00:01:31.382 --> 00:01:34.844
When I was born, my dad bought
a camcorder to film the family.

00:01:35.428 --> 00:01:38.431
-Let me get some socks...
-Get them...

00:01:38.973 --> 00:01:40.350
The butterfly!

00:01:41.351 --> 00:01:43.311
Grab it. Look at the butterfly!

00:01:43.311 --> 00:01:44.896
Look at the butterfly!

00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:46.606
Grab it, Fernanda.

00:01:47.065 --> 00:01:49.526
Grab it, Fernanda. Look, Fernanda.
Look here, look.

00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:51.986
[Edgard] Look at the camera. Fernanda?

00:01:54.489 --> 00:01:56.616
Look !
Grab the butterfly.

00:01:56.908 --> 00:01:58.576
-[Edgard] Look at the light, Neirud.
-Huh?

00:01:58.576 --> 00:01:59.369
Look over here

00:01:59.369 --> 00:01:59.994
That's it.

00:02:01.162 --> 00:02:04.457
Look at dad, look at dad. Aaah!

00:02:06.543 --> 00:02:08.086
What is it? What do you want to grab?

00:02:08.086 --> 00:02:09.254
Grab it, grab it.

00:02:14.717 --> 00:02:17.387
...these suspenders...

00:02:19.055 --> 00:02:20.974
My goodness, what a little cutie!

00:02:20.974 --> 00:02:23.184
Look at the foot, look at the foot!

00:02:23.393 --> 00:02:26.104
Film the little foot, Dad!

00:02:26.521 --> 00:02:28.982
Film this little foot right here, Dad!

00:02:45.373 --> 00:02:48.710
This is the battery-operated animal
Grandma Nely and Aunt Neirud

00:02:48.710 --> 00:02:50.712
brought me from Paraguay.

00:02:54.382 --> 00:02:57.093
What were they doing in Paraguay?

00:02:58.970 --> 00:03:01.347
The toy was a present for my birthday,

00:03:01.347 --> 00:03:04.100
the only time of year they showed up.

00:03:04.726 --> 00:03:06.519
I want to be filmed.

00:03:09.022 --> 00:03:11.024
Grandma has the right to wish
grandbaby a happy birthday.

00:03:11.024 --> 00:03:12.442
-Ah, well then...

00:03:13.109 --> 00:03:13.568
-Look.

00:03:13.568 --> 00:03:15.111
My family is a circus family

00:03:15.236 --> 00:03:18.031
-What happened there, Neirud?
-Oh, you see, don't you?

00:03:18.156 --> 00:03:20.074
And Aunt Neirud and Grandma Nely

00:03:20.074 --> 00:03:22.577
were the only ones who continued to work in the circus.

00:03:22.744 --> 00:03:26.372
Are you recording already?
I want to appear beautiful and marvelous.

00:03:26.497 --> 00:03:28.625
-Make an effort.
-Gotta make an effort.

00:03:28.666 --> 00:03:30.752
Grandma Nely was my father's mother

00:03:31.461 --> 00:03:33.463
and Neirud was my aunt.

00:03:33.880 --> 00:03:36.966
But whose daughter,
or whose sister she was, I didn't know.

00:03:37.091 --> 00:03:40.428
I only knew that she had been
in the family since before I was born.

00:03:40.970 --> 00:03:43.806
[Edgard] Hi there, Gorilla Woman...
hiya...

00:03:46.184 --> 00:03:48.519
I never really understood what they did,

00:03:49.312 --> 00:03:52.273
so in my mind, Aunt Neirud became a superhero

00:03:52.732 --> 00:03:55.610
and Gorilla Woman,
her circus persona,

00:03:55.610 --> 00:03:58.112
was her secret identity.

00:04:02.533 --> 00:04:04.494
My father didn't grow up in the circus,

00:04:04.494 --> 00:04:07.497
and my grandma died when I was a kid.

00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:13.002
So Aunt Neirud became the only
living memory of this circus history.

00:04:14.545 --> 00:04:17.882
But when she died,
her apartment was empty.

00:04:20.093 --> 00:04:22.804
No photos, no belongings,

00:04:23.388 --> 00:04:27.809
no clues that could help me
understand my family's circus past.

00:04:37.527 --> 00:04:40.113
In one of those home videos,
it's Aunt Neirud who's filming

00:04:40.113 --> 00:04:42.115
with my dad's camcorder.

00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:43.866
[Neirud] Green or red?

00:04:44.450 --> 00:04:46.244
[Edgard] It's gonna be all blurry
then you'll see…

00:04:46.244 --> 00:04:48.413
-I see. It's recording already?
-Yup, it is.

00:04:48.413 --> 00:04:50.248
Oh yeah? You go over there.

00:04:50.248 --> 00:04:53.626
Go over there.
Over there, Neirud! Go, film…

00:04:54.252 --> 00:04:57.171
Ciça, bring her down,
slide her down, Ciça!

00:04:57.255 --> 00:04:59.340
Press this little button here...

00:04:59.340 --> 00:05:00.633
And now, to switch it off…

00:05:01.175 --> 00:05:02.969
When you press here, it zooms in, see?

00:05:02.969 --> 00:05:03.761
Here?

00:05:04.429 --> 00:05:05.346
Here, look.

00:05:08.266 --> 00:05:10.852
Don't zoom in too much

00:05:14.564 --> 00:05:18.526
-No, no. Go, go over there.
-But you have to hold it down!

00:05:24.282 --> 00:05:28.077
You don't need to walk, Neirud.
This is what you use to zoom in and out.

00:05:28.077 --> 00:05:31.122
Here, look. Move it
from one side to the other. You see?

00:05:31.122 --> 00:05:34.667
-Ah! Got it!
-Keep zooming in...

00:05:35.293 --> 00:05:37.962
[Nely] I'm not so sure
about this camerawoman, hey?

00:05:39.630 --> 00:05:41.382
Aunt Neirud frames my parents,

00:05:41.382 --> 00:05:42.884
two psychologists.

00:05:43.509 --> 00:05:45.136
My mother, from a Jewish family

00:05:45.136 --> 00:05:46.888
and my father, from a circus family.

00:05:47.847 --> 00:05:53.644
-Ai! You’re going potty on Mom!
-[Edgard] Did you go potty on mom pup? Ah!

00:05:54.270 --> 00:05:56.564
They got married, bought an apartment

00:05:56.773 --> 00:06:00.693
and a few years later
they had their second child, my brother Felipe

00:06:01.027 --> 00:06:03.404
to complete a white, nuclear family

00:06:03.404 --> 00:06:05.198
with a home of their own.

00:06:10.119 --> 00:06:14.415
Nevertheless, my father made a point
of reminding us that our lineage was

00:06:14.415 --> 00:06:17.960
Roma, nomadic,
and rooted in the circus.

00:06:27.095 --> 00:06:29.972
Look at him up there,
atop the elephant.

00:06:34.060 --> 00:06:37.688
When I bought my first camera,
I also wanted to film the family.

00:06:43.569 --> 00:06:46.155
When did my mom die, Neirud? In ‘84?

00:06:46.239 --> 00:06:49.283
-No, '85.
-‘85, or 6?

00:06:49.742 --> 00:06:51.035
-[Felipe] That your mother died?
-‘85.

00:06:51.035 --> 00:06:53.746
-Five.
[Felipe] No, ‘95.

00:06:54.872 --> 00:07:00.002
-‘95.
-‘95, right? Not '85.

00:07:07.426 --> 00:07:11.722
We went down to Santos,
on São Paulo's coast, where Neirud lived

00:07:11.889 --> 00:07:16.352
and I asked my dad and brother
to converse with her so I could film.

00:07:17.353 --> 00:07:20.106
[Fernanda] Neirud, I'm making a film.

00:07:20.106 --> 00:07:20.982
You are?

00:07:21.607 --> 00:07:23.276
You're making a film?

00:07:23.442 --> 00:07:26.779
-Starting now.
- Ah! For the love of God...

00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:29.073
It's about our family--

00:07:29.073 --> 00:07:30.950
[Edgard] Tell us what you remember.

