I’m fluent in portuguese. What now?
This post contains a list of brazilian documentaries, movies, TV shows, books, and novelas(we don’t call them telenovelas) that’ll help you understand how our language is affected by accents, regionalisms, levels of scholarity, slangs, and such.
Don’t feel bad if you can’t understand something. We can’t either, sometimes.
I’ve watched O Auto da Compadecida maybe 6 times until I could comprehend everything. That happens mostly because I’m from Rio and the story takes place in Paraíba(very far from here). Also because of income differences, lifestyle differences, etc.
Click on the titles to watch it. I’ll link it with english subtitles whenever possible.
They might not be in HD, but it’s not hard to find a version in better quality.
This list will have tagged such as:
S - slang-heavy;
R - heavy in regionalisms and idiomatic expressions;
LS - low scholarity effects on the language;
G - gringos(foreigners) speaking portuguese;
OT - old-timey portuguese.
Brazil is very fortunate to be rich in works with such cultural representation like these, so, eventually, this list might get a part 2.
My faves will be tagged with a *
*O Auto da Compadecida - R, LS
*Lisbela e o Prisioneiro - R
*Última Parada 174 - S, LS | Hearing impaired english subtitles here
*Cidade de Deus - S, LS | Subtitles in english, dutch, greek, and spanish
*Carandiru - S, LS | English subtitles
*Caramuru - OT, LS, R
À Deriva - G
Era uma Vez… - S, LS
Morte e Vida severina - LS, R
*Estômago - R, LS
Primo Basílio - OT
Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus - R, G
*O Céu de Suely - R, S, LS | English subtitles
*Ó Paí, Ó - R, S, LS
*Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco - S, LS, G
Cabra Marcado pra Morrer - R, LS
Lavoura Arcaica - OT, LS
*Malasartes e o Duelo Contra a Morte - LS, R | English subtitles
*Iracema - Uma Transa Amazônica - LS, R
*O Contador de Histórias - LS, S, G(portuguese actress faking a french accent) | Subtitles in italian, russian, brazilian portuguese, and bosnian
*Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brazil - OT, LS, G(brazilian actress faking a spanish accent, brazilian actors speaking english and spanish) | English subtitles
📺 TV SHOWS 📺
*Hoje é Dia de Maria - R, LS | Season 1, season 2
***********Capitu - OT(based on the book Dom Casmurro)
Sítio do Pica Pau Amarelo - OT, R, LS(children’s)
Os Maias - OT, some european portuguese
*Amorteamo - R, OT(was later edited into a movie with the same title)
*Antônia - S, LS
*Cidade dos Homens - R, LS, S
*Carandiru: Outras Histórias - LS, S
Ó Paí, Ó - LS, S, R
Cabocla - OT, LS, R (there are 2 versions)
Sinhá Moça - OT, LS, R(2 versions as well)
Desejo Proibido - OT
Esperança - OT, G(brazilian actors faking italian accents)
Gabriela - OT, LS, R(2 versions)
Cordel Encantado - OT, LS, R
Terra Nostra - OT, G(brazilian actors faking italian accents)
*Bang Bang - OT, LS, R
*Xica da Silva - OT, LS, R
O Vestido by Carlos Herculano Lopes - R
A Infância Acabou by Renato Tapajós - LS, S
Morte e Vida severina by João de Melo Neto - R, LS, OT
Vidas Secas by Graciliano Ramos - OT, R, LS
Sítio do Pica Pau Amarelo by Monteiro Lobato - OT, R, LS(children’s)
Macunaíma by Mário de Andrade - R, LS, OT
Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis - OT
Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cuba by Machado de Assis - OT
O Cortiço by Aluísio de Azevedo - LS, OT, R
O Mulato by Aluísio de Azevedo - LS, OT, R(the word “mulato” is a pejorative term)
*Juízo - LS, S
*Ônibus 174 - LS, S
*O Prisioneiro da Grade de Ferro - LS, S
Ilha das Flores - none of the tags but the narrator speaks really fast and your heart keeps beating faster and faster and faster and you feel yourself getting dizzy and jesus christ calm the fuck down please
*Justiça - LS, S
Mato Eles? - LS, R
*Pro Dia Nascer Feliz - LS, S, R
Doméstica - LS, S
*Meninas - LS, S
This list was built with the help of my brazilian followers and some members of the facebook group E.MO.TION Island.