Esmir Filho
Matogrosso

But no matter how much one listens assiduously to music in its various styles, it is not excluded that one might stumble upon something they didn't even suspect existed. What happened to me recently confirms that knowing all human musical knowledge would take a long time, and perhaps a lifetime wouldn't be enough. But certain discoveries reassure you because they confirm the necessity of searching to find good music in an exemplary way.

While I was browsing through the new titles on the Netflix platform, I came across "Matogrosso," created by Esmir Filho and available since last 06/17. Certainly, I was attracted to the Brazilian origin, a nation where interesting proposals in the film and music fields are not lacking. In general, when talking about music, the generic reference to samba is what immediately comes to mind, but there is much more. And before then, the name Ney Matogrosso was not known to me, nor would I have associated it with that style labeled as glam rock. But indeed, even in the Carioca area, there have been valid proposals in this sense, and the aforementioned Matogrosso stands out.

Specifically, director Esmir Filho has indeed made a musical biopic, focusing on the private dimension of the protagonist. And aside from those prominent characteristics of the genre, where the salient facts of a musician's career are crammed together (with deleterious effects like a confused temporal blend as seen in certain biopics released in recent years), here the artist is above all a man in the making who imposes his way of being, disregarding a certain still retrograde mentality in the Brazil where he operates.

Therefore, as well depicted, Ney de Souza Pereira (who would later take the stage name Ney Matogrosso) was born into a family with a strong paternal authority, with the father being a military man. Given Ney's artistic sensitivity and his curiosity for Brazil's lush natural dimension, it would only be a matter of time before he chooses to leave the family environment once he reaches adulthood.

After a long apprenticeship in choral groups active in recording studios, Ney stands out for his particular high countertenor voice and will later join a folk-rock group named Secos & Molhados, with whom he will record the first album titled the same. We are in 1973, and success with the Brazilian public is assured, leaving critics a bit bewildered by the group's highly innovative charge, performing very hot concerts. Everything would go well, but it is at this point that Ney Matogrosso's unpredictable and rebellious character emerges, who, due to differences with his band colleagues, opts to pursue a solo career in which he will continuously present himself (to this day) as a proponent of an alternative lifestyle to the traditional one defended by the authoritarian regime of those times. Undoubtedly, his stage force captures the attention and enthusiasm of the spectators, besides certain reprimands from zealous inspectors of the censorship commission, who invite him to limit the number of hip movements on stage where he does not hesitate, when necessary, to include a complete striptease and simulations of orgasms.

Therefore, his is a force of nature also expressed in his private life, where he is reluctant to establish stable emotional ties. Whoever is with him, be it man or woman, must accept him for what he is, that is, a coherently fluid person, immersed in nature and very sensual, rebellious to established morality. However, this will not prevent him from undergoing painful trials when, in the full season of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a partner of his will fall ill and die.

The strength of the film lies in the performance of Jesuita Barbosa, who perfectly embodies the role of Ney Matogrosso, to the extent of expressing that force of nature embodied by the protagonist artist of the biopic. Moreover, the actor moves masterfully on set, but the voice singing the songs (like "America do Sul," "Bandolero," "Homen com H") is indeed Matogrosso's. The result is effective, and the actor manages to incarnate a true erotic energy, a rebellion against what was then the prevailing Brazilian military regime.

For this reason, it would have been better to title the work not "Matogrosso," but rather "Homem com H," as in the title of a song by Ney Matogrosso. The expression "Homem com H" translates to "man with a capital H" and indeed indicates a very virile man, but in this case, the artist Matogrosso intended to mean that one is virile not by being conformist, but if one is coherent with their own convictions and therefore courageous. A not-so-common trait in our standardized world.