00:07:30.950 --> 00:07:33.661
-Ai ai ai!
--No, it's true. I'm making--

00:07:33.661 --> 00:07:36.122
Where were you born, Neirud, Livramento?

00:07:36.122 --> 00:07:39.041
No. I was born in São Francisco de Assis.

00:07:39.375 --> 00:07:42.253
And when I was
very little I went to Livramento.

00:07:42.253 --> 00:07:46.090
I was registered in Livramento
but I was born in São Francisco de Assis.

00:07:46.549 --> 00:07:47.884
-A tiny little town--
--Near Livramento--

00:07:47.884 --> 00:07:48.968
No, not really.

00:07:49.260 --> 00:07:52.180
-It's in Rio Grande do Sul, isn't it?
-Yup, Rio Grande do Sul.

00:07:52.597 --> 00:07:57.852
To this day, Rio Grande do Sul
is Brazil’s whitest region.

00:08:00.313 --> 00:08:03.316
That day, for the very first time
Neirud recounted

00:08:03.441 --> 00:08:05.776
that she was born in 1935

00:08:06.110 --> 00:08:08.905
and was left by her mother
in another family's home

00:08:09.363 --> 00:08:11.157
with a godmother of sorts.

00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:14.368
This phenomenon still happens
in Brazil today.

00:08:14.493 --> 00:08:18.039
Vulnerable mothers give their children
to other families to raise

00:08:18.039 --> 00:08:20.750
with the promise of better opportunities.

00:08:22.418 --> 00:08:24.921
But the truth is that while Neirud went to school

00:08:24.921 --> 00:08:26.380
like the other children

00:08:26.380 --> 00:08:30.426
she was the only one
who had to do housework.

00:08:34.597 --> 00:08:36.224
You lived with your godmother.

00:08:36.224 --> 00:08:36.641
Yup.

00:08:36.641 --> 00:08:38.476
And from there
you went to the circus?

00:08:38.476 --> 00:08:41.479
-No, I didn't leave there for the circus.
-Oh, you didn't?

00:08:41.479 --> 00:08:44.649
I left there alone

00:08:45.274 --> 00:08:48.277
in a passing stock car
transporting sheep...

00:08:49.362 --> 00:08:52.782
I got in it and left...

00:08:53.741 --> 00:08:55.576
And...

00:08:56.744 --> 00:08:59.247
And...I arrived in Porto Alegre.

00:08:59.747 --> 00:09:04.001
But I don't know how many days
it took to reach Porto Alegre.

00:09:04.001 --> 00:09:08.464
Then I saw that city...
I had taken clothes in a little bag

00:09:08.464 --> 00:09:12.885
'cause I was all dirty because of the sheep.

00:09:13.636 --> 00:09:18.140
You know those thingies
that provide water for the train?

00:09:18.140 --> 00:09:21.811
I washed up there, changed clothes there
and threw away the soiled ones.

00:09:21.811 --> 00:09:25.898
And then I walked around
the city in search of something.

00:09:25.898 --> 00:09:27.650
"Where to now?” I wondered.

00:09:27.650 --> 00:09:30.403
All those buildings
I had never before seen in my life.

00:09:30.403 --> 00:09:32.446
And I kept walking, walking, walking

00:09:32.446 --> 00:09:34.740
and passed a house where it said,

00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:38.452
“Girl needed to take care of child.”
“This is it," I said

00:09:39.078 --> 00:09:40.204
and I knocked.

00:09:40.955 --> 00:09:45.084
I said, “Do you need a nanny?”

00:09:45.918 --> 00:09:47.461
She said
"Oh, but did you come alone?"

00:09:47.461 --> 00:09:50.881
“No, my mother's coming.
She'll be right here."

00:09:50.881 --> 00:09:55.219
“She sent me ahead to speak
to you ma’am. She'll be right here.”

00:09:55.594 --> 00:10:00.266
The woman asked me in,
conversed with me, and hired me.

00:10:00.266 --> 00:10:03.060
Wait for Mother.
Mother never showed up, did she?

00:10:03.060 --> 00:10:07.273
-You were a nanny when you were eight?
-Yup, eight years old.

00:10:24.332 --> 00:10:27.168
And I was 12 when the circus arrived.

00:10:28.502 --> 00:10:31.339
“The Great Circus Real Palassius
is in town"

00:10:31.339 --> 00:10:35.343
I went nuts.
I'm leaving, I'm leaving, I'm leaving.

00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:36.510
And off I went.

00:10:36.844 --> 00:10:40.306
I had barely arrived, and off it went.

00:10:40.806 --> 00:10:45.227
They were setting up the circus

00:10:46.270 --> 00:10:49.440
at Parque da Redenção in Porto Alegre.

00:10:50.358 --> 00:10:51.442
So I went there...

00:10:52.568 --> 00:10:54.528
Oh, my goodness.

00:10:54.528 --> 00:10:56.947
I got there and was hired.

00:10:58.491 --> 00:11:02.828
I was tall.
12 years old but tall for my age.

00:11:04.413 --> 00:11:07.541
Wow, how marvelous!
Would you look at that.

00:11:07.541 --> 00:11:10.419
Film it, film it.
Now stop for a bit.

00:11:30.564 --> 00:11:34.735
After we ate that day,
Neirud didn't want to resume filming.

00:11:39.532 --> 00:11:41.784
It was the first time
I heard about her childhood

00:11:41.784 --> 00:11:44.286
up until she ran away
to the circus at the age of 12.

00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:48.958
I pressed for her to continue the story,

00:11:48.958 --> 00:11:50.918
but she said we should do it another day.

00:11:52.962 --> 00:11:54.505
But that day never came

00:11:55.131 --> 00:11:58.342
because some months later, she died.

00:12:21.115 --> 00:12:22.700
Rewatching this interview,

00:12:22.992 --> 00:12:25.119
I feel like going back in time

00:12:25.703 --> 00:12:29.123
and asking things
that have never been clear to me.

00:12:29.957 --> 00:12:32.960
Neirud, when was it
that you entered the family?

00:12:34.253 --> 00:12:35.087
[Edgard] Hi kiddo.

00:12:35.087 --> 00:12:38.007
[Fernanda] Dad, let's go ahead
and open up those boxes, then.

00:12:38.174 --> 00:12:42.219
Yeah? But
what do you want to see in the boxes?

00:12:42.678 --> 00:12:45.431
Oh, I wanted to see a photo of Neirud
at the circus. Some photo.

00:12:45.681 --> 00:12:48.642
Photo? I don't even know
if there are any photos there, Fefa.

00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:51.896
Didn't you do an interview
with her before she died?

00:12:51.896 --> 00:12:56.400
Yeah, I did, but she only got
to the part where she ran away to the circus.

00:12:56.400 --> 00:12:57.902
She didn't want
to film anymore afterwards.

00:12:57.902 --> 00:13:00.863
Because I don't even know
where those boxes are, Fê.

00:13:00.863 --> 00:13:03.115
I have to remember,

00:13:03.532 --> 00:13:05.326
see if I took them to the office

00:13:05.326 --> 00:13:06.368
and if maybe they’re there.

00:13:20.633 --> 00:13:22.760
This one here...

00:13:24.887 --> 00:13:27.348
-Wow!
-Look, here are some tapes. It's all here.

00:13:27.348 --> 00:13:29.183
But there are even things…

00:13:30.226 --> 00:13:32.186
...that are amazing.

00:13:38.150 --> 00:13:39.151
Holy crap.

00:13:39.527 --> 00:13:41.779
Here, Fernanda,
these here look like they are…

00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:43.030
So many curios.

00:13:44.573 --> 00:13:46.116
Check this out.

00:13:48.410 --> 00:13:49.662
Look.

00:13:51.872 --> 00:13:54.792
Oh, here, look, the circus.

00:13:58.546 --> 00:14:00.756
These here are photos of things …

00:14:44.675 --> 00:14:48.929
My father's collection was
a dive into his family's circus past.

00:14:50.055 --> 00:14:51.140
There was nothing on Neirud

00:14:51.682 --> 00:14:54.351
and no one could say how she became our aunt.

00:14:55.352 --> 00:14:58.856
However, there was no shortage
of images of my grandmother.

