Abstract

This work analyzes the film “The Friend of the King” (2019), by director André D`Elia. It identifies ethical and aesthetic elements for thinking in a critical cinema based on Paulo Freire’s philosophy. In dialogue with his theses, it proposes a hermeneutics that addresses the situation of the effects of the Mariana dam rupture (called “Fundão”, November, 5th, 2015). The film operates between fiction and documentary gender; reveals behind-the-scenes digging of iron ore from asset debris, testimonials from mining officials, academics and others, details of the dam rupture that dumped 40 million cubic meters of tailings from the Doce River at its mouth in Regency, Espírito Santo coast. The “toxic mud” killed human lives, their stories, dreams and drastically reduced an ability to maintain a local biodiversity. The film gives voice to the exploited / excluded of official history and reveals its power when analyzed under a Paulo Freire worldview. That justifies its affiliation with a critical social practice, whose objective is to surpass or reduce the performance by the hegemonic cultural, orchestrated by industry cultural. The film denounces crimes committed, injustices and manifestation for reparation by the victims, many of which have not yet been identified.