Mutum

With the Brazilian countryside as backdrop, director Sandra Kogut paints a wistful, subdued and beautiful portrait of 12-year-old Thiago’s encounter with the conflicts, losses and grief of the grown-up world. The portrait of Thiago is a vigorous childhood tale that emphasises the coming-of-age process inherent in the experiences the boy is making as his isolated and tough, yet safe life is challenged by chaos.

The actions of Mutum are seen from Thiago’s point of view, which provides a sensitive angle on the destructive behaviour of the grown-ups. The film also touches upon children’s naïve, yet at the same time genuinely philosophical attitude towards the notion of God’s meting out guilt and punishment, and the whole is soberly, quietly and unsentimentally done by debautant filmmaker Kogut. lab