Joana, a Romantic Woman-as-Witch Heroine in the film "O Crime de Aldeia Velha" (1964) by Bernardo Santareno, Manuel de Guimarães and José Carlos Andrade

Abstract

Arminda de Jesus was brutally beaten to an inch of her life and then burnt alive. It happened on the night of February 25, 1933, in the place of Oliveira, village of Soalhães, in the municipality of Marco de Canavezes, in the Porto district. Though by all accounts, Arminda was a well-liked, caring rural mother of two young children, she met a gruesome end at the hands of Joaquina’s male relatives, her life-long neighbours. Joaquina was a long-time afflicted when she accused Arminda of being the demonic woman-as-witch harbouring the Devil tormenting her. (Coutinho e Pinto, 1987) In 1964, Manuel de Guimarães directed the film adaptation of Bernardo Santareno’s 1959 play O Crime de Aldeia Velha, adding to the stories about this infamous historical event. Our paper describes how Santareno, Guimarães and Andrade (re)created Arminda de Jesus as Joana. She was the prettiest girl in the village who bewitched all men with her beauty and inversionary behaviour. These attributes precipitated her demise at the hands of the older women in the village. Our analysis of the film narrative illustrates Santareno and Magalhães’ counter-memorialisation of Arminda de Jesus and the events that led to her violent death in this mnemonic [...].

Keywords

• the burnt-alive woman of Soalhães
• counter-memory
• O Crime de Aldeia Velha
• the Romantic woman-as-witch heroine