Punaisen valon rosvo

In the 60's, The Red Light Bandit (Paulo Villaça) is a famous Brazilian criminal, who uses a red flashlight while breaking into residences in São Paulo, and usually rapes his female victims. The police chases him as a legend, but does not know his true identity.

In the end of the 60's in Brazil, young directors broke with the Brazilian movement "Cinema Novo" (meaning "New Cinema"), and begin a new movement, called "Cinema Marginal" (meaning "Underground Cinema"). "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" is a milestone of this new current of filmmakers. Rogério Sganzerla presents this movie as if it were a popular police radio chronic of São Paulo and in a very chaotic way, following the worldwide movement of counterculture and the Brazilian Tropicalismo, in the toughest period of the military dictatorship in my country. This movie is the debut of Sonia Braga in the cinema, and her participation is limited to one scene, as a victim of the criminal. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Bandido da Luz Vermelha" ("The Red Light Bandit")

Note: On 09 December 2010, I saw this film again on DVD.