Aniki-Bóbó................Manoel de Oliveira

“Aniki-Bébé, Aniki-Bóbó,
passarinho tótó,
berimbau, cavaquinho,
Salomão, sacristão,
tu és polícia, tu és ladrão”

Everyone knows that ‘Aniki Bobo’ the children’s movie, directed by Manoel de Oliveira, in 1942, is one of his finest movies. However, it never received the recognition it deserved, in fact it was not even sent as an entry for the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, instead ‘Ala Arriba’ was sent. Sadly, ‘Ala Arriba’ did not win any awards. It was only much later that ‘Aniki Bobo’ was accepted and recognised as one of the most important Portuguese films.
Manoel de Oliveira shot the movie with children from his own hometown, Porto. ‘Aniki Bobo’ depicts Porto, as the ‘working capital’, here you see the banks of the rivers Porto and Gaia, with rabelo boats loading port wine from up-river, iron bridges built by Eiffel and his pupils. ‘Aniki Bobo’ as shot by Manoel de Oliveira depicts Porto as a sunny city of honest workers, kids playing happily and carelessly in the streets, old streets of stone and green...
In essence, this is a children’s film, but it is definitely much more than an average children’s film when you look at its depth and intensity. As Fernando Pessoa once said "No children's book should be written for children", you could apply it to films too. What sense is there in making a children's film devoid of any idea?
‘Aniki Bobo’ is a simple but absolutely breathtaking tale for children, but is it just that?
Surely you did not expect a mediocre film, when the director is Manoel de Oliveira…..
There is a dramatic intensity created around a very simple story, but at the same time, there is a deep reflection on the nature of human behaviour. The characters, although children, portray the usual human behaviour, they are innocent, many times vain, show envy, are filled with guilt and desire, are plagued by jealousy and so many times are generous as well.
Any film can be viewed and interpreted in so many ways, there exist so many points of view, however out of all the characters I find the character portrayal of Carlitos and Eduardo most fascinating.
Carlitos is always the ‘outsider’ of the group; he is ostracized at play and in school. Why he cries out in his heart is he never included in anything? He ponders every day, he is just like any of the others, he is just as poor as any of his group; his social status is very similar to that of Eduardo’s. How is it then that Eduardo has such a following, and he…..nobody even knows he exists. Of course Carlitos is terribly sad, human beings need company, its terrible when nobody talks to you, Carlitos is very confused and lonely. He sums up his life with the observation; ‘And they never even told me’. For that is the life of an overlooked person is, nobody tells them anything, nobody shares anything with them. Luckily for Carlitos, Terezinha does like him, a wee bit, but Terezinha likes Eduardo too. Who can resist Eduardo, the full of beans Eduardo, the braggart, the annoyingly funny Eduardo, the Eduardo who bunks school to fly a kite. No, Terezinha just cannot resist this Eduardo. Carlitos cannot afford to lose Terezinha, the only person who has shown any interest in him, of course there is Batatinhas, the very loyal Batatinhas, but come on guys a girl is a girl, no loyal friend can substitute a girl. No way. So he robs the doll for Terezinha. Although Terezinha loves the doll, she cannot resist Eduardo, fickle? Who can understand the vagaries of the human heart, who are we to judge where Terezinha’s loyalties should lie. There are fights all the time for her affection, shoves, pushes, hurtful words to Carlitos and in the midst of it all, Terezinha our young Helen of Troy. Then that fateful day when there is that terrible accident and Eduardo nearly loses his life. Everyone, just about everyone blames Carlitos, life turns hell for Carlitos, and even Batatinhas turns his back on him. Terezinha just flees. Carlitos is accused of revenge, is falsely accused of pushing Eduardo over the edge, blamed for Eduardo’s accident. Luckily for Carlitos the shopkeeper, who had been following the children in search of the thief who had stolen the doll from his shop, sees Eduardo slipping on the scree, losing his balance and falling just by the side of the railway track, when a train was passing by. Talk of luck. Eduardo is saved but is very ill. The shopkeeper saves Carlitos’ very battered reputation. Eduardo vain, cocky, is after all just a young boy who maybe, needs to be street smart, he is everything, that Carlitos is not. When you are poor you learn the ropes or you end up like Carlitos overlooked and ignored.
Strangely, the director Manoel de Oliveira is always referred to, at least these days, in connection with his age, rather than his work, but he should be remembered at least for ‘Aniki Bobo’ and ‘Douro Faina Fluvial’. His films are deceptively simple but show immense charm and depth.
They portray life like it is, shorn of all pretences…………..