Cinema, history and the nation: Humberto Mauro and O descobrimento do Brasil

Abstract

Humberto Mauro is considered a pioneer of Brazilian cinema. This article proposes a reading of his film O descobrimento do Brasil (1937) based on conceptual elements from the fields of Sociology of Art and Cinema developed by Pierre Francastel and Pierre Sorlin. The film, part of the collection of the old National Institute of Educational Cinema, gives an image to the “discovery” of the country, its aim being to illustrate the Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha. Accordingly, it makes references to the Brazilian visual tradition and produces what we might call a historical painting in motion. In this perspective the film introduces elements of the past in the construction of the values of its time, creating or recreating myths of nationality. Thus it becomes part of a larger project of construction of the Brazilian nation, in which cultural objects were considered a path to its implementation.