While the basic idea from "A Jaula" ("The Cage") on an apparent level is attractive and concerned in thrilling audiences and leaving viewers on the edge
of their seat, one can also view the film on a deeper level related to society and how one could deal with issues of security in major areas where violence and
robbery are a common thing and authorities can't stop everything all at once.
To common thief Djalma (Chay Suede) it was just another breaking and entering inside a parked vehicle. Get a stereo or whatever valuable inside, make some
vandalism and get out. Instead, he found himself trapped inside the car and in time he realises there's no way out of there and a male voice communicates
with him through the radio that's when reality kicks in. The voice, played by a dangerous and playful Alexandre Nero, tells Djalma that after being a victim of
28 break-ins into his many cars he decided to install a powerful system that keeps the intruder locked in without chance of escaping and without chance of being
seen from the outside. One man needs to leave and by that time he does't even care if he'll have to get arrested for such; to the man in command is all a matter
of teaching a lesson to the thief, and that's what he tries to do during their shared time, apart yet together.
In this almost non-stop thrilling the key issue beyond Djalma's ways of escaping the car and surviving through it all comes with a thought-provoking
topic related to what common people do in order to keep their properties safe. Is this the way of the future, where each person must install expensive safety
devices that can be used as an entrapment to keep robbers inside the car or a property rather than having effective police presence or finding security devices
that can scare criminals away? If only everyone could ever finance a James Bond-like vehicle for such but there's always some who can. Obviously that many things shown
here can't happen in reality (as of now, maybe someday) so put your suspension of disbelief to the max because the entertaining purpose works so well that for
quite some time you can actually believe in nearly everything.
It's a quite exciting experience filled with thrills and twists, though not entirely consistent. It falters a bit during the second act when we are shown
the man behind the voice and the film seems to speed things up and become slightly predictable. But the whole first act where it's an one-man show from the
exceptionable Chay Suede is where lies the power from "A Jaula". We are trapped with him inside the car, exploring every inch of it to find a possible way out,
slowly suffocating in the claustrophobic environment of which the movie doesn't go out for too long. The whole anxious desperation feels authentic, and even the
small changes on his usual good looks worked well to present him as a guy from the outskirts. That whole first half was oustanding in storytelling and tension
building; the second act feels that they're trying to show countless things at the same time and it isn't so engaging as the movie was going.
Strange that I hadn't seen much promotional materials about it back when it was released, just found out by an accident - a happy accident. It was a pretty
good movie, with many memorable sequences and solid acting. As for the response on its major theme, if no changes on society or security policies come then we're most likely to follow the doctor's scheme of protection. And that's another tragedy when we become law enforcers as well in order to protect our own very conquered
things. 9/10.