00:14:59.356 --> 00:15:02.484
Her story starts with the Roma,
here.

00:15:05.988 --> 00:15:10.034
My grandmother's ancestors had to
flee persecution in Europe

00:15:10.284 --> 00:15:11.577
and came to Brazil

00:15:11.577 --> 00:15:14.038
thinking it was a more tolerant place.

00:15:20.586 --> 00:15:24.548
In Brazil, the family established
a circus as their livelihood.

00:15:25.299 --> 00:15:28.177
It was a way to disguise themselves
and keep roaming,

00:15:28.594 --> 00:15:31.180
moving whenever they were threatened.

00:15:35.684 --> 00:15:39.480
Even so, they were victims of a hate crime

00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:41.899
while camped in Mato Grosso.

00:15:44.526 --> 00:15:48.822
All the men were murdered
by a band of farmers from the region

00:15:48.989 --> 00:15:52.451
who spared only the women and children.

00:16:03.671 --> 00:16:08.384
The women who survived the massacre
managed to carry on the wild animal circus

00:16:08.384 --> 00:16:10.010
from one generation to the next

00:16:10.344 --> 00:16:11.970
until my great-grandmother,

00:16:12.054 --> 00:16:13.138
Nely's mother,

00:16:13.889 --> 00:16:16.892
who transformed
the wild animal circus into a theater circus.

00:16:19.311 --> 00:16:20.896
I mean, it was a circus,

00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:23.023
but a play was performed

00:16:23.023 --> 00:16:25.359
as the evening's closing act.

00:16:27.486 --> 00:16:31.198
And it was in this theater circus
that Grandma Nely was born.

00:16:32.116 --> 00:16:35.744
And from a young age,
she already featured in the plays.

00:16:39.289 --> 00:16:41.458
But despite Nely's natural talent,

00:16:42.084 --> 00:16:44.962
her mother wanted her to have other opportunities.

00:16:46.296 --> 00:16:48.966
So she sent her to a convent school

00:16:49.425 --> 00:16:51.301
and Nely was the first in the circus family

00:16:51.301 --> 00:16:53.429
to receive a formal education.

00:17:27.921 --> 00:17:30.340
Nely tolerated all the years of schooling,

00:17:30.966 --> 00:17:32.050
and even graduated,

00:17:32.676 --> 00:17:35.471
but she then handed her diploma
to her mother and said,

00:17:35.554 --> 00:17:38.307
“Here's what you wanted,
but now I'm going to be an actress.”

00:17:39.600 --> 00:17:40.768
And that's what she did.

00:17:41.226 --> 00:17:43.312
Nely formed her own company

00:17:43.771 --> 00:17:46.190
and put on shows all over Brazil.

00:17:49.985 --> 00:17:52.654
A few years later she had a son, Edgard,

00:17:53.155 --> 00:17:56.158
from an affair with an older, married man

00:17:56.158 --> 00:17:57.868
who already had another family.

00:18:00.204 --> 00:18:04.374
My father likes to say that Nely
was madly in love with this man.

00:18:06.293 --> 00:18:09.254
But Nely refused
to become his official mistress.

00:18:10.172 --> 00:18:13.550
In 1956, she disbanded her company,

00:18:13.926 --> 00:18:16.178
joining Bibi Ferreira's theater company,

00:18:16.553 --> 00:18:18.722
the most famous of its day.

00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:22.684
And left for a tour of Europe
dragging along Edgard,

00:18:22.684 --> 00:18:25.562
who was just four years old.

00:18:45.666 --> 00:18:49.545
But even with the success,
something was missing for Nely.

00:18:49.837 --> 00:18:53.340
Something that had to do
with her circus heritage.

00:18:57.052 --> 00:18:59.471
So she went back to Brazil.

00:19:01.431 --> 00:19:03.308
My great-great-grandmother,

00:19:03.308 --> 00:19:05.435
the matriarch of the wild animal circus,

00:19:07.020 --> 00:19:11.024
my great-grandmother,
the creator of the theater circus,

00:19:12.192 --> 00:19:13.777
and now Nely,

00:19:14.653 --> 00:19:16.613
who had recently returned from Europe,

00:19:16.738 --> 00:19:20.033
would create her own circus show.

00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:33.881
The photos of my grandmother
had been very carefully kept.

00:19:34.548 --> 00:19:37.801
Her memory is preserved
in my father's things.

00:19:42.347 --> 00:19:46.602
My grandmother's life, her talents,
her acting career, her family,

00:19:47.394 --> 00:19:49.730
everything was documented.

00:19:56.153 --> 00:19:57.946
But what about Aunt Neirud?

00:19:59.072 --> 00:20:04.286
If she was family, why hadn't anyone kept
anything in her memory?

00:20:24.139 --> 00:20:27.726
WRESTLING GEMS

00:20:31.146 --> 00:20:34.232
GORILLA WOMAN WRESTLING BRAZIL

00:20:34.316 --> 00:20:36.485
THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF WOMEN...

00:20:48.872 --> 00:20:49.790
[Edgard] Hi, kiddo.

00:20:49.790 --> 00:20:52.000
[Fernanda] Dad, you know Rita Monterey?

00:20:53.585 --> 00:20:54.962
Rita?

00:20:56.088 --> 00:20:58.715
You mean from the circus days?

00:20:59.091 --> 00:20:59.967
Yeah, I believe so.

00:20:59.967 --> 00:21:02.010
I think she was one of the female wrestlers.

00:21:02.636 --> 00:21:05.889
I think she was the prettiest wrestler.

00:21:05.889 --> 00:21:10.102
Each wrestler played a character,
and I think hers was Pretty Woman.

00:21:10.602 --> 00:21:12.688
But how come you're asking about this?

00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:14.815
'Cause I managed to speak with her.

00:21:14.815 --> 00:21:15.899
Is that so?

00:21:15.983 --> 00:21:19.820
Still stuck on this business
about the film, are you?

00:21:19.820 --> 00:21:20.737
Well, yeah.

00:21:20.862 --> 00:21:24.074
I couldn't find any pictures in your boxes that day.

00:21:24.074 --> 00:21:26.743
I thought you were done with all that.

00:21:27.202 --> 00:21:30.872
I think she can tell me...

00:21:30.872 --> 00:21:34.543
when Neirud and Nely met...

00:21:34.543 --> 00:21:38.964
Goodness, but this story is
from way back, eh kiddo?

00:21:39.965 --> 00:21:42.926
Rita Monterei was the only living wrestler

00:21:43.218 --> 00:21:45.721
who had worked in the circus with Neirud.

00:21:46.221 --> 00:21:48.015
She didn't want me to film her

00:21:48.181 --> 00:21:49.808
bus agreed to talk.

00:21:50.142 --> 00:21:52.310
[Rita] Hello Fernanda.

00:21:52.894 --> 00:21:54.688
I am so pleased

00:21:55.439 --> 00:21:57.858
and surprised,

00:21:58.108 --> 00:22:00.819
after so much time,

00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:04.322
to relive a past we have never forgotten.

00:22:05.323 --> 00:22:07.159
It's just that...

00:22:07.159 --> 00:22:08.994
regarding the photos,

00:22:08.994 --> 00:22:11.163
there was a major accident.

00:22:11.913 --> 00:22:13.457
We were away on vacation,

00:22:13.457 --> 00:22:15.125
there was a storm

00:22:15.667 --> 00:22:16.668
and...

00:22:16.668 --> 00:22:18.211
water got into the room

00:22:18.211 --> 00:22:22.716
where the wrestling photographs were kept.

00:22:22.716 --> 00:22:24.009
And I lost everything.

00:22:24.009 --> 00:22:29.681
More than two thousand photographs
of sizes and kinds,

00:22:29.681 --> 00:22:30.599
all gone.

00:22:30.766 --> 00:22:34.061
Anyway, there's nothing left
to tell the story

00:22:34.061 --> 00:22:36.188
apart from maybe a little something...

00:22:41.902 --> 00:22:45.489
Rita came from Argentina
with a coach called Rebeca.

