Brazilian movie titles
Brazilians have a penchant for adding lots of words and detail to U.S. movie titles when translating them into Portuguese, sometimes leaving little resemblance to the original. (And Portugal and Brazil don’t always agree on what to call a movie: “The Sound of Music” in Portugal is “Music in the Heart” and in Brazil it’s “The Rebellious Novice.”)
Perhaps because fewer movies travel the other direction (Brazil to the US), there seems to be less creativity in title translation, with a lot of titles left in the original or translated very literally. This doesn’t mean there isn’t some creativity, however. As a not-really-random sample, here are the Brazilian movies that have been nominated for Oscars:
Not translated:
“Rio de Janeiro” (best original song nominee, 1945)
”O Quatrilho” (literally “The Quadrille”) (best foreign film nominee, 1995)
Translated literally:
“Orfeu Negro” > “Black Orpheus” (best foreign film winner in 1959, but technically credited to France)
”O Beijo da Mulher Aranha” > “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985 nominee for best picture, best director, and best screenplay; winner for best actor for American William Hurt)
”Central do Brasil” > “Central Station” (named for this iconic train station in Rio) (1999 nominee for best foreign film and best actress)
”Uma História de Fútebol” > “A Soccer Story” (best live action short nominee in 2001)
”Cidade de Deus” > “City of God” (named for the neighborhood in Rio) (2002 nominee for best director, best adapted screenplay, best editing, and best cinematography)
”O Menino e o Mundo” > “The Boy and the World” (2016 nominee for best animated feature)
Multiple translation:
“O Pagador de Promessas” (literally “The Promise Keeper”) > “Keeper of Promises,” “The Given Word", “The Promise” (best foreign film nominee, 1962)
Freeform translation:
”O Que É Isso, Companheiro?” (literally something like “What’s This All About, Comrade?”) > “Four Days in September” (best foreign film nominee, 1998)
”Lixo Extraordinário” (literally “Special Trash” or “Extraordinary Trash,” referring to the label on Brazilian garbage trucks) > “Waste Land” (best doc feature nom, 2010)
“Democracia em Vertigem” (literally something along the lines of “Dizzying Democracy”) > “The Edge of Democracy”
This is nominated this year in the best documentary category. At this year’s Oscars (tomorrow), it has the potential to become (technically) the FIRST BRAZILIAN OSCAR.
Other noms I didn’t count:
- A Brazilian song from the American movie “Rio” was nominated in 2011.
- The Brazilian producer Lélia Wanick Salgado was nominated in 2014 for the documentary “The Salt of the Earth” but the title of that film was in English and it’s not really a Brazilian film.
- Technically “Call Me By Your Name” (winner best adapted screenplay and 3 other nominations, 2018) is a joint Brazil production, but not really a Brazilian film.