The march of time is something that can't be fought. It comes and goes and we're never sure if we're living on the best of times or the worst of times or if
it's a junction of both. As for Brazil's politics, since ever as a founded nation, it was always a matter of having good leaders facing the worst of times or bad
commanders facing the same settings.
Tancredo Neves, our main character in this movie was a magnificent case of a truly experienced leader, a skillfull articulator who managed to
control damages on several delicate moments of our political history, from the Vargas era to João Goulart's tumultous presidential term, of which Neves acted as a
prime minister when Goulart wasn't accepted by the majority of people and political establishment. During the military regime, Neves was the only politician who
could calm the storm and animosities between the military in power and the opposition; and thanks to that that when the political opening took place in the early
1980's he was favored by the military to assume power with the return of democracy. The only thing missing on his extensive political career was the presidency of
Brazil, of which he got in 1985. But when the time of sworning in came, he fell down ill and left the nation in suspense for 21 days. And then he was gone and for everyone in Brazil it felt like a
huge blow that crushed our hopes, our desire of living in a democratic nation, and a blow of which he never recovered completely.
"The Patient - The Tancredo Neves Affair" isn't about his successful trajectory; it's not about the politician but it is mostly about the frail patient in those
confusing dark days he suffered in pain and agony; and the hopeful nation along with him, who wasn't truly informed about the real health condition of the new elected
president. As proven with time, the medical staff lied about his condition - always frail but many times the press was informed about his recovery -; and the lies, even about
the official cause of death were kept secret from everybody for more than 20 years. The behind the scenes of Tancredo's treatment and wrong prognostics are greatly detailed
in the film, that has fabulous performances by Othon Bastos as Tancredo (though there isn't much he could do with a role that leaves him mostly sick and in bed); and Paulo Betti
as the only reasonable good doctor around the man when the trusted medical staff of the president were lacking of everything, from confidence in what they were doing and
their disapproval over the arrival of a new doctor, transfers of the patient to another state to seek a better treatment, among many other problems.
Sérgio Rezende captures the essence and the tension of living those moments with Tancredo, his family, his aides, the young press secretary and the medical doctors.
For a time we might get the impression that the film is judging just the flawed doctors when in fact what complicated the most weren't their actions, it was mostly the
family's poor decisions along the way. The real fear between them and the population was the fact if news broke out about Tancredo's sick with cancer would alienate
everybody during this new political transition, and the eminent danger of not seeing the power handed over by the military was possible. The hightened tension between
everyone involved is very palpable, sickening at times and there are countless of intense dramatic moments that even if they were condensed to make it appealing to audiences
even so, you can feel it was real, not a touch of fantasy or conspiracy theories created to sell a movie. It may downplay the president's family schemes of hiding the truth
a little but we can get the idea they didn't help much the nation by concealing facts. It just genereated confusion, near panic and the thought of a president being
assassinated went through people's minds.
As for what the film doesn't answer (and can't conjecture) but we can question ourselves is: based on what we see from Tancredo in the film, or read about it on books
and reports, had he lived what kind of government we would have? Would he face the challenge of fixing the damages done by 21 years of a terrible military regime? Would inflation
be the total chaos that would follow his vice-president? Could he really calm the animosity between the new left and the new right? I wonder about those answers and possibilites
since in the past 35 years since his death Brazil shifted so may times, presidents faced impeachment, a solid monetary currency was created but the political division, the
shocking social inequalities are still present and more frightening than ever. Many thought doctor Tancredo was the solution, the country's savior. After his death some of us
still want a true statesman like he was, capable of dealing different ideologies, great conflict solver and highly diplomatic. This movie will make you remember that one time
just one man could carry all of those characteristics. A tragic hero of our recent history that the march of time didn't allowed us to see more of the visionary he was. Just as
he says as final words, he didn't deserved this. 10/10
P. S.: The documentary "Tancredo: A Travessia" works as a nice complement.
