Claudio Marzo Movies

Director Diego de la Texera's magic realist fable Meteoro (AKA Meteorite, 2006) unfolds in April 1960, at the time of Brasilia's inauguration as the new capital of Brazil. As de la Texera's film opens, the Brazilian government orders the construction of a major highway between Brasilia and the remainder of the country. The work crew assigned to build the stretch between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza must labor in a severely underdeveloped, barren region, surrounded by thousands of square miles of uninhabited Brazilian wilderness. Each month, the government office in charge of the crew sends provisions to the unsupervised workers, including a cadre of prostitutes known as "Madam's Girls." The unit's condition nonetheless deteriorates ever further, until - on the night of a military coup d'etat - a yellow meteorite streaks across the sky and hits the ground, causing a fountain to open. Soon after, Julião, a Brazilian Indian, turns up and teaches the workers how to draw on the practices of the ancients to decode the messages written in the stars. Together, the workers establish a village, christen it 'Meteoro,' and live there contentedly until a Brazilian military helicopter turns up. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

While driving his cab one evening, Daniel (Jose Mayer) is set upon by two robbers. He succeeds in driving them off, killing them in the process. It is somehow entirely understandable that he doesn't inform the police of this incident, but merely changes his drive shift to the daytime. He is supporting a wife and son, and there is no telling what the authorities would make of the incident. Later, Daniel's wife (Christiane Torloni) gets chosen as an extra when location shots are being filmed for a popular soap opera. This leads to her eventually becoming a television star herself - and leaving her husband and son in the process. In this melodrama, Daniel decides he is not going to bear this insult quietly, and plots an appropriate revenge. ~ 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

In this suspense tale with a gap here and there in the action, a father (Claudio Marzo) inexplicably brings his teenage son who has been away at school for many years, to an empty apartment in Rio de Janeiro. Alone and worried about what might happen next, the young man slowly finds out that his father has a relationship with the woman who owns the apartment, and also with a terrorist who has just been assassinated. As the teenager begins to unravel the mystery of his father's behavior, some sinister and dangerous political activities come to the fore -- and he realizes that both his future and that of his father are in jeopardy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The torturing of prisoners in the 1970s is the focus of this film that was banned in Brazil, and banned at Cannes or in private screening rooms by the head of the Embrafilme studios who paid for Pra Frente Brazil. The former head of the studio was fired for making the film. The story concerns a man who is picked up by the police because they mistake him for a terrorist. As he is brutalized in a dungeon-like setting, the people in the streets are celebrating Brazil winning the 1970 World Soccer Cup in Mexico. In this story of mistaken identity, the torturing is laid at the feet of paramilitary forces hired by a corporate world to fend off guerrilla attacks on their properties and persons. This did not sit well with the Brazilian leftists who complained that no word was said against the government using torture, or about the fact that it still goes on. The movie also did not sit well with the rightists who do not like torture portrayed against a paramilitary group that might as well stand in for one of their organizations, and the film certainly did not meet the approval of the government. That leaves a few film critics, who seem to think that the director Roberto Farias - and the group of his relatives who contributed in various ways to the film, did a rather decent job of it, as far as filmmaking goes. This movie won the Gramado Film Festival prize in 1982. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this sequel to Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Sonia Braga stars as a new wife who copes with her sexual frustration by sleeping with strangers she picks up on buses. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide