Flanerie and Invasion in the Monstrous City: Sao Paulo in recent cinema.

Changes in the physical space of Sao Paulo are the focus of three films released early in the 21st century: O Principe (2002; The Prince), by Ugo Giorgetti; Urbania (2001), by Flavio Frederico; and O Invasor (2002; The Trespasser), by Beto Brant. All three films convey a sense of deep division in the urban space by focusing on the 'invasion' of certain parts of Sao Paulo by people who supposedly do not belong there: homeless, squatters, inhabitants of periferia. But they do so in different ways. The first two films play with the identification between viewers and the gaze of their flaneur-protagonists, creating, as a result, a shared feeling of nostalgia for a city that no longer exists. O Invasor, by contrast, uses camera work to de-stabilize the viewers' gaze, much complicating our attempts to identify with its protagonists and their ways of looking at the city. This paper will examine how gaze (camera gaze, characters' gaze, implied viewers' gaze) relates to issues of class difference and spatial division in the three films, paying most attention to O Invasor. By comparing this film to O Principe and Urbania, it will re-assess the meanings of the invasion suggested in its title. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]