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NEW BEDFORD -- It took a producer from
Brookline, a director from Vancouver and a pair of writers from
Schenectady to show the people of New Bedford that they live in a
beautiful place.
"Passionada" premiered at the
Flagship Cinema last night to a crowd that desperately wanted to
believe that their city wouldn't be trashed by outsiders. They hoped
that the Portuguese culture stitched into the city's fabric wasn't
misrepresented.
Nine hundred people crammed into
the Flagship -- with another crowd waiting outside for a 10 p.m.
viewing -- wondering if "Passionada" would let them down.
"Tonight we're showing our baby and
you can decide if it's beautiful or if we should
send it to the orphanage," director Dan Ireland said.
Producer David Bakalar said the
film's makers quickly realized how important "Passionada" was to the
citizens of New Bedford. That's why they changed the name of Sofia
Milos' character from Sally to the more Portuguese Celia, why they
tried to portray all that is good and noble in a city that often
dislikes itself.
"The city is one of the stars of
this film," Mr. Ireland said. "I pray that the spirit of the movie
will reflect our passion for the place." He called the city "a
little pocket of Europe tucked away in America," and he said the
city "has a spirit and a soul that is unlike any other place in
America."
And in scene after scene, New
Bedford and Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Mattapoisett came off as the
film's biggest stars.
That's not to say the night wasn't
without its disappointments. Supporting stars Lupe Ontiveros and
Seymour Cassel attended the big event, as did its director, producer
and writers, but the movie's biggest stars were no-shows.
Sofia Milos was filming "CSI:
Miami." Jason Isaacs couldn't get away from work on a feature-length
version of "Peter Pan." Emmy Rossum just landed the lead in the film
version of "Phantom of the Opera" and had to rehearse in London.
Theresa Russell's father died.
There was no Gregory Peck, a la
"Moby Dick" in 1956, leading a parade through the city. The snubs
could have reinforced the city's image of itself as a place people
from other places make fun of.
The film had its own roadblocks to
overcome in the summer of 2001, from a looming actors' strike to a
leading man who walked out just as filming began. Then it seemed
like "Passionada" would never land a distributor, that for all the
good feelings it had engendered, nobody would ever see it.
But yesterday proved the naysayers
wrong, at least for one humid summer night.
The movie is set to open nationwide
Aug. 15 in about 80 theaters. A wider release is scheduled for Aug.
29, when the number of screens is expected to jump to about 200,
according to Mr. Bakalar.
That is small potatoes in the film
business, where blockbuster releases appear in thousands of movie
theaters, all in one weekend. But this is, at its heart, an
independent movie. It was filmed on the Hollywood equivalent of a
shoestring, $8 million.
Its commercial success will depend
on word-of-mouth from people who don't know New Bedford from
Newport, New Hampshire or Newport Beach.
If America embraces this movie --
and that is a big if -- New Bedford is going to have to spruce up
its guest bedroom. The tourists will come.
The film was clearly a love letter
penned to New Bedford by a cast that had never set foot in the place
before filming began. As the scenes flickered before their eyes, the
crowd recognized places they walk through every day. And they were
impressed at how good they looked.
They saw glimpses of their friends
and neighbors, dancing at the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, or
listening to fado at a fictional restaurant in the top of the Bourne
Counting House, or eating breakfast at Shawmut Diner. (Not a single
local politician made an obvious cameo, although the premiere's
audience was full of them).
"These people have put together a
world-class film," said Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. to the crowd
who gathered outside the theater. He praised the film's producers
for making a family movie, a PG-rated feature that focused on three
generations of Portuguese women.
Mayor Kalisz proclaimed the day
"Portuguese Family Day" in Massachusetts to honor the film.
Portuguese Consul Fernando T. Fazendeiro presented plaques with the
Portuguese coat-of-arms, saying as he did, "I never expected to have
a Hollywood feel here in New Bedford."
All too often, New Bedfordites see
their city as a place that time forgot, a city of empty mills and
lost opportunities. Last night, "Passionada" made New Bedford look
like a vibrant, ethnic stew of a city with stunning water views.
"The city has all these great
vistas," Mr. Bakalar said, "and people here have been here so long
they've stopped looking at them."
This story appeared on Page A1 of The
Standard-Times on August 5, 2003. |
