Claudio Mamberti Movies

Every country seems to have its own gallery of criminal legends, those outlaws, highwaymen, gangsters and defiant rogues who capture the public's imaginations and whose exploits become legends. In Brazil, there are the infamous cangacieros of the 1930s. These notorious bandits and desperadoes terrorized the northeastern part of the country for many years. Lampiao was the most notorious bandit king and his bloody deeds led the Brazilian government to launch a massive military search for him. Search as they might, the armies could not catch up with the wily crook and his band. But where they failed, a humble documentary maker from Lebanon named Benjamin Abrahao succeeded. Not only was he admitted to Lampiao's secret camp where he documented the robbers' daily life; he also managed to film them in action. Abrahao's invaluable footage is still used in films about the cangacieros. This fascinating and sometimes very violent drama recreates Abrahao's experiences with the bandit culture. It also chronicles the determined filmmaker's tragic fate after his film was released. Despite the downbeat ending, the story is ultimately an uplifting account of a determined social outcast who defied the odds and proved himself a true hero. Some of the "archival footage" used in this film is brilliantly faked. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is a straightforward film of the 1969 play, a jailhouse drama by Plinio Marcos, which was banned by the Brazilian government for twenty years. In the story, a naive young middle-class white boy (Marcos Winter) is arrested following a bar fight, and it put into a jail cell with six hardened criminals. The only thing they ever cooperate on in the whole film is to get together to rape the young man (the film title, Barrela, is a Brazilian slang word for sexual violence). Aside from that, during their whole time in jail their relationships are a seething mass of shifting alliances between sworn enemies, with the hapless, brutalized lad caught in the middle of their schemes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

São Paolo is a city with many faces. For tourists, it is still a glamorous hotspot, and it boasts a thriving downtown with many skyscrapers. The favelas on its outskirts play host to hordes of displaced peasants from the countryside. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the city has its criminal underside which comes to life at night. Through flashbacks, the story of Shirley and Anjo, two ordinary denizens of the underworld, are told by a man sitting at the bar in a nightclub. Neither of them is loyal, trustworthy, clean or brave, but there is an unspoiled quality about them that inspires hope even when they are betraying each other. They are victims of two closely allied forces: a corrupt, heroin-addicted police chief, and a "Japo," a Brazilian/Japanese gang lord who rules the roost in the section of town where his people live. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In a fictional story that exaggerates and condenses historical realities for the sake of dramatic impact, an isolated, quiet village of the Avaete people along the Amazon River is attacked by murderous psychos in the pay of a corrupt politician. Villagers are strafed from the air, bombed, and shot while trying to escape. To emphasize the gore, a woman is hung and quartered. The horrified cook of the marauders grabs a five-year-old Avaete boy, and they manage to escape into the jungle. The rest of the story is a series of coincidences that eventually bring a final confrontation between the grown-up boy -- who has vowed revenge for these killings -- and the politician behind the massacre. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide