My Hindu Friend is a long and expressive evocation of re-examining life. It's not what you would expect, but it's quite compelling nonetheless.
Directed by Hector Babenco, as a semi-autobiographical swan-song, the film tells the story of a fictional film director, Diego Fairman, (Willem Dafoe), who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is given a maximum of three months to live unless he travels from his home in Brazil to the USA to receive a bone marrow transplant. This is the story of him, his girlfriend / wife Livia (Maria Fernanda Candido), and his struggle for life in order to make one last film. It's a tale of love, life, determinatiom, sex, mortality, the rediscovery of life, honesty, caring, but above all, it's a film about life.
There's nothing complex in terms of plot, but this sometimes erotic, sometimes sensual, sometimes sentimental, always frank expose of this man, expecially in terms of the bleak cinematography, emphasising his body and his physical deterioration, brings an intersting contrast to the punchy and candid dialogue, and makes the viewer (who has to invest much personally to watch this film) think and rethink their own lives and the meaning thereof.
The film is slow moving, deliberate, reflective and follows the mental and physical deterioration of the protagonist with skill, as everything seems to fall apart around him despiute his dogged determination to succeed. He strikes up a rather unlikely friendship with a young Hindu boy - another patient - in the hospital (hence the title), but don't expect the "happily ever after" Hollywood style film ending... this film is much more bleak and uncompromising; even quite provocative as it flits between reality, hallucagenic dreams and Diego's mind-mapping his final film script.
This film was the last film Babenco made, and as such is a fitting tribute. Dafoe is a very real character, not particularly likeable, but a real person, fully formed and believable. It's a hard but rewarding watch.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 12/9/20
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