomania/ Anmeldelse
Early in this amazing film a boy says about the balloon phenomenon: It’s an art form. People express themselves through the balloons, I’ve heard… cut to a policeman who is in the middle of a balloon on ground. Do you like it, the director asks him. Yes, it’s beautiful, but forbidden, he answers.
Before that, in brief television clips, we have seen raids on the so-called balloon gangs, actions that the director, who in Portuguese takes us into the world of Baloeiros, questions: how come it seems to be seen as more dangerous than the drug scene in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the locations of the film.
Danish Sissel Morell Dargis, a grafftti artist, entered the balloon environment, when she was 19 and slowly – as the film puts in – she is accepted with her camera. First by “Playboy”, then by Jaba and first and foremost by the respected Godfather of the Baloeiros, Sergio, to whom the film is dedicated. “He was the one, who had most confidence in me”. They open up to her with some skepticism as it is an invitation to a secret world, because of the constant police surveillance. At some point Sissel says that she was observed by the police as well and had to change cards for her phone. Nobody wants to say when and where a balloon release is to happen, some of the balloons, at least one, is said to have measures of a football pitch! And why Pavarotti on a balloon, Sissel asks in a scene, that takes place in a workshop, where the balloons are created. We don’t know, but Brazilian people love opera, is the laughing answer!
Oh, there is so much energy and passion in this film. Maybe the right word is Presence. Because of a young girl with a camera asking questions again and again to discover a world, she knew very little about. Curiosity is what she has, as a true documentarian combined with a lot of courage. Her intimate talks with “Playboy” and especially Jaba give the social dimension; it’s not a rich world and she does not really get an answer to the question, where the money for the creation and release of the balloons come from. Sponsors there are for sure.
There are two interconnected ways: You can be part of the creation and you can be part of the crazy chase of the balloon. Or both. Once the balloon is up in the air the question is where it will land! Both parts are followed in a film about an art form and its artists. I have been in Rio and Sao Paulo enjoying the passion around football, now a brilliant film has shown me another Brazilian world of passion, sharing, loving, fighting to be the best. Thank you for bringing me there. And be sure this film will travel all over!
Denmark and other countries, 2024, 93 mins.
