‘Narcissus off duty’ Review – An ode to freedom

Directors Ricardo Calil and Renato Terra’s beautiful 2020 documentary, Narcissus, Off Duty, is a showcase of the power of visual storytelling. At just under 90 minutes, Narcissus, Off Duty is solely an interview with Brazilian composer and political activist, Caetano Veloso. 

Throughout his career, Veloso was one of the early artists to contribute to the Tropicalismo movement. A period in which traditional Brazilian and art music was infused with foreign influences. This experimental era was not widely loved throughout the country and Veloso was arrested by the Artur da Costa e Silva dictatorship in 1968. 50 years after his imprisonment, Veloso sits in front of a bare concrete wall, speaking softly to his interviewers, laying out the details of his imprisonment.

It’s an intensely intimate film, all set in one room, which never fails to be gripping. The beautiful cinematography accentuates Veloso’s movements, cutting in to highlight a piece of dialogue or pulling out wide to reveal his body movements.

Veloso’s expressionism holds this film together. The power in his pauses, as his eyes drift off in the distance or the happiness as smile flutters across his face. There are moments of pure joy as he recounts hearing the Beatles’ Hey Jude for the first time on a guard’s radio and utter despair when he talks about missing his wife. A less skilled storyteller would struggle to hold the audience for this runtime, however, Veloso has charisma in spades.

Veloso’s description of his loss of humanity is haunting. Veloso tells of his haunting experience in solitary confinement, as the days in isolation stripped away his lust, desires and zest for life. Throughout most of Veloso’s story, we do not know why he has been arrested, as that too was his experience. It is a horrifying reminder of the power of autocratic regimes and the danger of an unfettered police state.

For a film with almost no variation in setting, the moments in which it leaves an interview for one of Veloso’s acoustic performances are magical. It gives us an insight into the kind of musician that Veloso is, giving the audience familiarity with his acoustic stylings.

Calil and Terra’s documentary is an achievement in film making and a reminder that not all documentaries have to be overproduced, nor do all interviews be podcasts or sliced down.

Narcissus, Off Duty is showing as part of the Antenna Documentary Film Festival