Turistas

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What is a Film Commission to do? First you get word that Hollywood is coming to your area. There’s even an A-ish list star attached to the project – Mr. Fergilicious, Josh Duhamel. And the story is actually set in your region. It’s even called Turistas – Tourists! Wahey. Lots of opportunities to show off your fantastic locations, promote tourism, encourage visitors.

And then the movie turns round and shows that your bus drivers are reckless, your prettiest girls are whores, your locals are unfriendly, untrustworthy, psychopathic or downright evil and that even the Turistas title has a sub-heading – GO HOME. Whether you go home with all your body parts is fundamental to the script. Ah, right then……

Turistas is not a great movie, so it probably won’t be widely seen. Imagine that when Leo di Caprio made it to The Beach, every single person he met was a homicidal maniac, then you’ve got the jist of the plot. So, no, it doesn’t show Brazil in a good light. I think maybe the film makers felt a bit guilty about this afterwards – there’s a fulsome thankyou to the people of Brazil for their kindness and co-operation with the making of the movie in the credits, and apparently Mr. Duhamel even apologised for its approach in the Today Show. Ouch.