Movies in Santa Cruz

When I asked a teenager during class (while teaching English in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil) when she had last seen a movie, she said: Today. It was early afternoon and I must have looked incredulous for she quickly added: Not in the cinema, in school. In what class do you watch movies? I inquired. Physical education, she said. Really? A movie about what? Sports, she said. And how was it? I don't remember, I fell asleep, she smiled.

A young adult student, when asked what her favourite movie was, said: "O massacre da serra elétrica" ('the chainsaw massacre'). Her classmates roared with laughter. When, a few days later, another student was teasing the young woman by mentioning the chainsaw massacre movie, she smiled and turned to me: "Do you know what his favourite movie is?" And, when I did not volunteer an answer, added: "A volta dos que nunca foram." (The return of the ones who never left).