Life has a way of dishing out lessons in humility.
Not one week after writing about how there were no lesbians anywhere in the Brazilian mainstream media, I watched Assalto ao Banco Central and now feel the need to throw some guilty applause in their direction. The character of Telma Monteiro (played by Giulia Gam), one of the police officers investigating one of the biggest bank heists in Brazilian history (true story!), is not only a capable and engaging career woman in a predominantly male world, she’s also got a very HOT girlfriend. Two femmes, clearly in a relationship with all the usual tensions and drama, one of them a main protagonist in the movie? Nah, that wouldn’t ever show up in a blockbuster USA film. Congrats, Brazil. I ♥ you a little more today.
On the other hand, in the film there’s more than one gag that plays on Devanildo’s (played by Vinicius de Oliveira) stereotypically “gay” characteristics. The film doesn’t spell out his sexual orientation and the viewers are left to draw their own conclusions from his persnickety nature, reluctance to dirty his hands, acts of flaming ineptitude, and general lack of desire to compete within the world of the macho bank robbers that he must be gay.
So that’s two thumbs up, and one down. Thank you life for the lesson in soapboxing. I take it all back, sorta.
