A Long Journey (2011)

• 69%
• 2011
• Documentary
• Lúcia Murat

The true story of the director Lucia Murat's younger brother , Heitor, who is sent to London by his well to do family to avoid the possibility of joining his director/writer sister Ms. Murat in prison for "crimes" against the then fascist Brazilian government in the late 60's. Studying in London, Heitor meets an American girlfriend and an array of fascinating ex pat pals who dabble in pot smoking , music and self indulgent jobless days enjoying and experiencing early 70's London in NottingHill Gate area of London before it became tony. Heitor, the apple of the family's eye and youngest child, is a prolific letter writer but quits school and soon moves from pot to hashish to acid. He leaves London and begins traveling to Afghanistan , India, (wherever the Best and Most drugs were) pen and paper in hand, and becomes more and more addicted to cultures where he can deal and consume drugs experiencing a lonely lifestyle of being high, walking and writing. His letters to his family are the subject of the movie. Heitor, an unusual yet brilliant man, multilingual and extraordinarily handsome with the heart of a poet, starts to lose his grasp of reality and ends up in jail and eventually, a mental institution. His long journey to madness is all evidenced by his letters ,written like an itinerary of downward, disturbing spiral, are saved by various family members, especially by Ms. Murat.