“Relatos do mundo” is director Paul Greengrass’s first Western, a feature based on the book of the same name by Paulette Giles. Paul was responsible for the last three films, from the saga starring Matt Damon Jason bourne. The director has reunited with Tom Hanks after working together on “Captain Phillips”. The young Helena Zengel joins the two, and the trio presents a beautiful and exciting work. Exposing diversity among North Americans and different ways of thinking about reconstructing Western and “normative” Texan personalities.
This plot was set in 1870, a few years after the end of the Civil War with Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks). The climate of defeat for the monuments still persists. They do not agree to the payment of war debts and have great difficulty in abolishing slavery and accepting the right to vote of ex-slaves. It is a great historical context that says a lot about the disagreement that exists in the United States population. Between the lines of the feature we find important discussions: prejudice, racism, xenophobia, and even fake news. The captain is one of the defeated in the war, he lost everything and travels from city to city reading the news from the newspapers to the locals. During one of his travels along the dangerous roads of the Old West, he meets little Johanna (Helena Zengel), who survived an attack on the stagecoach that carried her. The girl lived with the indigenous Kiowa people for years after being kidnapped from her German family. Her Kiowa family was murdered by the US military and the girl was being taken to live with her uncles. The Kid ends up accepting the mission to take Johar to his new home. It is a long and dangerous journey of a southern ex-combatant in the Civil War and a German girl raised by indigenous people.
The pairing of the protagonist is charming, with Helena Zengel impressing on a difficult character with an impressive performance. The twelve-year-old girl speaks three different languages and goes through extreme situations in a manglik role. At her side, Tom Hanks demonstrates his already known ability, knowing how to remove the tough man with past trauma who finds a reason to live. However, he is not a classic shepherd of bangle-hempes, but someone who deserves to be fired. Even if he tries to avoid them all the time. Both must overcome trauma, face the difficulties of the present, and find their place in the world, traveling through the beautiful picture of Darius Valsky. During the day we have some after-action action scenes, impressive and well executed, intended to create tension and suspense. But they all also work for the narrative, either by making the pair closer, sympathizing with both, or showing more in-depth how each of those characters are.
In “Relatos do Mundo” we find a man and a girl who lost their place in the world and their stories. Amidst great obstacles and difficulties, they managed to meet again and tell the stories and aim for the future together.
