In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), a wheelchair-bound apartment dweller sees a homicide through binoculars in an apartment across the way and is eventually terrorized by the murderer. In a fascinating variation on that theme, Marcos Bernstein directs The Other Side of the Street (O Outro Lado da Rua), about a murder in Rio de Janeiro spotted in the same manner but in which the observer terrorizes the culprit. Regina (played by Fernanda Montenegro) is the observer; codenamed Snow White, she is a member of Senior Service, an organization of senior citizen volunteers who bring purpose to their lives by playing the role of amateur crimefighters. Indeed, she is responsible for putting away the head of a child prostitution ring, and she also sounds the alarm when an elderly lady is about to be robbed at a bank. What she sees across the street from her apartment is a man who gives an injection to a woman and then covers her up for dead. She then notifies the police, who send investigators but arrest no one. The following day, Regina asks her contact, police officer Alcides (played by Luis Carlos Persy) why there was no arrest and no news story, and from his hostile response she concludes that there is a cover-up when Alcides informs her that the man is retired Judge Camargo (played by Raul Cortez). Nevertheless, Regina is determined to pin the murder on him, so she stalks him in the market, on the street, in a bank, and in a café until he realizes that there is more than coincidence involved and becomes intent on seeing Regina socially. The social engagements include a visit to a gay bar, a lunch at his apartment, a trip to his villa in the country, and ultimately a visit to her apartment where her binoculars are in plain view. As the two become acquainted, they realize that they have a lot in common, notably comparable ages (sexagenarians) and family members who do not accept them, and the film is a sensitive character study of those past sixty whom society treats as useless. Eventually, Camargo reveals that his deceased wife had terminal cancer with a lot of pain, Regina admits that she works for the police, and Camargo confesses that he engaged in assisted suicide. Will Regina, after finally having sex with Camargo, report his confession of mercy killing to the police? The detective story is suspenseful right to the end. Coincidentally, the same theme about the right to die with dignity is developed in two award-winning films of 2004--The Sea Inside and Million Dollar Baby. MH
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