Arquivo

The routine at the Paratrooper Infantry Brigade, the elite army troops established in the Vila Militar in Deodoro, north zone of Rio de Janeiro. The film follows the day-to-day activities in the barracks: gym in the morning, training for war, physical tests in the area known as the trainee area, folding parachutes, preparation to jump, the anxiety of the young soldiers, entering the plane, diving into the sky, and the commencement exercises. The film also shows the vision that the military have of cinema itself and of war films. Several parachutists become photographers and filmmakers and develop unique techniques to record risky, spectacular scenes of a jump in inhospitable areas such as the Amazon jungle. Techniques used include cannon gunsights for filming free jump and even the use of a baby’s dummy adapted to the parachutist’s palate so that the camera will shoot, activated by his tongue. How do these soldiers see the spectacle of combat made by so many American films to the glory of violence? How do the veterans of the Parachutist Brigade analyze classics in the history of cinema such as The Grand Illusion by Jean Renoir? What do young recruits under psychological pressure and in a state of physical exhaustion from training to become parachutists think of pacifist films such as Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket?