Reaching for the Moon (movie)

I saw a movie called “Reaching for the Moon”, in Portuguese “Flores Raras”. It is a movie about the stay of the American poet Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil. In Brazil, she had a love affair with a woman landscape gardener called Lota. Initially, the cultural differences were evident because Lota was rude in Bishop’s point of view, but they fall in love because of this.

They lived together on a farm where Lota built a bucolic place (a pretty little cottage in the countryside) where Bishop could have inspiration to create poems. Lota was friend of a politician called Carlos Lacerda. He was elected to be the governor of the Rio de Janeiro State. As governor, he decided to build a big park called “Aterro do Flamengo” and invited Lota to work on the project.

Lacerda and Lota supported the coup d’état in 1964, but Bishop didn’t agree with it.

Lota and Bishop broke up. Because of it, Bishop went back to the US and consequently, Lota became very depressed. When Lota was a little better she decided to visit Bishop in New York where she committed suicide.

If you want to learn Portuguese I can teach you in individual lessons by Skype at Cafetalk .