{"id":3882,"date":"2007-08-07T12:36:42","date_gmt":"2007-08-07T19:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3882"},"modified":"2021-02-01T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:13:09","slug":"how-tasty-was-my-little-frenchman-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3882","title":{"rendered":"How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The natives are barbarous savages &#8212; different from us, and without any religion.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Poster-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29758\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Poster-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Poster-90x128.jpg 90w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Poster.jpg 354w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 16th century Brazil, a French mercenary (Arduano Colassanti) is mistaken for Portuguese and captured by a tribe of Indians, who tell him he has eight months to live before being eaten.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cannibalism<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Native Peoples<\/li>\n<li>South and Central America<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis uneven yet compelling film by director Nelson Pereira dos Santos is a classic of Brazil&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cinema_Novo\"><em>cinema novo<\/em><\/a> movement, which emphasized a reliance on native Brazilian aesthetic sensibilities and a break with cinematic conventions. It&#8217;s a cynical and subversive look at colonialism in 16th century South America, told through the non-idealized story of Indians dealing with the rape of their land in the only way they know how: through native traditions. This includes capturing and eating their enemies (the Portuguese), in order to literally ingest their &#8220;strength&#8221; &#8212; in other words, cannibalism. It&#8217;s to Pereira dos Santos&#8217;s credit that this element of the film is never sensationalized. In fact, he makes every effort to present the Indians&#8217; lifestyle as &#8220;natural&#8221; &#8212; including their near-absence of clothing. Not surprisingly, Brazilian censors had a problem with this lack of modesty, and prevented the film from being shown for a year after it was made; but it&#8217;s a testament to the film&#8217;s ethnographic authenticity that the nudity quickly seems commonplace, and never exploitative. While <em>How Tasty<\/em> is a provocative and disturbing film in many ways, however, it&#8217;s not uniformly successful. This is primarily due to the opening montage sequence, which misrepresents the film as a comedy; though it certainly possesses satirical elements (the title alone is evidence of this), it&#8217;s not really a farce. Once this brief sequence is over, however, it&#8217;s remarkably easy to get caught up in the travails of Arduano Colassanti&#8217;s &#8220;Frenchman&#8221; &#8212; whose fate remains uncertain until the very end. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A compelling pseudo-ethnographic look at the Tupinambas tribe of Brazil<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Ethno-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The Frenchman&#8217;s new wife describing to him what his cannibalism ritual will be like<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Explain-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Beautiful natural settings<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67789\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/How-Tasty-Line-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The haunting final images\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an acknowledged classic of Brazilian <em>cinema novo<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0066936\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1973\/04\/17\/archives\/screenhow-tasty-was-my-little-frenchman.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2294tast.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The natives are barbarous savages &#8212; different from us, and without any religion.&#8221; Synopsis: In 16th century Brazil, a French mercenary (Arduano Colassanti) is mistaken for Portuguese and captured by a tribe of Indians, who tell him he has eight months to live before being eaten. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cannibalism Historical Drama Native Peoples South and Central America Review: This uneven yet compelling film by director Nelson Pereira dos Santos is a classic of Brazil&#8217;s cinema novo movement,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3882\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3882"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67791,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3882\/revisions\/67791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}