Manginga em Manhattan

Mandinga EM Manhattan

Very few people have heard about the Brazilian martial art form known as capoeira. In the film Mandinga EM Manhattan, documentary filmmaker Lazaro Faria explores how capoeira started and spread throughout the world. When people hear the term "martial art" they probably think of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan performing karate or kung fu. Although those both have a certain beauty in the ways that the body moves, there is something extremely beautiful about capoeira. Unlike other martial arts which are more about physical defense, capoeira is a combination of physical defense and dance. There are complicated moves that show a person's speed, agility, and physical power. Capoeira dancers are as graceful and nimble as ballerinas but with an earthiness which locates it in its South American origins and integration of heritages from all slave groups.

What is really interesting about capoeira which elevates it from other fighting techniques is the artistry involved in the movements and the traditions which capoeira fighters must employ. I was particularly moved by the ritual that the wizards go through before they can enter a capoeira match, such as the leaf bath and abstaining from sexual relations with women. All the traditions show both the ancient origins of capoeira and the dedication with which people who practice it must give. It is also a means of honoring the heritage that the people have inherited from their ancestors. By practicing and mastering capoeira as well as its many intricate rituals, the modern dancers are, in fact, continuing the traditions of their predecessors and bringing ancient art into the present.

It is hard to put the value of capoeira into monetary or economic terms because it is something of an intangible. Unlike a painting or a piece of sheet music or an old manuscript, capoeira does not have a commodity which can be purchased. Certainly the films which are shown in the documentary which were taken decades ago have a monetary value which would be priceless because all historical documentation which captures information which cannot be proven elsewhere has monumental economic value. This holds true for written documents or visual ones, such as in the case of these old films of capoeira dancers in Brazil and other countries.

In terms of cultural value, the worth of capoeira cannot be overestimated. Although it began in Brazil, it has become something that is international. Capoeira has been practiced in hundreds of countries by people from various backgrounds and ethnicities, all who claim it as something that is part of their own culture because of its adoption. The fact that it has spread to so many countries shows how many cultures have embraced capoeira. This also reflects the multinational origins of the art. Given that so many differing African cultures were brought together into the creation of capoeira, it is logical that many countries have now adopted it as well. It is like countries came together to create and then broke apart in order to spread this thing they have created.