This “Special Edition” Blu-ray from Severin Films is currently available for purchase.
Review by James Jay Edwards
In the late sixties and early seventies, a cinematic movement known as Cinema Marginal was taking hold in Brazil. This gritty, underground movement and genre stood against the mainstream Brazilian cinema, which mostly was imitating what was happening in American cinema at the time. One of the finest examples of the Cinema Marginal filmmaking movement is writer/director Rogério Sganzerla’s The Red Light Bandit. And now, Severin Films has given us a nice new offering of it.
The Red Light Bandit aka O Bandido da Luz Vermelha is about a criminal named Jorge (Paulo Villaca) who breaks into houses in the rich section of Sao Paulo. He earns the nickname “The Red Light Bandit” because he uses a red flashlight to light his way, raping the female occupants of the homes and stealing whatever he can carry, and then disappearing into the city to spend his profits. Needless to say, his adventures involve plenty of crime, betrayal, and mayhem.
Rogério Sganzerla found inspiration for his anti-hero story in real-life criminal João Acácio Pereira da Costa, whose true exploits were actually a bit worse than those in the movie. The Red Light Bandit is grounded in reality, yet it still maintains a sensationalistic aspect. It’s a downright creepy movie.
The transfer on this packaging is a 2k Scan from the original camera negative in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The production is somewhat lo-fi anyway, so it’s cleaned up about as well as it can be without stripping the film of its grimy atmosphere and character. The soundtrack is presented in mono, also seemingly cleaned up as well as it can be.
There are some quality special features included with this release of The Red Light Bandit, consisting mainly of a pair of interviews and a pair of short films.
First up is Cinema Marginal, which is an interview with producer and film conservationist Paulo Sacramento. This is a clip-filled conversation about the Cinema Marginal movement that is both entertaining and informative. Most interesting is the section of the discussion where Sacramento talks about researching a documentary about a prison where he happened to meet João Acácio Pereira da Costa, the inspiration for the character in Red Light Bandit, who was incarcerated there. There’s also a fun section where he reminisces about the Coffin Joe movies, whose creator, José Mojica Marins, was a contemporary of Sganzerla.
The next interview is called The Anti-Muse. This is another clipped-filled conversation, this time with actress and filmmaker Helena Ignez. This one isn’t as entertaining as Sacramento’s interview, but it is just as informative. While The Red Light Bandit is only touched upon briefly, Ignez discusses her entire career, much of which was spent making movies with Rogério Sganzerla. Of particular interest is a section where she discusses her and Sganzerla’s exile from Brazil in London and Africa.
In addition to the interviews, this package also includes a couple of cool short films.
The first is Sganzerla’s Comics, which is a ten-minute mini-documentary made in 1969 about comics and how they both reflect the current times and predict future trends.
And the second is Horror Palace Hotel, Jairo Ferreira’s verité-style look at his, Sganzerla’s, and José Mojica Marins’ adventures at the 1978 Brasilia Horror Film Festival. This short also has a somewhat long-winded introduction by filmmaker Dennison Ramalho.
Then, there’s the obligatory trailer, which completes the set of extras on the disc.
The Red Light Bandit is an important film in Brazilian history, both from a cinematic viewpoint and from a cultural one. Like so many of Severin’s releases, this is a great package and presentation of a movie that, frankly, needed a great package and presentation. So, again, Severin is filling a need.