100 Essential Brazilian Films

Three castaways - a man and two women - adrift in the vast expanse of the ocean find solace in recounting the tales of their lives to one another, reminiscing about the circumstances that led them to their desolate predicament.

'Capitão', a bandit, terrorizes poor villages in the Northeast region of Brazil, looting and frequently killing with his armed gang, until he kidnaps and becomes attracted to a beautiful schoolteacher, creating discord in his group.

A talented songwriter of sambas is forced to face the social injustices of the city around him.

Despite being promised to another man, a young orphaned woman falls in love with man working at the farm she lives in , and together they escape. According tradition in Northeast Brazil, her aunt goes after them, in order to kill them for revenge.

Film about the true events in Rio de Janeiro, in 1960, when a gang having the infamous outlaw Tião Medonho as a leader performed a sensational railroad hold-up on a train carrying a small fortune.

In the State of Bahia, Brazil, an educated black man returns to his home fishing village to try and free people from mysticism, in particular the Candomblé religion, which he considers a factor of political and social oppression.

This film captures the criminal behavior of two young Copacabana thugs (the "cafajestes"). The two plan a blackmail coup against a rich old man, using nude pictures of a lady on a deserted beach. But things don't always happen as planned.

A simple yet devout Christian makes a vow to Saint Barbara after she saves his donkey, but everyone he meets seems determined to misunderstand his intentions. Will he be able to keep his promise in the end?

A poor family in the Northeast of Brazil (Fabiano, the father; Sinhá Vitória, the mother; their 2 children and a dog called Baleia) wander about the barren land searching for a better place to live, with food and work. But the drought and misery destroy their hopes.

After killing his employer when he tries to cheat him out of his payment, a man becomes an outlaw and starts following a self-proclaimed saint.

The film follows two men living in a Rio de Janeiro slum: a black shoe-shiner and a white mill worker.

In an extremely poor region in the Northeast of Brazil, a group of soldiers try to stop the population from sacking a food deposit.

Two friends take two prostitutes for a night of pleasure. But the night turns out to be frustrating for all involved, as much bitterness is revealed in their conversation and attitudes, uncovering their anguish and deeper feelings, and the emptiness of their lives.

An architect sees his own life crumble because of an act of compassion: After being run down, a dying man requests a last wish: a French kiss. The architect obliges out of compassion, but people don't understand his gesture, and he soon becomes the talk of the town, and not in a good way.

Passively facing the repression imposed by military dictatorship in Brazil in the 60s, a journalist gets into a personal crisis, aggravated by his love affair with an industrialist's wife, who doesn't want to leave her home because of her son.

Woman who is obsessed with death wants a first-class burial for herself, and even buys a luxury coffin beforehand.

Augusto Matraga is a violent agressive farmer who after being betrayed by his wife and trapped by several enemies is bitten up and left for dead. He is rescued by a couple of humble small farmers who nurse him for a long time until he is well again. Influenced by the couple Augusto Matraga turns to a religiosity a long time neglected, believing he is atoning for past sins. Then he starts a long penitent life while waiting for his hour and chance. As time goes on he comes strong again but he only realize this after meeting Joaozinho Bem Bem, a famous chief of "jaguncos" who sees in him the violent man he was. Augusto Matraga starts a fight between his violent nature, his hidden desire of vengeance and the mysticism and goodness which is also part of him. This conflict lasts until the moment when his hour and his chance comes, the hour and chance to fight, to struggle an to use his strength and courage in the name of faith and humanity.

A man lives in conflict as he deals with his friends and love interests against the backdrop of São Paulo.

In a small town in Minas Gerais, the arrival of a young priest causes a commotion in the conservative atmosphere of the place, aggravated by the sudden attraction this priest feels for a beautiful girl. This forbidden love affair soon turns into an unbridled passion.

About people who live by the margins or Rio Tietê, in São Paulo, Brazil.

In the fictional Latin American country Eldorado, a poet tries to effect political change by influencing powerful men.

A womanizer suddenly finds a woman who makes him change the way he looks at women. He falls in love and believes she is, in fact, all women in one. Because of that, he faces an important decision: go on with his old life, or embrace this special relationship and become a monogamous man.

After 16 years married, with two children and squandering a life full of luxury and wealth, Danilo Ribeiro (Mário Benvenutti) is tired of living in the shadow of his millionaire father-in-law and his wife Renata (Vera Barreto Leite). The former jurist begins to remember how dreamy and full of plans he was at age 16 and finds himself in a situation of existential conflict, having his lover Denise (Anna Christie) as the only way to ease his drama. While he doesn't even understand what he does in his work as a "genrocrat" and prefers to give up everything, he doesn't want to give up all his wealth and comfort.

A young man in his early 30's ponders the state of his life while dealing with three women - his sister, his new girlfriend and his lover.