Video-argument against the censorship of the film O rei da vela, by José Celso Martinez Corrêa, and Ao sul do meu corpo, by Paulo Cesar Sarraceni, imposed at a meeting of the Superior Council of Censorship in Brasília in September 1982. A satirical marijuana advertisement to the sound of the Brazilian anthem and images of a stylized national flag were indicated by the censors as excerpts to be cut from the movie O rei da vela. In the video, José Celso’s intervention in the meeting and his response to the censors’ arguments add up to testimonies by artists and filmmakers in favor of the film’s approval. In the following meeting, Abra a jaula is presented to the Council that approves the film. The title is an explicit reference to the scene of the play O rei da vela in which the Abelardos open the cage of the usury office in which their clients are imprisoned.
