Cine Brasil: Simonal

Documentary about Brazilian singer Wilson Simonal as part of the Brasil Festival. 

In the 1960s, Wilson Simonal was one of Brazil's most popular entertainers and the nation's best known black musician. Raised in poverty, Simonal had talent, charisma and ambition, and he rose to stardom with music that combined the sensuous rhythms of bossa nova with influences of rock and jazz while incorporating his own sharply witty lyrical style. Simonal was a popular concert attraction and even hosted his own television variety show, but he was a man with a powerful ego, and he rose to fame in a dangerous time, when Brazil was still controlled by a brutal military dictatorship. Simonal began openly criticizing leftist musicians and was believed to have affiliated himself with the nation's military government; at the same time, Simonal had a falling out with his accountant which led to intervention by the national police, an assault on the accountant, a public scandal and a trial that put Simonal behind bars for several years. After his release, Simonal spent much of his remaining years trying to reclaim his audience and his good name, with little success. However, his sons went on to become successful musicians, and filmmakers Claudio Manoel, Micael Langer and Calvito Leal pay homage to a legend of Brazilian music and try to determine the truth about his fall from grace in the documentary Simonal: Ninguem Sabe O Duro Que Dei (aka Simonal: No One Knows How Tough It Was).

Director: Cláudio Manoel, Micael Langer and Calvito Leal / Brazil / 2009 / 86 min / English spoken/subtitles.

20:30hrs.