Music and the Sacred in João César Monteiro’s Deus Trilogy

Abstract

This article addresses the presence of the sacred in the “Deus trilogy” directed by João César Monteiro, and the way that presence is articulated through religious musical elements and references. The notion of cinema as sacred, i.e. as opposed to the profane and consequently to “our” world, has clear implications in the work of João César Monteiro. The way in which the sacred is reached is noticeable in the various elements that constitute the “media hybrid” that is the movie. The musical presence in the “Deus trilogy” becomes one of the tools that the director uses to achieve or at least to refer to the sacred in his movies. This article analyses some of the twisted religious references through which César Monteiro seeks, not the catholic sacred, but another kind of sacred, one developed through values that Catholicism actually condemns. The main hypothesis defended is that the sacred in the “Trilogy” develops, or at least part of it, through religious musical references – by one side through the contextual space where they stand and by the other side through the subversion of that same space. By analysing examples, we intend to develop this hypothesis with arguments related to the interpretation of visual, narrative and mainly musical elements.