“Being a diva is serious business. A diva
is a diva.” This is how the transvestite Fujika de Halliday explains what it
means to be a “diva”. Halliday is one of the characters in the documentary Divinas
Divas (Divine Divas), by Leandra Leal. The director pays tribute to
a group of courageous, determined and talented transvestites who managed to
build solid careers as artists, and play an important role in furthering the
LGBT cause in Brazil, even through di cult
times like the military dictatorship. Rogéria, Jane di Castro, Divina Valéria,
Eloína de Leopardo, Camille K, Fujika de Halliday, Marquesa and Brigite de
Búzios are endearingly presented in the film.
Divinas Divas is, after all, largely a film about endearment. Beginning
with the diretor Leandra Leal herself, for whom Teatro Rival, where the
performers first did shows in the 1970s, was a second home from the time she
was a child. The theater, which was run by her grandfather for many years, was
one of the only spaces in Rio that opened its doors to transvestite performers.
After her grandfather’s death, her mother, Angela Leal, also an actor, took
over the theater. The transvestites portrayed in this film had a very special
relationship not only with the space, but also with Leandra. The narrative,
based on interviews with the characters, features interviews, and flashy
performances and rehearsals for the theater’s 70th anniversary celebration.
But the a ection is not only for the
theater. The loving relationships explored in the film also involve family
members, boyfriends and girlfriends, their artistic careers, and the audience.
Leandra Leal herself comments on the great extent to which the transvestites
were part of her world. Thus, the film is a natural expression of endearment. Divinas
Divas focuses on prejudice, the transformation of the transvestites’
bodies, the persecution they faced during the dictatorship, and acceptance – or
lack thereof – by their families in a sensitive and subtle yet decisive manner.
Divinas Divas is overall a lighthearted film with a good balance of
humor, emotion and criticism of Brazilian society.
Lecco França é professor
universitário, pesquisador, curador e crítico de cinema. Doutor em Letras pelo
Programa de Pós-graduação em Literatura e Cultura da Universidade Federal da
Bahia.
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