The 3 Marias
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: B-
Women and revenge is usually a combination you find in
exploitation films, particularly in the Horror genre. The idea of women being empowered to kill and avenge occasionally
surfaced in silent films, but only in American Film Noirs was it more common in
Hollywood, then there was a rollback there against women. Foreign cinema has had an easier time in
dealing with such women, but revenge is usually in a man’s world between men in
the typical film. Aluizio Abranches’ The
3 Marias (2002) focuses on a woman scorned, who has her three daughters get
revenge for her a generation later.
This is done tongue in cheek, though there is some
violence. In the mode of Sam Peckinpah,
the mother wants proof of death as in the self-explanatory Bring Me The Head
Of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and the daughter are off in different directions
to do their mother’s bidding. In
another way, this was like watching A Bell From Hell (reviewed elsewhere
in this site) in reverse, in which the crazed vengeful killer goes after the
daughters of who he is out for. Either
way, the film is nestled comfortably in genre convention.
That is fine and all, but it does not have all the edge of
it predecessors, humor notwithstanding.
The use of digital maps before the arrival of each daughter of darkness
is distracting and ruins the pace a bit, but I like the performances and some
of this is amusing. Too bad it did not
have more to offer. This is a film
worth catching if you like this type of genre work.
The 2.35 X 1 letterboxed image is a bit soft, but has some
color consistency. Cinematographer
Marcelo Durst gives us some memorable shots and uses of the scope frame that
make the film more involving. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo has Pro Logic surrounds, while the film may have been a 5.1
release theatrically. Either way, it is
here with white, burned-in English subtitles that can get lost in the
background and are on the small side, while the language is Portuguese. Extras include a single text page on
director Aluizio Abranches, a couple of stills from the film and its
production, plus five trailers for other Empire DVD titles.
- Nicholas Sheffo
