Fewer people in Hollywood have had a career as broad asAlan Arkin, whopassed away on June 29 at age 89. While he will forever be remembered for his Oscar-winning performance inLittle Miss Sunshine, one of his best works is in another Oscar-nominated movie, but one far less known. We’re talking about the Brazilian classicFour Days in September, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 Academy Awards. In it, Arkin playsCharles Burke Elbrick, the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil who is kidnapped by an armed guerilla group in 1969, five years after a military coup begins the military dictatorship period in the country.
What Is ‘Four Days in September’ About?
The movie is part of what’s called “Cinema da Retomada,” a movement that sought to restart Brazilian movie production on a large scale after decades of censorship by the military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, and the recession that laid waste to the country’s economy until the early 1990s.Four Days in Septemberhas a very particular significance in this movement, though, as it proved the quality ofBrazilian cinemaand how national artists could work on an equal footing with foreign stars, especially Hollywood icons such as Arkin, and deliver high-quality award-winning movies just the same.
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The military dictatorshiplasted for 21 years in Brazil, but its effects are still felt to this day. There are countless movies depicting this infamous period, but few of them capture how poorly organized was the resistance in the period asFour Days in September. The story is based onWhat’s This, Comrade?, the first-hand account ofFernando Gabeira(played in the movie byPedro Cardoso), a leftist militant who joined the revolutionary guerilla MR-8. They started off performing small bank robberies, the kidnapping of Ambassador Elbrick being their only major act. The intention was to exchange Elbrick for the freedom of 15 political prisoners.
The group itself consisted mostly of students, with a few radical adults and an older mentor. They all had a pretty romantic and naive idea of what bearing arms against the military could achieve, and, despite their bravado, none of them were really ready to deal with the consequences of their actions. The movie does take a lot of creative liberties when compared to Gabeira’s memoir, establishing side plots, romantic interests, and even rivalries between some of the characters for dramatic effect, but it doesn’t shy away from depicting some of thecruelest things about the military dictatorship, too, such as the mindless thirst for blood some officers had and their torture mechanisms, including the infamous pau-de-a rara.
Elbrick was held captive in a house on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, a place quickly found by military government agents thanks to the suspicious behavior of the MR-8 members in the neighborhood. Their demands were met, and the Ambassador was freed, but they would all eventually be found and tortured by the military dictatorship. Gabeira went on to become a journalist and politician in Brazil after democracy was reestablished in 1989 and often cites his experience during those four days in September 1969 as a turning point in his life.
Arkin’s Portrayal Is at the Core of ‘Four Days in September’
The cast ofFour Days in Septemberis simply stellar by Brazilian standards, and few other movies in Brazilian cinema ever matched the sheer star power here. It mixed household names such asFernanda MontenegroandOthon Bastos, soap opera stars likeClaudia AbreuandFernanda Torres, and rising movie stars like dynamic duoSelton MelloandMatheus Nachtergaele. They all get their spotlight, but the true dramatic core of the movie resides in Pedro Cardoso’s portrayal of Gabeira and Alan Arkin’s Charles Elbrick.
The only member of the MR-8 who could speak English beyond formal greetings,Gabeira was taskedwith keeping watch over Elbrick for most of the time. The group would question the Ambassador about how many CIA agents there were in Brazil and things like that, which he denied knowledge of every time. Gabeira would also read to him about the Black Panther movement and give him books about leftist leaders such asHo Chi Minh, which Elbrick would listen to and read, but debate with Gabeira when there were just the two of them. He quickly caught on to the young man’s romantic ideals about what he was talking about and confronted his views whenever he felt it was safe to do so.
Arkin provides a confident portrayal of Elbrick in captivity, never leaving the role of diplomat even when asked about his personal views on delicate subjects like the war on Vietnam, U.S. intervention in Latin America, and the military dictatorship in Brazil. His positions would always surprise Gabeira, and that established mutual respect between the two of them — Gabeira realizing how naive was the whole operation, and Elbrick understanding the young man’s idealist views and how both of them were in very delicate positions. Arkin’s portrayal is perfect in balancing confidence, charm, and even fragility, setting the tone for Cardoso’s own performance as an insecure youngster who didn’t really know what he was doing. By the end, Elbrick takes an almost fatherly approach to Gabeira, as Arkin builds this dominant presence whenever onscreen without making it obvious — and without taking away from Cardoso’s own performance, too.
Four Days in Septemberis certainly one ofArkin’s lesser-known credits, especially outside Brazil, but it provides him with the opportunity to make something outside the Hollywood scope, exploring perspectives and characters he normally wouldn’t otherwise. He was known for his versatility, and this is one of his most dramatic roles, even if not necessarily a very complex one. For the Brazilian industry, having an actor of his caliber in one of our best productions is invaluable not only in terms of visibility but also for the experience he shared with a younger cast, as most of them would go on to become soap opera and movie stars in their own right.
