MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN

Brazil, 1974, 90 minutes, Colour.
Susan Penhaligon, Graziella Galvani, Paul Muller.
Directed by Giuseppe Maria Scotese.

Miracles Still Happen is a curiosity item. A Brazilian production starring English actress Susan Penhaligon, the film is based on a real incident. The disaster material is adequately presented, the family story not so convincingly. Based on a true story, the film presents a young girl on a flight which crashes. There is the usual background of her relationship with her mother and father, the relatives expecting her at the end of the trip and their panic when the plane does not arrive. The main focus is on the flight, the crash and her survival. Alone and in the Amazon jungle, she has the expected difficulties to overcome, which she does with great courage.

There are the expected dangers from trees, water, insects, animals. There is weariness, the need for food and water, injuries. The moralising touch for the film in the title. There are many other similar films e.g. Sally Struthers in Hey, I'm Alive. A much more persuasive film about a plane crash and characters involved in the crash and their survival is Barry Shears' film of a true story of a crash in Florida in 1972: Crash.