00:22:47.616 --> 00:22:50.368
Here in Brazil, Rebeca needed someone

00:22:50.368 --> 00:22:54.331
to steer her women's freestyle wrestling troupe.

00:22:55.248 --> 00:22:57.918
And that's how she met Nely.

00:22:58.627 --> 00:23:00.879
Rita says that “the Coliseu Circus

00:23:00.879 --> 00:23:02.547
and the troupe of women”

00:23:02.547 --> 00:23:05.258
were headed by Rebeca and Nely.

00:23:05.258 --> 00:23:10.013
Rebeca, the Argentine coach
and Nely, the artistic director.

00:23:15.018 --> 00:23:17.395
I had already heard of Rebeca,

00:23:18.105 --> 00:23:20.607
always as my grandmother's partner

00:23:24.820 --> 00:23:27.656
This is one of the only photos I found of Neirud,

00:23:27.656 --> 00:23:29.199
and I had it enlarged.

00:23:45.507 --> 00:23:49.678
Neirud, what happened
after you ran away to join the circus?

00:24:02.732 --> 00:24:04.317
Rita told me that Neirud,

00:24:04.317 --> 00:24:06.027
before becoming a wrestler,

00:24:06.027 --> 00:24:08.697
was already famous for an unusual feat.

00:24:26.423 --> 00:24:29.050
From the age of 12,
when she ran away to the circus,

00:24:29.050 --> 00:24:30.969
Neirud had been doing manual labor,

00:24:31.887 --> 00:24:33.847
helping unload the trucks,

00:24:34.514 --> 00:24:36.641
assembling and dismantling the bleachers,

00:24:37.058 --> 00:24:39.019
and putting up the tents.

00:24:43.523 --> 00:24:47.611
And when the circus moved on,
she did it all once again.

00:24:52.157 --> 00:24:54.993
From time immemorial,
what held the circus to the ground

00:24:54.993 --> 00:25:00.040
were stakes hammered into the ground
by several men by hand with sledgehammers.

00:25:04.252 --> 00:25:08.340
But only Neirud could handle
two sledgehammers at once,

00:25:08.340 --> 00:25:10.217
holding one in each hand,

00:25:10.217 --> 00:25:14.596
and was able to drive in all the stakes
of the circus where she worked.

00:25:25.941 --> 00:25:28.068
Even before the circus was set up,

00:25:28.068 --> 00:25:30.570
town folk, mostly kids,

00:25:31.029 --> 00:25:33.073
would surround Neirud

00:25:33.073 --> 00:25:35.825
to see up close such a strong woman

00:25:35.825 --> 00:25:39.371
who did the work
of several men by herself.

00:25:47.295 --> 00:25:49.047
This fact became a legend

00:25:49.047 --> 00:25:51.591
that is still told to this today by circus folk.

00:25:56.221 --> 00:25:59.057
Looking at Neirud's body in this photo,

00:25:59.057 --> 00:26:01.851
I remembered a game that we invented.

00:26:02.352 --> 00:26:05.230
She would hold me with two arms

00:26:05.230 --> 00:26:07.607
and I had to try and break loose.

00:26:08.692 --> 00:26:13.405
But as hard as I tried
I could never break loose.

00:26:29.379 --> 00:26:33.341
Between the Neirud I knew,
the Neirud I imagined

00:26:33.341 --> 00:26:37.846
and the Neirud who disappeared
without leaving any trace of her past,

00:26:38.471 --> 00:26:42.350
there's this other Neirud,
who appears in Rita's accounts.

00:26:44.644 --> 00:26:46.479
At first glance,

00:26:46.479 --> 00:26:48.857
Neirud was shy and smiling

00:26:50.191 --> 00:26:54.195
and she approached that troupe of women
from the Coliseu curiously

00:26:54.571 --> 00:26:58.074
one Christmas
when the circuses crossed paths.

00:27:00.744 --> 00:27:04.122
She approached Nely,
who was surrounded by women,

00:27:05.040 --> 00:27:07.208
and after hours of conversation

00:27:07.208 --> 00:27:11.212
Neirud asked Nely
to leave with the female wrestling troupe.

00:27:44.120 --> 00:27:46.247
At the age of 8 she ran away by train.

00:27:46.915 --> 00:27:49.584
At 12, she ran away to the circus.

00:27:49.876 --> 00:27:53.630
And now at 18,
she was leaving with Nely.

00:28:09.145 --> 00:28:12.440
In 1957 the law said,

00:28:13.733 --> 00:28:17.737
"Women shall not be allowed
to engage in activities

00:28:17.737 --> 00:28:21.741
that are incompatible
with the conditions of their nature”.

00:28:21.741 --> 00:28:25.829
In other words,
wrestling between women was illegal.

00:28:53.106 --> 00:28:57.193
Except that they were performing
a wrestling act within the circus.

00:28:57.902 --> 00:29:01.865
So, it was actually a way
of circumventing the law.

00:29:02.615 --> 00:29:03.658
Hold on.

00:29:03.658 --> 00:29:07.579
so Nely employed the same tactics
as her Roma ancestors,

00:29:07.579 --> 00:29:09.956
using the circus as a cover

00:29:09.956 --> 00:29:12.083
to disguise the wrestling acts.

00:29:12.083 --> 00:29:16.588
And in this semi-covert way,
she was able to present her show.

00:29:20.383 --> 00:29:21.634
Ready....

00:29:25.138 --> 00:29:26.764
Filming already?

00:29:26.764 --> 00:29:27.932
[Edgard] Yup.

00:29:27.932 --> 00:29:31.436
Goodness,
do it while I am tidying up the house then,

00:29:31.436 --> 00:29:34.689
because just filming while I'm doing nothing…

00:29:34.689 --> 00:29:38.109
[Ciça] You can go ahead and make the bed…

00:29:39.068 --> 00:29:44.782
That’s a good idea.
My daughter-in-law is quite smart.

00:29:45.450 --> 00:29:47.869
She is super smart.

00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:53.082
She wants...you know what...
Taking advantage of her cheekiness…

00:29:56.503 --> 00:29:58.630
Tidying up…

00:30:00.340 --> 00:30:02.800
And here this same Grandma Nely

00:30:02.800 --> 00:30:05.887
plays housewife for my father to record.

00:30:08.890 --> 00:30:13.478
I had never realized the gulf that exists
between this grandmother I knew,

00:30:13.478 --> 00:30:16.773
who pretended to be part
of the comfortable, organized,

00:30:16.773 --> 00:30:18.441
and steady life we led,

00:30:19.651 --> 00:30:20.944
and Nely,

00:30:20.944 --> 00:30:24.614
showwoman and artistic director of the Coliseu Circus

00:30:24.822 --> 00:30:29.494
who would go to any lengths
to put on the wrestling shows she created.

00:30:30.620 --> 00:30:33.665
This Nely, I did not know.

00:30:37.961 --> 00:30:42.298
Nely advised Neirud
to develop a stage name

00:30:42.298 --> 00:30:44.342
because it wouldn't cut it to just train.

00:30:44.342 --> 00:30:47.220
She needed to create a persona for her act

00:30:47.220 --> 00:30:49.430
just like the other wrestlers.

00:30:51.015 --> 00:30:53.518
So Nely gave her a Japanese kimono

00:30:53.685 --> 00:30:55.311
from her theater days

00:30:55.812 --> 00:30:59.148
to help her come up with
this persona for the ring.

00:31:00.942 --> 00:31:03.486
But off the bat
Neirud already had an edge.

00:31:03.695 --> 00:31:05.363
She was super strong,

00:31:06.406 --> 00:31:07.407
and even without any experience

00:31:07.407 --> 00:31:10.034
she easily beat
the other female wrestlers.

00:31:10.952 --> 00:31:13.705
This caught the attention of Coach Rebeca,

00:31:13.705 --> 00:31:16.457
who challenged Neirud to wrestle men.

00:31:17.041 --> 00:31:18.751
An unprecedented show.

00:31:32.682 --> 00:31:34.267
In the furthest reaches of Brazil,

00:31:34.267 --> 00:31:36.227
this all-female troupe

00:31:36.227 --> 00:31:37.562
traveled alone

00:31:37.812 --> 00:31:39.814
in a country that's one
of the most dangerous to this day

00:31:39.814 --> 00:31:41.733
in terms of gender-based violence.

