Word: slaving
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Xica (pronounced shee-ka) is an African slave who captures the attention of 18th century Brazil. Stylized and full of titillating shots, the film achieves success in the sheer exultation manifest by its splendiferous imagery. The finely tuned character acting and the bawdy deadpan script enable the movie to sustain a smoothly paved course. And Zeze Motta as the legendary figure Xica de Silva transforms a vibrant period piece into an electric saga that transcends time...
...film--a 1981 Brazilian export--depicts the rise and fall of Xica's influence in the Portuguese colony of Arraial do Tijuco. Initially a slave for a transplanted government official, Xica dominates her owner and his son with her unusual sexual prowess. But Xica sets her sights on more ambitious conquests; and what she wants, she gets. She manages to capture the mind and body of the new Portuguese governor. As the governor's slave, Xica wields her effervescent sensuality to the hilt, thus ascending to the most prominent social position in the land. Xica's fairy-tale-like climb...
Xica is not just a soft-porn foreign flick. Although a major focus of the plot is on Xica's sexuality and her effects on men, the themes extend into deeper realms. The film tackles the question of who is the slave and who is the master and visualizes the effect of Portugal on the natives of Brazil. And ultimately we wonder whether one person's ability to manipulate a colony with her body can endure...
...Alexander Pasternak passage referred to was cited only to point out that Boris Pasternak 's literary imagination may well have been stimulated by the sight of his brother, in an NKVD uniform, working on a canal built by slave labor during the Great Terror...
...There are East-West ramifications to the deal and legitimate arguments against the project: it is particularly unfortunate, for example, that western governments are in a sense subsidizing the pipeline construction by guaranteeing low-cost credit to the Soviet Union for the deal. Allegations that the Soviets are using slave labor to build the pipeline cast further doubts. Nevertheless, the stiffening of Administration opposition to the deal in the face of European reaction raises disturbing questions about what Reagan perceives to be the proper sphere of activity for the U.S. and the nature of the alliance...