Jardel Filho Movies

A veneer of a morality play is layered onto this otherwise conventional slice-of-life drama by Argentine director Leopoldo Toree-Nilsson and co-scripted (as is often the case) by his wife, Beatrice Guido. The focus is on an attractive, rural working woman, Cora (Isabel Sarli), and the enigma of her scarred face. Cora now works in an Argentine backwater and flashbacks reveal how she once worked in a seedy roadside bar until she begins a relationship with a sheep rancher. She leaves the roadhouse to go away with him and then finds herself embroiled with an outlaw. The story continues, as circumstances build to make a bridge between her past and her present. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The Brazilian Pixote so closely resembles the films of Luis Buñuel that one is almost shocked to see writer/director Hector Babenco's name on the credits. This is hardly the only shock in this near-hallucinatory cinematic experience. The title character, played by Fernando Ramos da Silva, has been abandoned by his parents and is scrounging for a living on the streets. Pixote survives by becoming a drug-dealer, pimp and murderer...and he's only ten years old. One of the first films to address the plight of Rio de Janeiro's street kids, Pixote combines stark realism with symbolic imagery. The film is based on José Louzeiro's novel Infancia dos Martos. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This political thriller is set against the background of actual turmoil in Brazil in the 1970s, so viewers familiar with that time and place in history will get the most out of O Bom Burgues. Lucas (José Wilker) is a banker with clandestine leftist sympathies who is embezzling money from the bank to support the Communist Party, and also privately supporting a more radical group of guerrillas/terrorists that even the Party is against. Lucas' sister is a member of that paramilitary unit, and when they capture the Swiss ambassador and ask for certain concessions from the government, the action leads to serious trouble for Lucas. Not to mention the fact that his mistress is also the lover of a well-known ultra-conservative - complicating matters several times over. Those unfamiliar with Brazilian history will still enjoy the excitement in this film - even if confused now and again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi