Pepe's Dreams

The text below was published before the death of former Uruguayan President José Mujica, which occurred this Tuesday (13). Mujica was facing terminal esophageal cancer and had been receiving palliative care in recent weeks.

By Leonardo Lima*

After decades of dedicated service to his country, especially in defense of democracy, equality and social justice, the emblematic Latin American leftist leader José "Pepe" Mujica has come out publicly to inform, especially to his fellow Uruguayans, that he is nearing the end of his life due to esophageal cancer that has metastasized and spread to other organs. "A warrior has the right to rest," as he said in his farewell speech earlier this year.

You know those coincidences that seem like a joke played by life? I would say that the documentary Os Sonhos de Pepe, shown in Brazilian cinemas at the end of 2024, certainly adds to the list of events that follow to mark, in a celebratory way, a historical personality whose existence in flesh and blood was/will be abruptly interrupted. The film by director Pablo Trobo, which delves into Pepe Mujica's philosophical, political and social ideas for the future of our planet, could not, therefore, have been released at a more opportune moment, as it ends up enhancing the humanist and avant-garde perspective of the critical thinking developed over the years by its honoree.

Although it recalls important aspects of Pepe's career - from his time as a Tupamaros guerrilla and political prisoner during the military dictatorship to his years as president of Uruguay and later senator - the focus of Pepe's Dreams is to look to the future over the next thirty years. It does so based on what Mujica believes to be the path to another possible world, in which the alarming levels of income inequality are a thing of the past and a sustainable balance in the relationship between human beings and nature can be achieved.

We then follow Pepe on his travels around the world, visiting countries as diverse as the United States, Brazil and Japan, in order to spread his ideas, always keeping in mind the importance of face-to-face dialogue with the public, regardless of whether the audience is made up of government officials and national authorities or young students. In a cordial and friendly manner, with a discreet but welcoming smile always on his face, he seems to reproduce, through the rhetorical force that characterizes his speech, the mystique that has projected Uruguay into the concert of nations throughout its history, despite being a small country in terms of territory and population. In a way, it is as if, speaking into the microphone in each lecture or interview he gives, Pepe argues with the same mastery as Obdúlio Varela or Luis Suárez on the pitch wearing the Celeste Olímpica jersey.

The words of the wise old man, who remains faithful to a simple lifestyle, local in its material basis but universal in its human condition, are amplified through some technical and aesthetic choices that Pablo Trobo uses to bring to light Pepe Mujica's most intimate dreams. In addition to the charm of the soundtrack, which uses Villa-Lobos' classic O Trenzinho do Caipira, what is particularly striking is the use of digital effects that take over the screen without any modesty or reservation, as if to show that the beauty inadvertently evoked by those images - made real thanks to the technological advances of the present, once a mere utopia - is, in fact, an invitation to the viewer to believe that Pepe's ideals, considered utopian today, could also come to fruition. To achieve this, it is necessary that the praxis of individuals and collectives be reoriented towards a way of life that vehemently denies the predatory premises of the capitalist mode of production, which are leading humanity to self-extinction.

Pepe's Dreams takes on the form of an intellectual testament left for future generations. In addition to his unconditional defense of progressive left-wing ideas, Pepe, in this documentary, shows his ability to promote open and frank dialogue about issues that increasingly concern everyone. Even those who think differently from him will one day recognize how visionary Pepe was, successfully addressing issues that, in the short and medium term, will most likely be considered trivial. As for the film itself, this is an example of a work that lives up to its cinematic nature, as it documents, with unparalleled felicity, the necessary utopia of someone who dared to daydream while the others around him merely sleep in a splendid cradle built on greed and recklessness.

Original title: Los Sueños de Pepe - Movimiento 2052

Directed by: Pablo Trobo

Release year: 2024

Country: Uruguay

Duration: 86 minutes

Text originally published at temquever.com.br

* Sociologist, film critic for the Cine Mulholland page