free documentary screening: A victim of torture completes his life's work against the the psychology of oppression.

watch the preview: houston.indymedia.org/uploads/octoberpreviewsmall.mpg
still image: http://nickcooper.com/footsie.jpg
screener copy: DVD available

Half-blinded from 12 years of torture by the Brazilian military dictatorship, and with difficulty walking, 79 year-old Roberto Freire completes his life’s work. He created soma (body) therapy thirty years ago, and spent the second half of his life developing it. Incorporating the work of Wilhelm Reich, the martial art / dance capoeira angola, and anarchism, Soma is used by therapists organized in anarchist collectives to fight the psychological effects of authoritarianism. Nick Cooper, local musician and indymedia volunteer, travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Bahia, and São Paulo to find the exercises, principles, voices, and movement of somatherapy.

Article about Soma: http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0083007