00:31:43.693 --> 00:31:45.570
In other words, at that time,

00:31:45.570 --> 00:31:46.446
wrestling with men

00:31:46.446 --> 00:31:49.073
wasn't just an unprecedented show.

00:31:50.617 --> 00:31:54.912
Neirud risked much more
than any other female wrestler.

00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:19.646
I pressed Rita, but she couldn't say
how Neirud's in-ring persona came about.

00:32:20.980 --> 00:32:23.066
But without a heads up,

00:32:23.066 --> 00:32:25.276
she sent me something in the mail.

00:32:30.365 --> 00:32:33.493
(FN) FREESTYLE FEMALE WRESTLING
GORILLA WOMAN

00:32:33.493 --> 00:32:36.079
AFRICAN WRESTLER
198 LBS OF PURE MUSCLE AND BRUTALITY

00:32:42.126 --> 00:32:44.045
198 LBS

00:32:47.131 --> 00:32:56.599
GORILLA WOMAN

00:33:09.737 --> 00:33:13.700
[Rita] Gorilla woman.
Sacred monster of the ring.

00:33:13.700 --> 00:33:14.826
Marvelous.

00:33:15.326 --> 00:33:18.746
She didn't like
to play around in the ring.

00:33:19.122 --> 00:33:23.209
She performed
in the greatest show on earth.

00:33:23.543 --> 00:33:27.839
Neirud was that sacred, blessed monster.

00:33:28.589 --> 00:33:30.675
Beautiful, marvelous,

00:33:30.925 --> 00:33:33.886
she entered the ring and was glorious.

00:33:35.596 --> 00:33:38.182
Sacred monster of the ring.

00:33:38.391 --> 00:33:39.892
Glorious.

00:33:43.062 --> 00:33:46.649
I feel Neirud's power
in every detail of this image.

00:33:47.066 --> 00:33:50.153
Her pose which is stiff but has movement.

00:33:50.737 --> 00:33:55.199
The expressive motion of her hands,
which seem to grasp the air.

00:33:57.285 --> 00:34:00.538
I imagined the punches I'd never seen.

00:34:02.165 --> 00:34:07.211
This poster revealed to me
that Neirud really had a dual identity.

00:34:12.425 --> 00:34:16.262
So my childhood intuition was correct.

00:34:27.857 --> 00:34:30.359
When I turned seven, I pestered my father

00:34:30.359 --> 00:34:32.779
to see the Gorilla Woman at the circus.

00:34:35.990 --> 00:34:37.867
Action!

00:34:44.499 --> 00:34:46.793
I was excited to prove to my friends

00:34:46.793 --> 00:34:50.004
that my aunt really was a superhero.

00:34:50.087 --> 00:34:53.007
Don't say anything.
Go in and wait for me inside.

00:35:07.230 --> 00:35:09.273
We hung out there,

00:35:09.857 --> 00:35:12.443
but suddenly my father called us to leave

00:35:12.985 --> 00:35:16.072
before the show had even started.

00:35:21.994 --> 00:35:25.581
My father had never intended for us to stay.

00:35:25.998 --> 00:35:30.253
His excuse was that he needed to get
my friends back to their homes.

00:35:31.546 --> 00:35:34.048
I didn't manage to see the match that day,

00:35:34.048 --> 00:35:37.051
but it was the closest I got to seeing Gorilla Woman.

00:35:40.680 --> 00:35:43.307
How come I never knew this side of Neirud?

00:35:44.642 --> 00:35:47.436
Why hadn't anyone mentioned
the sacred monster of the ring

00:35:47.436 --> 00:35:48.938
that Aunt Neirud had been?

00:35:50.356 --> 00:35:52.984
[Fernanda] Dad, how come there weren't
any pics of the Gorilla Woman

00:35:52.984 --> 00:35:54.360
in your boxes?

00:35:54.902 --> 00:35:56.237
-[Edgard] There weren't any in there?

00:35:56.529 --> 00:35:59.031
-No, there were none of her.
-I don't know.

00:35:59.490 --> 00:36:01.367
You looked and found nothing?

00:36:01.576 --> 00:36:02.952
-Nothing on Neirud,

00:36:03.244 --> 00:36:04.745
or wrestling.

00:36:04.996 --> 00:36:08.541
I didn't even find anything
on Grandma Nely from the wrestling days.

00:36:08.541 --> 00:36:14.839
Then perhaps your grandma
and aunt kept some of it

00:36:14.839 --> 00:36:18.175
There was nothing at Neirud's house.

00:36:18.426 --> 00:36:21.637
When she died, there was nothing at her house, no photos.

00:36:22.054 --> 00:36:22.930
No?

00:36:23.598 --> 00:36:26.559
I really have no idea--

00:36:27.226 --> 00:36:28.895
Because I have already searched

00:36:28.895 --> 00:36:31.647
in archives, in museums,
I have already searched, I couldn't find…

00:36:31.647 --> 00:36:36.360
Possibly, around the circus sometimes…
people enjoyed the show.

00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:38.404
It mattered to them.

00:36:38.404 --> 00:36:41.866
So sometimes some circus owner would film it.

00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:45.119
--Circus owner?--
-Check it out to see whether...

00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:47.788
but also, which circus owner? Dunno.

00:36:48.664 --> 00:36:50.958
I vaguely remember one of them filming…

00:36:52.126 --> 00:36:55.630
Hey Dad, how did
Neirud's stage name come about?

00:36:56.088 --> 00:36:58.174
Gorilla Woman?

00:36:58.215 --> 00:37:00.509
Oh, I don't know about that.

00:37:00.509 --> 00:37:02.511
I was a little kid, wasn't I, Fernanda?

00:37:02.511 --> 00:37:04.013
As unbelievable as that seems.

00:37:04.013 --> 00:37:05.473
I was four years.

00:37:06.891 --> 00:37:10.061
Later on, definitely, it went on for years,

00:37:10.061 --> 00:37:12.688
so as a teenager I paid attention

00:37:12.688 --> 00:37:17.234
but it was already
a thing, “Neirud, Gorilla Woman."

00:37:18.986 --> 00:37:22.114
In reality, these names...

00:37:22.740 --> 00:37:27.453
At the time people kinda put up with prejudice.

00:37:27.828 --> 00:37:30.081
So I think it went

00:37:30.790 --> 00:37:32.083
with the times

00:37:32.083 --> 00:37:35.503
You want the show to sell, right?

00:37:36.963 --> 00:37:39.048
The fat wrestler against the thin one,

00:37:39.966 --> 00:37:41.467
this sort of thing.

00:37:41.467 --> 00:37:43.511
The ugly one versus the pretty one.

00:37:44.095 --> 00:37:47.056
That stuff is a hit, right?

00:37:54.313 --> 00:37:58.985
Don't miss this no-holds-barred contest!

00:37:59.819 --> 00:38:05.074
The fight’s winner will challenge

00:38:05.074 --> 00:38:10.121
the city's bravest to step into the ring.

00:38:16.127 --> 00:38:19.338
This is one of the clips
I found of circus wrestling.

00:38:19.588 --> 00:38:21.424
But it was from a fictional film

00:38:21.424 --> 00:38:22.758
from the '80s.

00:38:23.718 --> 00:38:27.388
And what Nely and Neirud were doing
was 20 years before that.

00:38:28.764 --> 00:38:30.307
The truth of the matter is that
they paved the way

00:38:30.307 --> 00:38:32.476
for many other female circus wrestlers

00:38:32.935 --> 00:38:34.812
like the ones in this scene here,

00:38:35.187 --> 00:38:36.939
Lana Campos and Indiany.

00:38:48.951 --> 00:38:51.579
This other film, though, is actually
from the Coliseu era.

00:38:51.829 --> 00:38:53.247
And it's a documentary,

00:38:55.416 --> 00:38:58.377
but there are no traces of women's wrestling.

00:39:15.561 --> 00:39:19.648
Isn't it weird that there's no record
of women wrestling in the circus?

00:39:25.654 --> 00:39:29.200
[Rita] Neirud only wrestled with men.

