O Paciente - O Caso Tancredo Neves Review

By: B. Mitidieri 

Tancredo Neves (1910-1985) was voted by the National Congress to be the first president after the Brazilian military dictatorship ended. Neves' last 38 days of life and how his death came about are portrayed in the movie, and the film  is based on a book written by Luís Mir in 2010 that talks about his research on the medical archives related to Neves' death.

The director, Sérgio Rezende, focused on portraying the medical errors that caused the President's death. The first scene shows the 75-year-old Tancredo Neves, days before officially becoming president, followed by his admission to the hospital due to abdominal pain. Most of the movie takes place in the hospital bed and represents the doctor's series of wrong diagnosis and medical errors, leading to Neves’ ultimate death.

There is a mixture of documented videos of the time and acted out scenes for the movie, creating a sombre tone which depicts the worried reaction of the Brazilian public in relation to the president's health and the professional depicting of the truth.

Instead of being an enlightening movie which would enrich the viewer's knowledge of Brazilian history, the movie feels more like an episode of Grey's Anatomy. There are many medical related terms and does not talk about Tancredo Neves as a political candidate or the history before this occurrence.  I believe that the movie is too long and the story drags on too much. If the movie were 30 minutes shorter, the effect could have been achieved more effectively and the audience would not have become bored. If you are looking for entertainment, I do not recommend this movie.

On the other hand, I congratulate the cast for putting an effort and successfully depicting the people who they are performing as. Othon Bastos, Esther Góes, Otávio Müller, Leonardo Medeiros, Eucir de Souza, Paulo Betti and Emílio Dantas are few famous Brazilian actors who helped bring this movie to life. Othon Bastos proved his true talent in his role of Tancredo Neves and captured his mannerisms and expressions beautifully.  I was also astonished by Esther Góes' remarkable performance which made the scenes richer in entertainment