The characters in this record are named Leona, Liz, Alan, Gerson, and João. There must also be an angel, but that usually only appears in supernatural novels, and we, in Brazil, are in the realm of the surreal. Of these five, four died – and the survivor remains sentenced to life imprisonment, having never committed any crime.
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Liz and Alan died because they were women, which, according to legislation, is not behavior punishable by death. But his career path happened to cross that of João, who was suffering from a serious, untreated illness – whose name was so trivial that it lost its seriousness: misogyny.
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João didn’t hate Layse and Allane specifically, but all the women in the world. He felt smaller in front of them, so he saw them taking what he considered his natural right. Away from work several times due to mental health issues, one day returning with a .380 Glock, the institutional angel was not protecting Laise (teacher, Fluminense fan who loves samba) nor Alan (psychologist, progressive activist, ballroom dancing enthusiast). Nor did he rescue João from the morass of his unhealthy masculinity.
Far away, serving time for being beautiful and wild – something also not covered by the penal code – Leona lives isolated from her family, confined and exposed to public visits. She was born a prisoner and will die without seeing the horizon. Her world is made up of fences, walls, thick glass panels, and a simulation of nature. He is the same age as Gerson. Everyone was born in captivity. It is, in this created by human insensitivity, called a zoo (or, euphemistically, an eco-park); In his mind, he is a hostage of schizophrenia. They are with keepers and veterinarians (because they make a profit for those who keep them in captivity); Him, with only the ultimate protection of the Caps – his presence served no one.
Unlike Leona, Gerson often sought prison—to find a place to sleep or something to eat. There have been 16 encounters with police and countless nights on park benches since they found him, still a child, wandering along the road. He had no father (he was ignored), and he had no mother (who was also schizophrenic). He couldn’t be adopted, and in moments of clarity, he asked strangers to take him home.
The Gerson House could have been different, but they closed the asylums – the warehouses for the insane – instead of converting them into places of reception, treatment and, who knows, cure (potentially curing, if not the disease, at least the relief of pain, which actually guaranteed little health).
Gerson attempted to travel to Africa, hiding in a plane’s landing gear. He dreamed of caring for lions, perhaps one of their own, who couldn’t find a place among his own kind. He came close to his dream when he descended into Leona’s grave – but the angel who must guard the most fragile is busy ensuring his privileges, his superior salaries, his armor, his re-election, and his secret budget.
A little humanity was enough for Leona to wake up today not in a cage, but in the savannah. Psychiatric institutions – not for arrest, drugs or isolation, but to help – would save João and Gerson from themselves and allow Alan to continue dancing, so that Liz could be in the samba circle on Saturday.