00:39:29.825 --> 00:39:31.452
She only wrestled with men.

00:39:31.911 --> 00:39:34.580
Not female wrestlers.

00:39:35.581 --> 00:39:37.666
And wrestling with a man is no joke.

00:39:37.666 --> 00:39:40.669
And that is how she sustained the act.

00:39:42.296 --> 00:39:45.549
Except that one of the times
Neirud wrestled with a man,

00:39:45.549 --> 00:39:48.052
the guy who went up against her

00:39:48.052 --> 00:39:49.804
didn't like being embarrassed in the ring

00:39:50.262 --> 00:39:53.474
and fired shots up in the air
to put an end to the show.

00:40:06.487 --> 00:40:08.030
In the rush, the audience dispersed

00:40:08.030 --> 00:40:10.699
and Neirud wanted to go after the guy

00:40:11.325 --> 00:40:13.953
But Nely managed to drag Neirud into her trailer

00:40:13.953 --> 00:40:15.579
and kept her there.

00:40:29.593 --> 00:40:31.095
When the danger abated,

00:40:31.554 --> 00:40:34.098
Neirud wanted to sleep in the trailer with Nely.

00:41:13.262 --> 00:41:16.473
There were aunts, grandmas, grandkids,
brothers, sisters,

00:41:16.473 --> 00:41:17.725
parents, children,

00:41:17.725 --> 00:41:20.561
friends, acquaintances, strangers.

00:41:20.811 --> 00:41:23.647
Knots became loops in the darkness,

00:41:23.647 --> 00:41:25.232
and it was everyone's voice that said,

00:41:25.232 --> 00:41:27.026
"Stand firm, lad."

00:41:27.026 --> 00:41:29.653
And the circus responded by holding on a bit longer.

00:41:31.322 --> 00:41:32.740
First there was silence,

00:41:32.740 --> 00:41:34.992
and suddenly everything calmed down.

00:41:35.367 --> 00:41:38.370
Little by little,
canvas and chests stopped gasping.

00:41:38.495 --> 00:41:40.039
And then someone said,

00:41:40.414 --> 00:41:42.333
“Golly, folks, it's Christmas already.”

00:41:44.251 --> 00:41:48.797
And folks smiling, with wet eyes
and lumps in throats dissolving,

00:41:48.797 --> 00:41:50.466
began to embrace.

00:41:51.342 --> 00:41:53.594
-Goodness!
-Well done!

00:41:54.553 --> 00:41:57.389
-This happened, Edgard?
-Sad.

00:41:58.849 --> 00:42:00.976
It was his last Christmas at the circus.

00:42:00.976 --> 00:42:03.520
-Oh, it was?
-[Edgard] I don't know if it was.

00:42:03.520 --> 00:42:05.356
Was it? I don't know.

00:42:05.356 --> 00:42:08.567
-You caught a raging storm
like that, at the circus?

00:42:10.319 --> 00:42:14.490
In Barra Bonita we caught five storms in a day.

00:42:14.865 --> 00:42:17.076
The storm would come and everyone ran,

00:42:17.076 --> 00:42:19.453
holding the circus here,
holding it there,

00:42:19.453 --> 00:42:21.872
and after a bit the storm would pass. Oooh!

00:42:22.081 --> 00:42:23.707
And threaten to blow everything away.

00:42:23.707 --> 00:42:25.417
Yeah. Then after a little bit,

00:42:26.377 --> 00:42:28.712
The storm can blow everything away.

00:42:29.338 --> 00:42:31.548
We caught five in one day.

00:42:31.715 --> 00:42:35.010
The last one knocked everything down.

00:42:35.010 --> 00:42:35.928
It did?

00:42:35.928 --> 00:42:37.096
-Oh, sure did.

00:42:42.101 --> 00:42:46.897
Attention, Brazil! Attention, Brazil!
the Second Army Corp’s troops

00:42:46.897 --> 00:42:48.941
under the command of General Kruel,

00:42:48.941 --> 00:42:52.903
have already besieged Guanabara State...

00:43:20.306 --> 00:43:23.392
With the ’64 military coup in Brazil,

00:43:23.392 --> 00:43:26.562
the Coliseu Circus was forced to go to smaller towns

00:43:26.937 --> 00:43:29.231
where it attracted less attention

00:43:29.481 --> 00:43:31.900
since female wrestling was still illegal.

00:43:35.154 --> 00:43:36.614
Except that far from the large metropolises

00:43:36.614 --> 00:43:38.073
they encountered audiences that were even

00:43:38.073 --> 00:43:40.743
more hyped to see wrestling matches.

00:43:41.285 --> 00:43:45.914
I declare the presidencial seat vacant.

00:43:58.469 --> 00:44:00.888
The repression and censorship grew

00:44:01.347 --> 00:44:03.724
but the show's success only increased.

00:44:04.224 --> 00:44:07.227
Their resistance was in the ring.

00:44:26.246 --> 00:44:28.916
When they sensed a threat,
they got right back on the road,

00:44:28.916 --> 00:44:30.793
on to the next town.

00:44:42.930 --> 00:44:45.808
[Rita] We kept wrestling, always wrestling,

00:44:45.808 --> 00:44:47.518
because in our day,

00:44:47.518 --> 00:44:52.314
the wrestling days,
there were circuses all over.

00:44:56.652 --> 00:44:59.947
The Coliseu paved the way
for other female wrestlers

00:44:59.947 --> 00:45:01.532
and women's freestyle wrestling

00:45:01.532 --> 00:45:05.077
became the great circus sensation in Brazil.

00:45:07.830 --> 00:45:09.915
[Rita] Because you had to embody the role,

00:45:09.915 --> 00:45:11.750
you have to take a beating

00:45:11.750 --> 00:45:15.087
to know that you are indeed a wrestler.

00:45:26.098 --> 00:45:30.352
Their ruse was
to seize on the stereotypes of the times

00:45:30.644 --> 00:45:35.858
and make that rehearsed match
seem like an unpredictable show.

00:45:37.818 --> 00:45:39.403
Besides that, they came up with

00:45:39.403 --> 00:45:43.198
with incomplete outcomes, rematches, draws,

00:45:43.198 --> 00:45:47.369
all so audiences would feel
compelled to return the following day.

00:46:03.177 --> 00:46:07.139
Circus wrestling ended up
enticing many women,

00:46:08.682 --> 00:46:11.185
I figure the independence they experienced

00:46:11.185 --> 00:46:13.687
must not have been common at the time.

00:46:16.899 --> 00:46:19.526
Neirud's Gorilla Woman act grew

00:46:19.526 --> 00:46:22.613
until it became the circus' main attraction.

00:46:23.238 --> 00:46:25.532
Neirud wasn't just the best wrestler,

00:46:25.532 --> 00:46:28.160
but also became a Coliseu partner.

00:46:30.454 --> 00:46:34.875
The limited company
Faya, Santos, and Diorio

00:46:35.083 --> 00:46:39.087
established a horizontal
and lucrative business model

00:46:39.087 --> 00:46:42.758
where all decisions were always taken
jointly by the three women.

00:46:43.383 --> 00:46:48.055
Nely, the artistic director,
Neirud, the great wrestling star,

00:46:48.180 --> 00:46:51.850
Rebeca, the savvy Argentine coach.

00:46:53.393 --> 00:46:58.607
[Rita] In spite of everything,
earning a whole lot of money...

00:47:02.861 --> 00:47:06.156
one day, it all ended.

00:47:08.325 --> 00:47:10.327
Rita's recollections are somewhat hazy,

00:47:10.327 --> 00:47:12.996
but she told me Nely and Neirud ran away.

00:47:13.580 --> 00:47:15.958
They disappeared
from one moment to the next.

00:47:19.002 --> 00:47:22.422
Without Nely and Neirud,
the troupe disintegrated,

00:47:22.422 --> 00:47:24.341
Rebeca went back to Argentina,

00:47:24.341 --> 00:47:26.927
and that was the end of the Coliseu.

00:47:27.844 --> 00:47:33.559
Wait. My dad always said the circus ended
when TV gained popularity in Brazil.

