Once upon the time in 1966, during the Brazilian dictatorship, the talented teenage musicians Arnaldo Baptista, Rita Lee and Sérgio Diaz form Os Mutantes, the best Brazilian band ever. On the next year, they meet the singer Gilberto Gil in the beginning of the Tropicalismo, a Brazilian art movement with the fusion of several Brazilian musical genres and rock and roll. They become successful and influential, and sooner, Arnaldo Baptista and Rita Lee get married to each other.
In a perfect world, Os Mutantes would have become one of the greatest bands of the planet. Unfortunately, in 1972, the trio lives in communities and abuses of drugs, mainly LSD, and shifts to the direction of the progressive rock. Rita Lee has problems with her marriage with Arnaldo Baptista and disagreement with the new proposed genre and leaves the band. Then Arnaldo Baptista also leaves the band pursuing the solo career and this is the end of the real Os Mutantes .
In 1982, Arnaldo Baptista is depressed and drugged with LSD, and he is interned in the psychiatric wing of the Hospital do Servidor Público de São Paulo. He tries to commit suicide, jumping off the fourth floor of the hospital but he survives with brain damages.
Arnaldo Baptista is forgotten by the media and lives in Juiz de Fora with his wife Lucinha Barbosa, painting and writing songs. In 2004, he releases the album "Let it Bed" and in 2006, he is invited to the reunion of the original Os Mutantes in London, with Zelian Duncan as the lead singer since Rita Lee refused to participate in the show.
"Loki – Arnaldo Baptista" is a magnificent documentary produced by Canal Brasil, nostalgic for fans of my generation, and a great indirect message against drugs. It is wonderful to see Arnaldo Baptista happy and singing again despite his limitations.
My only remark is relative to the comments about the behavior of Rita Lee and the real motives that had forced her to end her marriage with Arnaldo Baptista and leave Os Mutantes. Every coin has two sides and the documentary shows only the side of Arnaldo Baptista, who blames her and not the drugs, for all the vicissitudes of his life. My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "Loki – Arnaldo Baptista"