The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell   Starring: Paulo José, Mariana Ximenes and Marieta Severo Optimum Home Entertainment RRP: £17.99 OPTD1832 Certificate: 15 Available 01 August 2011

When Quincas Wateryell (Paulo José) finally shuffles off this mortal coil, his family try to give him a dignified burial, but this was not Quincas, who had passed away following another heavy night of drinking and brothels. When his low life friends discover his demise they steal the body from his daughter to take Quincas on one last night of unbridles hedonism...

The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell (2010) is a comedy film adapted and directed by Sérgio Machado. The script was adapted from the 1959 Brazilian novella by Jorge Amado's.

The story is one of class division. When Vanda (Mariana Ximenes), his daughter finds out that he is dead she tries to keep the news quiet, after all, she had constructed a myth about his leaving and is less than pleased to discover that he had become a drunken bum, who spent his time hanging out with prostitutes.

His poor friends, on the other hand, spend their time reminiscing about the old man with genuine fondness, so much so, that they decide to take him out one last time for fish stew and a boat ride. With both his family and the police on their tail, the film descends into some very dark humour, think Weekend at Bernie's and you know where you are with this film.

The picture is a little soft with audio options for either Portuguese DD3.1 (not sure if that should have read 2.1 on the menu screen) or DD5.1 with English subtitles. The only extras are the usual 'Making of' and a trailer for the film.

Political polemics aside, I’m certainly no student of class war in South America, there is a lot of visual humour to enjoy, after all what more fun than taking a corpse out for the evening and having to pretend that he is alright.

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Charles Packer