Mau Couti | Tunel Russo (Russian Tunnel) / 2008

a kiss in the dark

by Douglas Messerli

 

Mau Couti (screenwriter and director) Tunel Russo (Russian Tunnel) / 2008 [19 minutes]

 

An a18-year-old boy (Renan Fragale) returns home disoriented and perhaps a little inebriated at 5:30 in the morning to be interrogated by his mother (Suzana Saldanha) who accuses him of all sorts of things such as “drinking pot,” becoming a drug addict, and his bad behavior in general. He has to be in school the next day, his father insisting that he study to get into law-school.

     Growing more and more hysterical as her son refuses to explain his behavior, the mother turns to her favorite drug, whiskey, attempting to get him to explain himself. He refuses, insisting that she doesn’t want to hear what he might say, which only further excites her, now realizing that there is something he might tell her. 

     Our suspicions seem to be confirmed in the next scene where we see him in bed with his lover (the writer and director of this work, Mau Couti) where the two make love and smoke a joint. So, we might reason, this Brazilian short film is going to be yet another “coming out” work.

   The boy’s slightly older lover attempts to convince him to move in with him, but the younger man argues that even though they have been together for around two years both have had other lovers and he wants to continue to explore the gay world before settling down. Besides, he reminds his elder friend that he hasn’t exactly been “faithful,” and that perhaps monogamy is not what either of them truly seek. 

       The other continues to pressure him, while the 18-year-old pleads with him to stop pressuring him just as had his mother. The last time we spoke about this if you remember—mentioning it almost as if it were just another event—we had a fight which didn’t end well.

       The remainder of the film, in fact, is about that event, not at all what we might have imagined.

The two young men leave a bar, and as the one goes up briefly to talk with the doorman, the younger turns to another boy, making the elder jealous. A physical fight ensures, perhaps since the character played by Couti is quite drunk, and the younger boy walks off after the doorman breaks it up.

       Couti’s character runs to catch up with him, trying to get him to stop, and finally reminding the boy that he loves him with a deep long kiss. The two continue in their public display of affection which is suddenly broken up by the appearance of two policemen. And we quickly realize that this is not at all a story about coming out or even parents, but violent homophobia.

       Although it is not illegal to be kissing on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, these to policemen mock them and challenge their behavior, the younger one simply arguing that they are on their way. But the older boy, because of his drunkenness begins to argue that what they were doing is not illegal and their intrusion is unwelcome.

        Things become more problematic as they continue to mock him, spit on him, and finally attempt to constrain him. Soon they become even more threatening, one of them (Rick Yates) pulling out a gun and suggesting that it is time to take the elder into the Russian Tunnel, he will probably even like it. Both young men are now terrified, not even comprehending what the Russian Tunnel might be, but it soon becomes apparent when the cop demands he pull down his pants.

 

        The older boy demands they stop as the other policeman (Alexandre Hulkinho) holds his friend, both presuming that the first policeman is getting ready to fuck him. But soon they realize it is even worse, as he pulls out his gun, empties all but one of its chambers and rolls the chamber as in Russian roulette. He then proceeds to stick the barrel into the boy’s ass. As the young man pleads with him, suggesting that he probably has too small of a cock to fuck him in reality, hoping, of course, to shift the situation from possible murder simply to rape.

         But the policeman is not to be stopped, pulling the trigger which fortunately does not have the bullet in the chamber.

         Suddenly the younger boy grabs the watching policeman’s gun and puts it to the second policeman’s head insisting he will shoot if they both don’t stop and let them go. When the other, calling his bluff, begins to roll the chamber yet again, the 18-year-old shoots the second policeman in the head, killing him.

         The major attacker immediately goes down to see if he can help his friend, while the boy grabs the first policeman’s gun, sticks it into his mouth, and demands he suck it like a cock. Meanwhile, the younger boy’s friend is still on the ground in complete shock, crying and muttering, and when the younger turns to see how he is, the policeman attempts to escape, the boy immediately pulling the trigger which this time carries the bullet into his mouth, killing him.

         The boys stagger away, stunned by the events and wondering what they have done, as we in the audience are appalled. It’s clearly after that terrible night that the boy has returned home to his mother. And we now realize the horror of it all.

         This is a powerful short LGBTQ film, one of the best of the decade. And it’s clear that these two gay boys, given the violent and torturous situation, perhaps had no other choices in order to survive. But the lack of consequences and the nonchalant attitude the couple expresses in the second scene of the movie seem inconsistent with the emotional turmoil through which they and the audience have just been put.

         Although there might be no obvious connection between these two boys and the deaths of the policeman, investigators might surely have connected it to the nearby gay club, and questions, if nothing else, might have been asked.

         At one point during her interview, moreover, the 18-year-old has promised to explain his difficulties to his mother the next day. Obviously, he cannot ever come out to her now, or at least can never tell his parents what has happened to him and his lover. And these inconsistencies in the film’s tone weaken what otherwise is a remarkably horrifying work. But still Russian Tunnel is among the best works of the first decade.

 

Los Angeles, February 18, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (February 2024).