Vidhi Narula
More than the political aspects, ‘Mars One’ (originally titled ‘Marte Um’) explores the humane facets of a family and its members’ individual lives. Written and directed by Gabriel Martins, the 2022 drama movie narrates the story of a middle-class family in Brazil. As they navigate their way through changing political regimes and economies, certain issues make it harder for them to stay united.
The heart of the narrative is the familial relationships, evolving dreams, and parental pressure to be flawless. Cícero Lucas, Camilla Damião, Carlos Francisco, and Rejane Faria play the focal characters of the movie. In their own unique ways, the four family members want a better life for themselves. They want to break free from the shackles of their routine life stricken with money problems. Furthermore, all of them are quiet dreamers. Their dreams and aspirations go beyond the usual hopes for success. Without further delay, let’s find out how the ending of ‘Mars One’ impacts the main characters. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Mars One Plot Synopsis
The movie starts with subtle glimpses into the lives of Deivinho, Eunice, Wellington, and Tercia. Deivinho plays soccer and loves stargazing. His father, Wellington, encourages Deivinho to play the sport with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Eunice (Deivinho’s sister) helps out their mother, Tercia, in the kitchen with household chores. She tries to urge Tercia to make Deivinho contribute to menial tasks around the house. Accentuating the set gender norms of a patriarchal society, Tercia brushes away the topic and the conversation.
Eunice goes to a bar to let loose and have fun. She meets a wonderful woman named Joana, and they dance together. Eventually, Eunice and Joana start dating secretly, as the former’s parents are unaware of her sexuality. Back at home, Deivinho explores the avenues of becoming an astrophysicist and watches space exploration videos. With their mother’s birthday around the corner, the siblings huddle together to decide on a gift and a party. The latter goes smoothly as all guests enjoy dancing and drinking.
Tercia temporarily works as a housekeeper. However, it is not a stable income and often burdens her. One afternoon, as she gets lunch at a diner, a horrible prank unfolds where a man explodes a small dynamite bomb. The incident traumatizes Tercia and leaves her in horror. From that point on, she feels terrorized whenever she hears fireworks or any loud noise. They laugh and dismiss her fears when she tells her family about the prank. Consequently, she feels ignored and neglected.
On the other hand, Joana and Eunice decide to move in together as they both want to live away from their parents and have some freedom. Tercia and Wellington reluctantly agree as Eunice comes to terms with coming out to her parents. Moreover, this seems to be the tipping point in the plot as things start sliding downhill.
Mars One Ending: How Does Deivinho Break His Leg?
Since the movie’s beginning, we see Wellington living vicariously through Deivinho in terms of playing and enjoying soccer. In many ways, Wellington is fulfilling his dream by pressurizing, more than encouraging, his son. Everything is acceptable as long as Deivinho sustains his position as a star soccer player, from regular practices to even taking a leave from school. Additionally, this shows how popular the sport is in Brazil.
When Wellington meets a famous soccer player at his workplace, he asks him for help with Deivinho. The player makes arrangements for Deivinho to perform in the tryouts for a popular soccer club. While Wellington gleefully agrees, he doesn’t know that Deivinho has other plans on that day. At the family dinner, Deivinho tells his dad that he has to attend another event that day. With the help of his sister, Deivinho books a ticket to a live session with famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Caught in a tense situation, Deivinho gives in to his father’s persistence and does not fight further.
The next day, as usual, Deivinho’s friends call him a chicken for not riding his bike down a hill. Tired of hearing the insult, he closes his eyes and rides his cycle to the bottom of the hill. In the blink of an eye, his bike tumbles over. To his father’s dismay, he breaks his leg in the accident. A plaster on his foot translates to the fact that he will not be able to play in the tryouts. More than caring for his son’s safety, Wellington yells at Deivinho for not being careful. Furthermore, Wellington feels his dreams coming crashing down due to Deivinho’s carelessness.
On divulging further, we believe Deivinho purposely breaks his leg. In the movie, he comes across that hill and his friends’ name-calling at least twice. But his decision to ride the hill at that exact moment comes from more than petty insults. He feels pressured to do something he does not want to do by his father vis-à-vis soccer and professional tryouts. Without caring about Deivinho’s dreams, Wellington imposes his decisions on him and expects him to do as he says. The pressure and subsequent inability to fulfill his father’s dreams culminate in Deivinho falling from the bike and injuring his leg. On some level, he feels it’s easier to hurt himself rather than hurt his father’s feelings by telling him no.
Does Tercia’s Curse Get Lifted?
The mother of the family, Tercia, gets an unusual feeling that she attracts bad juju to the people around her. It starts with the horrible prank that leaves her stunned. The second incident happens when Tercia is on the dance floor and feels claustrophobic. As she steps outside, another woman faints and falls to the ground. Tercia is terrified as she keeps experiencing bad things following her. On top of that, she is unable to fall asleep at night and feels a constant tightening in her chest.
Things get worse when she mistakenly threatens the life of her employer. Due to bad juice, Toquinho throws up constantly and feels sick. Tercia blames herself as she bought the groceries for him. Moreover, she goes to a traditional shaman to get the negative energies lifted. However, they still keep following her wherever she goes. Once, while traveling in a bus, she shoves a passenger sitting beside her and injures him badly. At home, she discusses her fears with Wellington, and they agree to send Tercia away for a weekend.
We believe the curse lifts when Tercia rushes home to Deivinho when he hurts his leg. She later gets to know that the bus she was supposed to be on falls off a cliff. Thanking her stars, she revels in the acknowledgment that she is alive. She spends the day with her family as things start getting better. Finally, she peacefully falls asleep with her beloved family by her side. This implies how crucial a family’s support can be in life. When everyone comes together, they can fight anything from a bad curse to joblessness.
Why Does Wellington Get Fired?
Wellington works at a residential complex where he cleans and takes care of the surroundings. His colleague, Flavio, believes in revolution and getting the better of rich people who exploit workers in poverty. Their boss, Dircinha, trusts Wellington as he has been working there for a long time. Whenever she goes out on a trip, she leaves the keys with Wellington to water the plants and feed her pet cats.
On one such day, Wellington has to leave early to get a health certificate for Deivinho’s soccer tryouts. He tasks Flavio with the responsibility of watering the plants and feeding the cats at Dircinha’s place. However, Flavio has ulterior motives, and he cleans out the place with his friends. Flavio robs Dircinha of all her possessions and runs away. When Dircinha finds out, she blames Wellington because she left the key with him. As a result, Wellington is fired from the job.
Furthermore, the situation reflects how untrustworthy people can be. No matter how sincere they look, you never know what lurks behind their innocence. Flavio made his plans clear in the first place, but Wellington had been unaware of his seriousness. This turns out to be Flavio’s way of igniting a revolution against wealthy people. In his opinion, rich and successful people living in mansions make money off poor people’s backs. By robbing Dircinha, he gets one step closer to his mission for equality.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s Mars One Filmed?
