Curiosities

The Christmas spirit had invaded the program Divino, Maravilhoso, broadcast live on TV Tupi, on the night of December 23^rd, 1968. The program’s film editor, Cassiano Gabus Mendes, did what he could, but was unable to prevent the scene of Caetano pointing a revolver at his own head from appearing in the foreground on the video.

The leader of the Bahian group said he had been inspired by a scene in the film Terra em Transe – “Entranced Earth” by Glauber Rocha, but took the opportunity to allude to the death of the also-Bahian Assis Valente, composer of the carnival march “Boas Festas” – “Season’s Greetings” and the songs “Lá vem o Brasil descendo a ladeira” and “E o mundo não se acabou”. He had committed suicide ten years previously, aged 47, by swallowing insecticide in a bottle of the soft drink Guaraná. “Anoiteceu, o sino gemeu, e a gente ficou, feliz a rezar…” – “Night had fallen, the bell had rung, and we were happy, happy to pray…”

Inspiration and homage apart, what the Tropicalists really wanted was to show their inconformity with the “straightness” of the traditional Brazilian family. And there was no better time for such a shocking scene. In the face of such provocation, people were already commenting during the first few weeks of its broadcast that the program’s days were numbered.

As if indignant letters from TV viewers and the authorities in small-town Brazil were not enough, undercover policemen frequented the auditorium, making the pressure and feeling of ill will against the Tropicalists increase even further.

With the decreeing of the AI-5 act abolishing civil rights on December 13^th of the same year, fear had grown among the show’s cast and production team. Comedian and TV personality Jô Soares even warned Caetano and Gil that their names featured on a list of “personas non gratas by the government”. The outcome was inevitable. Both were arrested on December 27^th.