A great Ibsen of today with Wagner Moura at the helm

The classics speak to us of today and of ourselves. They speak to us of human relationships, of politics, of power, of who we are, how we are, and how we relate to each other. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen and its protagonist, Thomas Stockman, are a clear example. 144 years after its publication, the play maintains a fierce relevance tied, of course, to the political dilemmas it poses. And even more so: it is also tied to Brazil, where director Christiane Jatahy sets the play, and to the fidelity to scientific truth defended by Doctor Thomas Stockman, even if it implies the ruin of the community, or the renunciation to preserve the economic interests of society.

Thomas Stockman is the founding doctor of the spa in a small town that has prospered thanks to its healing waters. In one of the analyses he periodically performs, he discovers that the waters are contaminated and that, consequently, the spa would have to be closed. Neither the mayor (precisely the doctor's brother) nor the townspeople can accept a closure that would ruin the town and they confront the doctor until they destroy him.

In Christiane Jatahy's production, we attend a trial to review his condemnation as an enemy of the people. A trial without a judge but with a jury made up of eleven spectators who, in the end, will give their verdict. Jatahy's production has the virtue of departing from the structure of the original while respecting, however, a large part of the text. The director's approach brings to the forefront issues as current as the defense of truth in a world like ours, where it is increasingly difficult to know, or the controversial confrontation between the democracy of ignorant majorities and instructed minorities, a result of the doctor's radicalism.

This is a great play with great performers and with a direction that maintains the dramatic tension from beginning to end despite the well-intentioned final words of reconciliation. A Wagner Moura (protagonist of the series "Narcos and of the Oscar-nominated filmThe secret agent) vibrant and empathetic who dares to use Spanish even improvising. The actor is very well supported by Julia Bernat in the role of the daughter and defender, Danilo Grangheia as the brother and prosecutor, and Silvia Ferrando as the usher and conductor of the trial. And how well the images, recorded or live, which Jatahy is so fond of, are integrated into the magnificent dramaturgy. This A judgment received with a standing ovation is by the best of the Brazilian director. The verdict? Not guilty.