About a child who dreams of becoming a famous painter and stole his friend's bicycle to meet a painting critic to be criticized for his paintings, but ...

SYNOPSIS:

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Balada Triste aka Sad Ballad

Genre: Drama

Colors: B&W

Country: Brazil

It was started when Didi Davinha,8-year-old boy who is very confident in painting and traveling alone from Santos to Sao Paulo with an old bike that he stole from his playmate, hoped that his paintings were accepted by an influential art critic known as Benigno Agueda. In the flash back, Didi was just confident in painting, he was not evenable to do anything else than painting.

Didi is actually a pretty smart kid,but he was just lazy to do the work in other fields. He just believes in painting.He has scratch hundreds of pictures that looks very natural. Yes, Didi does have a natural talent. Didi has a unique story in his development of painting.He did not learn painting from a painter but from his father, an amateur sculptor. He scratched the paint brush to canvas like the sculpture technique,so the painting looks very unique and different from other paintings. However, as the classic story, his father and mother forbade him to paint and hoped their son could be a government official. That is a reasonable expectation because his economic family condition is very alarming.

Instead of learning, Didi even painted in the book task. He also filled his homework answers with painting that look like absurd scratches in his teacher’s eye. The teacher did not know that Didi’s doodling really had high value, so he was often scolded, punished and even hit with a cane by his teacher. Didi’s father and mother also assessed what the teacher have done was right because they thought that paint will produce nothing. It made Didi became a rebel. From grade 1 (7 years old) he often slept outside the house, painted with sticks on the sand, scratch the knife on the tree thus forming a painting, even Didi often drew on the wall of the neighbor's house.Finally he was scolded soundly by his parent because of that. Sometimes he was punished and not fed for several days by his parent. It made Didi’s body to be emaciated. Even he had ever slept only 2-3 times in the house in a month, another time he often fell asleep in the street. On the streets he spent his time to paint.

One day, Didi had the opportunity to steal his friend bicycle named Garicca Carlos. When Garrica was playing football with his friends, Didi took Garrica’s bike. Besides that, Garrica forgot that he brought the bike. When Garrica arrived at his house, his parents asked if it was true that Garrica lent his bike to Didi, because they had seen Didi used Garrica’s bicycle and Didi said that Garrica had allowed him to use the bike. At that time, Garrica remembered that he brought his bicycle when he was playing. However he did not know that Didi borrow his bike. It made Garrica’s parents became furious, then they reported it to Didi’s parents. Then the two families were discussed to tackle Didi’s delinquency. They agreed to report Didi to the police, so that Didi could lament if he was languishing injail for 4 or 5 days. Unfortunately, they waited Didi for a few days but he did not back home. Their anger was turned into anxiety.

Didi turned out to Sao Paulo where are spected painter critic lived there. Didi went there cheerfully with only bring 2 pieces of bread, the provision of water and his painting that would be promoted to that painting critic. Although his lunch was out in the middle of the journey, he kept cheerful. He even had not eat and drink. Then he for a ged to scavenge the food in the trash can. After a tiring trip for months, with the shabbily condition and broken bicycles, finally Didi could meet Agueda in his place.However, without seeing Didi’s painting, Agueda wringed and disposed Didi painting. Didi went home and cried along Sao Paulo that the air was very hot and scorching.

Several months later, Agueda who was arrogant then suddenly felt like resuscitated by God. He became curious about what Didi, a boy that looked very confident in his eyes had painted. Although Agueda is the person who love cleanliness and hate dirty, he would like to look for the painting in the trash can. He would earn his own time to look for the painting for hours in a stinking garbage. Luckily Didi’s painting was found in the corner of a pile of plastic bag that was containing foul foods that are smelly. Agueda felt lucky because the paper that contains Didi’s painting was not put by the janitors. Then Agueda saw carefully Didi’s painting and he was very shocked. That was very special and amazing. After that, Agueda would like to look for Didi by sketching his face and published it on the television.

Of course Didi’s parent did not know if Didi was being sought by prestigious painting critic because they did not have a television. Their neighbor told them that Didi was being sought by Agueda. Of course, it made them happy, sad and realized. They were excited because finally Didi’s work had been recognized by the prestigious painting critic. They were realized that they had underestimate Didi’s talent and they even tortured their son because of Didi’s dream was not their hope. And the sadly thing will be found in the end of the story ;)

Shortly, Agueda came to Didi’s parenthouse. Many neighbors and Didi’s friends were swarming around their house. Some of them were only curious and some others would see a renowned critic, including Garrica that was full of tears in his eyes. At the first, all of them kept silent, but after Agueda persuaded Garrica to tell him why he was crying, Garrica gave an answer which was very surprising. He said that Didi had decided to suicide by dropping himself from a cliff because his hope to become a good painter was deprived and thrown away by Agueda, a painter critic who he admired. That was the thing that made Didi’s parents were sad.

Agueda was screaming hysterically like a child. Agueda that was very famous and arrogant never shout like that from childhood. He was crying uncontrollably as he had been discard the hope ofa talented child. The film ends when Agueda ambled over while he was crying. He refused to drive his car and decided to walk. While he was walking, he prayed agreeting of Maria as much as he could as a form of confession. His tears did not stop dripping until the credits roll is finished.

The message of this movie is never underestimate the ability of a person even though a kid. Sometimes, we – that have been working in any field and have been success – refused to see, hear or read something without reviewing it first. Consequently the person who were disappointed to us can despair even decide to suicide like Didi. Balada Triste is portugal brazil language means Sad Ballad, a ballad for every man whose talents are rejected not because of they cannot afford or are not talented, but because they are underestimated and ignored.