00:47:33.767 --> 00:47:38.188
The Coliseu Circus's sudden collapse
didn't match up with his story.

00:47:38.480 --> 00:47:40.357
Why would Nely and Neirud
run away from the circus

00:47:40.357 --> 00:47:42.359
at the peak of the Coliseu's success?

00:47:43.485 --> 00:47:45.279
There was something
behind their disappearance

00:47:45.279 --> 00:47:46.780
that was unclear to me.

00:47:50.367 --> 00:47:55.247
So I confronted my dad, who told me
something I never knew.

00:47:56.790 --> 00:47:59.585
Nely and Rebeca weren't just the circus owners,

00:47:59.960 --> 00:48:02.212
but also a couple.

00:48:03.755 --> 00:48:06.592
With Neirud’s arrival
the couple became a trio

00:48:06.592 --> 00:48:09.428
and for a while
their trio was not a problem.

00:48:10.554 --> 00:48:13.015
But Nely and Neirud's love
for each other grew so much

00:48:13.015 --> 00:48:15.851
that the trio's relationship
became unsustainable.

00:48:16.393 --> 00:48:18.520
The only way they could be together

00:48:18.520 --> 00:48:19.855
was to get far away from the Coliseu

00:48:20.272 --> 00:48:22.274
and far away from Rebeca.

00:48:24.693 --> 00:48:26.194
So in the middle of the night

00:48:26.194 --> 00:48:27.696
without telling anyone

00:48:27.696 --> 00:48:29.114
Nely and Neirud ran away

00:48:29.114 --> 00:48:31.033
so they could live out their love story.

00:48:39.291 --> 00:48:41.501
They bought a Ford Del Rey,

00:48:41.501 --> 00:48:44.421
drove for more than 1300 miles,

00:48:44.421 --> 00:48:48.091
and hid out in a small circus in Bahia.

00:48:49.801 --> 00:48:53.805
Like Thelma and Louise
they lived an itinerant life on the road

00:48:53.805 --> 00:48:56.475
until it was no longer possible to travel.

00:50:01.289 --> 00:50:03.542
That was it, they were a couple:

00:50:03.542 --> 00:50:05.919
Grandma Nely and Aunt Neirud.

00:50:09.172 --> 00:50:11.550
I had always assumed they were a twosome,

00:50:11.550 --> 00:50:13.385
but in fact they were a romantic pair.

00:50:13.593 --> 00:50:16.888
Married, paramours, lovers.

00:50:18.849 --> 00:50:20.976
Surprised, I asked my father,

00:50:21.643 --> 00:50:24.271
“Why are you only telling me this now?”

00:50:25.647 --> 00:50:29.067
“Well, because there was
never any need,” he said.

00:50:29.067 --> 00:50:32.612
See, you can move the button
to the left and right, this one.

00:50:32.612 --> 00:50:34.239
With the other finger.

00:50:35.198 --> 00:50:38.285
What happens? It zooms in and out right?

00:50:38.285 --> 00:50:39.202
[Ciça] Yeah...

00:50:39.202 --> 00:50:40.954
This is the zoom.

00:50:41.663 --> 00:50:42.122
You can record.

00:50:42.122 --> 00:50:44.499
You're recording.
You're already using the tape.

00:50:44.499 --> 00:50:46.334
Thank you very much.

00:50:47.586 --> 00:50:49.546
Don’t mention it...

00:50:50.756 --> 00:50:51.423
Yes?

00:50:53.675 --> 00:50:56.803
We're making a...

00:50:58.013 --> 00:51:00.307
Fernanda Roth Faya movie!

00:51:00.307 --> 00:51:01.975
And then she comes in through there,

00:51:01.975 --> 00:51:03.351
and you get it…

00:51:05.145 --> 00:51:08.815
By the time I was born,
they'd been on the road for 15 years

00:51:08.815 --> 00:51:12.110
and that camcorder that was handed around

00:51:12.110 --> 00:51:15.906
eventually recorded traces of their true relationship.

00:51:16.990 --> 00:51:19.576
-[Edgard] It's not turning on?
-In the front there…

00:51:19.576 --> 00:51:22.788
-Here, right?
-What if you took off the cap, huh?

00:51:24.122 --> 00:51:27.375
Here it is, ah,
easier with the lens cap off.

00:51:43.767 --> 00:51:47.479
[Edgard] Neirud, what do you think
about Fernanda's birthday celebration?

00:51:47.479 --> 00:51:48.730
Awesome

00:51:48.730 --> 00:51:51.149
Awesome, right? And you, ma'am?

00:51:51.149 --> 00:51:53.151
Ah, wonderful. Loved it.

00:51:53.151 --> 00:51:54.069
You did right?

00:51:54.069 --> 00:51:56.780
She looked like a little princess.

00:51:56.780 --> 00:51:59.324
And do you feel
more and more like a grandmother?

00:51:59.324 --> 00:52:03.161
More and more,
awaiting the arrival of a grandson.

00:52:03.161 --> 00:52:05.080
Or another granddaughter.

00:52:05.080 --> 00:52:07.207
Another granddaughter, another grandson…

00:52:08.375 --> 00:52:11.586
I think my father had hoped that
with the birth of grandchildren

00:52:11.586 --> 00:52:15.090
Nely would accept
the role of grandmother he offered her.

00:52:15.465 --> 00:52:16.925
But that's not what happened.

00:52:17.676 --> 00:52:20.178
Nely's priority continued to be Neirud

00:52:20.512 --> 00:52:22.848
and the wrestling shows.

00:52:27.269 --> 00:52:29.187
That only changed in ‘94

00:52:29.771 --> 00:52:31.523
when Nely got sick.

00:52:35.569 --> 00:52:39.531
They needed to settle down
in a house in Praia Grande

00:52:39.531 --> 00:52:41.867
so that Nely could receive medical care.

00:52:44.411 --> 00:52:46.413
But the following year, Nely died.

00:53:31.416 --> 00:53:36.379
[Rita] So then Nely lived with Neirud,

00:53:36.379 --> 00:53:39.841
in the house together with Neirud.

00:53:41.343 --> 00:53:44.804
And then Nely passed away...

00:53:47.265 --> 00:53:50.101
and Neirud never wrestled again.

00:53:50.101 --> 00:53:51.519
Never again.

00:53:51.519 --> 00:53:54.606
She never worked in the circus again.

00:53:57.859 --> 00:54:00.153
[Edgard] When did my mother die, Neirud?
In ‘84?

00:54:00.570 --> 00:54:01.655
-[Neirud] '85.
-‘85, or 6?

00:54:01.655 --> 00:54:03.198
-[Felipe] No, '95.
-'95, right?

00:54:05.617 --> 00:54:08.954
My grandma's death brought us closer to Neirud

00:54:09.579 --> 00:54:12.374
because she never moved from that beach house,

00:54:12.624 --> 00:54:15.460
and we started to visit her on weekends.

00:54:16.169 --> 00:54:18.505
Neirud, her old Ford Del Rey,

00:54:18.505 --> 00:54:22.258
and her new gig selling colorful rubber balls.

00:54:23.969 --> 00:54:27.389
We loved being her helpers
and hanging out in the trunk of her car

00:54:27.389 --> 00:54:31.768
as she circled the city
with the car roof packed with balls.

00:54:33.937 --> 00:54:35.939
This was the Neirud I knew,

00:54:36.314 --> 00:54:38.608
our heroine with her car of balls,

00:54:40.235 --> 00:54:42.237
her secret identity

00:54:42.237 --> 00:54:44.239
buried in a circus past.

00:55:02.757 --> 00:55:05.093
-Have I told you that since
I started making this film

00:55:05.093 --> 00:55:07.679
I've been having dreams about Neirud?

00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:09.222
I dreamed about Neirud last night.

00:55:09.848 --> 00:55:10.974
You did?

00:55:11.266 --> 00:55:12.308
Yeah.

00:55:13.309 --> 00:55:16.229
Well, since we were
coming here, right?

00:55:16.521 --> 00:55:19.065
And when was the last time
you hung out with Neirud?

00:55:19.858 --> 00:55:21.401
Do you remember?

00:55:22.152 --> 00:55:25.989
It was the time
she let me drive the Del Rey.

00:55:28.033 --> 00:55:29.325
With the balls?

00:55:29.325 --> 00:55:30.618
No, without the balls.

00:55:30.618 --> 00:55:33.830
The balls were in the yard.

00:55:38.626 --> 00:55:41.629
I invited my brother
to retrace the route we'd take

00:55:41.629 --> 00:55:43.590
to visit Neirud at the beach.

00:55:45.216 --> 00:55:47.677
For some reason, he bought
the exact same car as hers

00:55:48.261 --> 00:55:50.638
some years after she died.

00:55:53.600 --> 00:55:55.351
We'd visit her Saturdays

00:55:56.061 --> 00:55:59.189
because Sundays she attended an evangelical church.

00:56:01.441 --> 00:56:02.650
It was in the church that Neirud found

00:56:02.650 --> 00:56:04.652
a community that took her in

00:56:04.903 --> 00:56:07.197
after my grandmother died.

00:56:08.031 --> 00:56:12.118
And there she became known
as Sister Elida,no longer Neirud.

00:56:20.627 --> 00:56:24.047
[Rita] Neirud and I spoke every day,

00:56:24.047 --> 00:56:26.633
but she didn't like talking much about

00:56:26.633 --> 00:56:29.969
wrestling since she'd changed religions

00:56:29.969 --> 00:56:33.348
become a pastor or some such thing.

00:56:33.723 --> 00:56:37.227
She didn't like to broach the subject,

00:56:37.227 --> 00:56:41.397
especially the circus,
because the pastor had forbidden it.

00:56:42.273 --> 00:56:46.986
And the pastor told her
to forget all about it.

00:56:47.403 --> 00:56:51.407
She burned all the photographs,
which was an injustice.

00:56:52.033 --> 00:56:55.578
She burned all her wrestling outfits

00:56:55.578 --> 00:56:58.081
in order to forget once and for all.

00:57:07.549 --> 00:57:10.552
That's why I hadn't found anything
at Neirud's house,

00:57:11.010 --> 00:57:12.387
just a void.

00:57:26.776 --> 00:57:29.821
Following my dad's lead
I searched for circus owners,

00:57:30.113 --> 00:57:33.324
but I didn't find any
who had recorded the wrestling matches.

00:57:36.161 --> 00:57:38.288
That was when Jandira, Nely's goddaughter

00:57:38.496 --> 00:57:40.206
and a great circus performer,

00:57:40.498 --> 00:57:44.210
called to tell me that she had found
something that might interest me.

00:58:52.237 --> 00:58:53.863
Get ready cause folks payed for it

00:58:53.863 --> 00:58:55.740
and they wanna see some wrestling!

00:58:56.032 --> 00:58:58.368
And now, the wrestler's manager

00:59:00.161 --> 00:59:01.621
My friendly audience,

00:59:01.621 --> 00:59:03.122
good evening,

00:59:03.373 --> 00:59:06.334
and thank you very much!

00:59:06.626 --> 00:59:09.295
Let's bring the African wrester!

00:59:09.295 --> 00:59:12.257
The pride of the black race!

00:59:12.507 --> 00:59:16.469
She, who weights 200 pounds

00:59:16.469 --> 00:59:18.763
of muscles and brutality!

00:59:18.763 --> 00:59:20.640
The Gorilla Woman!

00:59:20.932 --> 00:59:24.686
Let's give her a round of applause!

01:00:22.577 --> 01:00:25.538
Gorilla Woman, how are you, Ma’am?

01:00:28.374 --> 01:00:31.336
There she is, 200 pounds

01:00:31.544 --> 01:00:33.087
of muscles.

01:00:33.087 --> 01:00:35.214
200 pounds of brawling

01:00:36.299 --> 01:00:38.634
She prepares.

01:00:40.511 --> 01:00:43.473
A round of applause for her!

01:01:02.867 --> 01:01:04.410
Attention!

01:01:05.036 --> 01:01:06.954
No hair pulling allowed,

01:01:06.954 --> 01:01:08.539
no punching with fists

01:01:08.998 --> 01:01:10.875
no hitting below the belt

01:01:10.875 --> 01:01:13.461
no cursing the opponent's mother

01:01:14.921 --> 01:01:17.882
no beating the ref

01:01:20.218 --> 01:01:23.221
It's a brawling show, everyone!

01:03:18.252 --> 01:03:20.046
At Christmastime in 2004

01:03:20.421 --> 01:03:23.341
I am seated next to her, and hold her hand.

01:03:27.220 --> 01:03:30.097
I was fixated on her hands.

01:03:32.934 --> 01:03:35.853
I would fit my hand inside her palm,

01:03:35.853 --> 01:03:38.231
and I realized how big they were.

01:03:42.276 --> 01:03:44.904
Today, when I look at her hands

01:03:44.904 --> 01:03:46.989
I imagine the wrestling matches I never saw,

01:03:47.615 --> 01:03:50.326
the wrestler I never knew.

01:03:54.205 --> 01:03:57.083
I imagine the punches she must've given.

01:04:01.587 --> 01:04:04.173
My brother and I arrived
at the place where Neirud lived

01:04:04.173 --> 01:04:06.634
but her house was no longer there.

01:04:08.386 --> 01:04:12.473
I really wish I'd come back to finish
that interview I started with Neirud.

01:04:13.432 --> 01:04:14.767
But everything happened very fast,

01:04:14.767 --> 01:04:16.811
and from one day to the next she suffered a stroke

01:04:16.811 --> 01:04:18.479
and had to be hospitalized

01:04:18.479 --> 01:04:20.773
and I didn't think about
the interview anymore.

01:04:24.527 --> 01:04:27.196
I remembered that when I went
to visit her in the hospital

01:04:27.196 --> 01:04:29.699
a nurse had said sarcastically,

01:04:30.866 --> 01:04:33.160
“Oh, is it Gorilla Woman you came to see?

01:04:33.160 --> 01:04:35.871
Watch out, 'cause she's mad.”

01:04:36.706 --> 01:04:39.542
How did he know about Gorilla Woman?

01:04:40.543 --> 01:04:43.671
I got to her room
and she didn't recognize me

01:04:43.671 --> 01:04:46.465
but I managed
to give her a hug and a kiss

01:04:46.465 --> 01:04:48.259
and she died a few days later.

01:04:51.721 --> 01:04:54.765
I remembered wanting to get her out
of the hospital where she was

01:04:54.765 --> 01:04:56.225
but when I spoke to
the hospital administrators

01:04:56.225 --> 01:04:57.560
they were clear:

01:04:58.144 --> 01:05:01.522
only family had the legal power
to make that decision.

01:05:05.818 --> 01:05:09.697
Hey! Look there
Look over there. Look at dad.

01:05:09.697 --> 01:05:11.949
[Edgard] Ragtag Family

01:05:11.949 --> 01:05:13.326
Look over there. Bye, bye, bye!

01:05:13.326 --> 01:05:15.328
The Stooges

01:05:40.603 --> 01:05:42.146
At Neirud's wake

01:05:42.146 --> 01:05:44.857
it was just me, my brother, my dad

01:05:45.358 --> 01:05:48.986
and some people from the church
who were burying Sister Elida.

01:05:49.862 --> 01:05:51.489
Recently, my father told me

01:05:51.489 --> 01:05:54.408
that he had been bothered
by the pastor's remarks

01:05:54.408 --> 01:05:56.661
and had made a point
of making his own remarks.

01:05:57.370 --> 01:05:59.664
He said that she wasn't Sister Elida,

01:05:59.664 --> 01:06:01.791
that to us she was Neirud

01:06:02.416 --> 01:06:04.835
who had been a great circus performer

01:06:05.294 --> 01:06:07.630
as well as my grandmother's partner.

01:06:10.800 --> 01:06:13.219
I don't remember him saying
that last bit.

01:07:16.657 --> 01:07:20.202
THIS FILM IS AN HOMAGE TO

01:07:21.662 --> 01:07:28.294
ELIDA NEIRUD DOS SANTOS

01:07:28.753 --> 01:07:34.008
A FILM BY FERNANDA FAYA