This review for "Joelma 23º Andar" comes with a decade of delay and not because I didn't wrote it. It was written just fine, back when I first
watched the film, at the time when there was Google videos, when some films were posted in just one video rather than the ones posted on YouTube split
in several 10-12 minute videos. But something happened when I sent the review, the page failed, and I didn't had a draft saved. It got lost on the way
just as the memories from it and I never got back to it (once lost, never return). I got the film on DVD last year but delayed viewing until February 2024
when the tragedy completed its 50th anniversary, and along with that came a different perspective from the film I watched ages ago, a wider view on
things and what the film is actually about. And with that came a different comprehension on things and life experiences that whatever was said on that
review does not matter anymore; it's getting one now and I like to believe is coming for a reason.
The film was based on the spiritism book "Somos Seis" written by medium Chico Xavier, through a psychographic letter done by Volquimar Carvalho dos Santos,
a 21-year data worker who perished on the fire of Joelma Building on February 1st, 1974, along with 186 others in a terrific tragedy that was closely
followed by millions of people as the images were captured on live TV from rescue attempts and the people who jumped from the building. After the fire
from Andraus in 1972 and this one, it became a cause celebre in enforcing regulations, fire brigades, procedures and equipments, and tragedies as such hardly ever
repeated from then on.
Volquimar is transformed as Lucimar for the movie and played by a young Beth Goulart, and we follow a little about her family life, applying to
go to college and also as a worker on Joelma; with the second act being the tragedy in a mixture of fiction and documentary (as director Clery Cunha
uses plenty of the real images from the fire and the crowd commotion); and the third act which reflects that death is not the end of everything, hence
her communication through Chico Xavier destined to comfort her family as she's living on another plan.
Beyond just showing the tragedy (which would be a film just destined for curious viewers without a reflective aftermath), it goes a little
further by having a message of hope and peace, instead of just horror and sadness. It is about the spiritism, its teachings and how souls manage
to communicate with the living ones - the book has another victim from the tragedy sharing his experiences. To those who are part of the cause or
believe in the afterlife it's a very reflective and powerful experience, both as in following the events from that dark day and also the connection
formed even after the girl's death. The documentary style makes it all more appealing and dramatic, and at times it's even hard to distinguish the
real images from 1974 to the ones filmed in 1979.
On a deeply personal note, I must say this recent rewatch was a profound one and somewhat life-changing. One of the things that I probably had
complained on that lost review was the third act, that seemed preachy and almost like a propaganda on spiritism (nothing wrong with that, but I can
understand viewers uninterested about it). Through a series of existential
questionings over the years I got a little close to the topic, seen so many things about it which made me go from skeptic to a small believer, and the
whole process of coming back to the film, write this review and a series of unusual events in between was really something extraordinary that I cannot
say it was just a coincidence or an illusion of coincidence. Things happened. Glad to be here just to say those words on a film I liked, after all
these years that I thought I owed some thoughts about it and with a wider comprehension of everything. Probably that review was prevented for a reason. 9/10.
