Twenty Years Ago I Died
And, oddly enough, my friends who witnessed my death were already smiling minutes later.
I died at the beginning of April 2001. Brazil only found out on the 8th of the same month. In other words, officially, today it is twenty years since I “died.”
I’ll explain: I was part of General Neto’s troop when camped in the pampas of Rio Grande do Sul. During the night, our camp was invaded by surprise by imperial soldiers. Even perplexed, I managed to get out of my tent and kill four imperials using my saber… But a fifth approached me while I fought, aimed his rifle at my head, and fired a straight shot.
It took me about five seconds to start falling.
First, my forehead exploded. For a while, I stood there, “not understanding” what happened … Until I felt the blood reach my nose.
It was then that I started to fall towards the ground, like a wax doll that melts.
I died exactly as the director asked.
Okay, of course, who died was Lorenzo, the character I represented in the miniseries “Seven Women,” not me.
When he read that Lorenzo would die in the last chapter, the director had the idea: how about we make his death spectacular, in a way that had never been done on Brazilian…
