Nelson Pereira dos Santos Movies

Coroner Dr. Olavo Bilac (Carlos Alberto Riccelli) returns to Brasilia from Los Angeles to perform an autopsy on the body of Eugenia Camara (Karine Carvalho), a young woman working in politics who was believed to be having affairs with prominent men and murdered by her jealous boyfriend. After leaving the airport the doctor is reintroduced to the wealthy, casually corrupt world of Brazilian politics at a swank party. It soon becomes clear that the powers-that-be expect him to positively identify the body without asking any questions, even though DNA tests haven't proven that the body is Eugenia's. At the party he is seduced by Georgesand Romero (Malu Mader), whose powerful and well-connected family appears to be implicated in the disappearance of Camara. The next morning Bilac decides, to everyone's shock, that he will not immediately ID the body and will conduct an investigation into its real identity, Camara's whereabouts, and the political scandal that seems to lie beneath the mystery. He comes under increasing pressure and threats to halt his investigation and struggles to reconcile the youthful idealisms of his friends with the present reality: that when having acquired power in adulthood they are just as crooked and amoral as their predecessors. He is also recovering from the death of his wife Laura (Bruna Lombardi) and experiences hallucinations of her and eventually Camara too. Bilac must eventually decide whether or not he too should give in, abort his detective work, and return to Los Angeles. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide

This Brazilian film is the only entry from Latin America to take part the "Century of Cinema" celebration that is sponsored by the British Film Institute and is designed to allow prominent filmmakers to chronicle their country's cinematic history. Filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos has devised a melodramatic tale to explore the film genre of melodrama. The framing story follows a prominent Brazilian director as he tries to deal with a recurring dream about his late mother who died when he was young. Believing that she killed herself after seeing a Mexican melodrama, he goes to Mexico City to see if he can discover the title of this film. He is accompanied by his student assistant Yves. There, they begin watching films, and as they watch, Yves offers his comments about the genre's significance in Latin America. The director then makes a pass at Yves, but the young man mysteriously vanishes. He returns to Brazil with neither his assistant, nor the film he desires. Later, the director receives a letter from Yves and a copy of the Argentine film Armino Negro which may be the film he wants. But though it is a true tearjerker, it was released long after his mother died. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This drama is an adaptation of a 1935 novel by Jorge Amado. Baldo is a black man from the wrong side of the tracks whose lifetime occupations keep changing. He works at being a servant, thief, boxer, ne'er-do-well, circus performer, and finally a strike organizer. Throughout this daunting array of activities, he carries a torch for a fair-haired beauty from the opposite side of the tracks whose own life changes from pampered to impoverished, and from impoverished to drug-ridden. She loves Baldo, but their destinies never seem to cross at the right place or the right time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The horror of life in a Brazilian prison from an inmate's view is chronicled in this drama based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Gracilano Ramos. The tale takes place in the 1930s when Brazil was run by dictator Getulio Vargas. It begins as the Marxist oriented protagonist is arrested with no explanation. Once imprisoned, the authorities allow him to write--provided he can find pen and paper. In the end, his writing has such impact on the public that authorities release him. Had they not, he would have died from their brutal cruelty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ogum is one of the deities of Brazil's many voodoo-related folk religions. This story is narrated by an ubiquitous folk singer and tells of a young boy whose mother arranges for him to have an amulet bearing Ogum's blessings which would make him immune to gunfire. The amulet apparently works, for the boy becomes a member of a mobster's hit-team and then joins with a group of people who resist his original employers. He is betrayed by a woman who, ironically, possesses a similar amulet of her own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In 16th-century Brazil, indigenous people of all sorts far-outnumbered Europeans, and the natives had difficulty in sorting out the different varieties and politics of Europeans. Even though the Americas were divided up for colonization by the Pope himself, at this time the French tried to challenge the Portuguese for domination in Brazil. This film follows one Frenchman (Arduino Colessanti) who has been captured by a native tribe. He is not badly treated, and is even given a woman to sleep with. However, it is made very clear to him that he is being kept as a cherished item on the menu for an upcoming feast. Despite some successful efforts to postpone his fate, not least by being useful to the tribe, he is not able to avoid it. This Portuguese language film has extensive, though appropriate, nudity and some quite gruesome footage. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This politically symbolic feature concerns two married couples who swap partners when visiting a remote island. One young woman is a Maoist revolutionary who develops an apolitical friendship with the island's owner, a disabled former revolutionary. She is able to communicate with the man despite the fact that he is a blind deaf mute. He inspires the woman before she is off to take part in the upcoming, unnamed revolution. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Rio Zone Norte was one of Brazil's contributions to the 1958 Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Grande Otelo heads the cast as a self-trained composer of samba music. Unwise in the ways of the world, Otelo permits himself to be exploited by a charlatan who passes off the composer's music as his own. Things don't end so well for the protagonist, but he remains loyal to his Art to the very end. American critics in 1958 felt obliged to note that, despite the fact that the film's hero was black, the race issue was never mentioned in Rio Zone Norte; at the time, of course, race relations were far more relaxed in Brazil than the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the 1950s, a non-realistic and highly innovative filmmaking movement swept over the country of Brazil, which some might consider an unlikely spot for such invention. However, with a population of well over a hundred and fifty million, that country had (and has) a lively moviemaking business and also has many connoisseurs of films whose emphasis is artistic rather than commercial. This movie was the first part of a projected trilogy which included Rio Zona Norte, and it was made by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, who was considered to be a prime mover in the "Cinema Novo" movement. The third movie in the trilogy was never made. The story offers a varied portrait of the city of Rio de Janeiro at that time, organized around the life and work of five youthful peanut vendors who live in the surrounding slums (favelas). Each works in a different part of town: Quinta da Boa Vista, Copacabana Beach, Sugar Loaf Mountain, the soccer stadium and Corcovado Mountain. Reviewers of this film discerned the influence of Roberto Rossellini and the Italian neorealist school in its style. The most famous of the films to emerge from this filmmaking tradition was Black Orpheus, which is still widely watched and enjoyed today. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide