Chico Diaz Movies

Directed by Monique Gardenberg and based on the novel by Chico Buarque, Benjamim is the story of aging model Benjamim Zambraiais. Thirty years after the peak of his career, he meets a young woman named Ariela. He is attracted to her because she reminds him of the love of his life, Castana. Despite her physical resemblance, her attitude and personality is strikingly different. This clash of romantic involvements and the state of Brazilian politics send Benjamim on an emotional journey. Starring Paulo José, Cléo Pires, and Danton Mello. Benjamim premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Cape Verde author Germano Almeida wrote the novel (Mr. Napumoceno's Last Will and Testament) that provides the source for this Portuguese-Brazilian-Cape Verdean-French-Belgium co-production. After a wealthy, unmarried businessman dies and the will is read, his nephew learns that he receives nothing. Instead, the estate goes to a servant's daughter. In flashbacks, the young woman then learns about her father as the story recounts his past life and loves. Francisco Manso shot this Portuguese-language film in Cape Verde. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

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

The female residents of a boarding house in this political allegory battle to achieve some freedom from the harsh dictates of the aged manager. Archival footage from television and newsreels from the period of the 1964 military coup in Brazil liven the proceedings, and make explicit the parallels between the girls' efforts and the overall national situation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

All three of the main female characters in this film were performed by Lucella Santos. The three women in question all live around a plaza in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, and none of them is aware of the others. Though their adult responses to deeply flawed childhoods are very different, each of them was abandoned in a very hurtful way by their fathers. One sleeps around incessantly, for no particular reason. Another has become the captive of her overzealous mother, and the last has become an extraordinarily jealous harpy, even though her kindly husband does nothing to provoke her in any way. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In an avant-garde onslaught that involves literary readings from authors as diverse as Thomas Mann and Brazilian writer Guimaraes Rosa, director Caetano Veloso creates an engaging but supremely challenging look at the nature of creativity and free expression. Long commentaries also include thoughts on Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas as well as Fidel Castro and Brazilian cinema. Veloso's collage of dialogue, commentary, and selected scenic locations serves as an illustration of his own viewpoints and philosophies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Weighing in heavily on the side of atrocities against the black slaves of 18th-century Brazil, this uneven drama is centered on the legend of Galanga, King of the Congo. Galanga is first captured and after the long segments of atrocities have subsided, his owner promises him full freedom if he can find a source of gold on his plantation. Galanga not only succeeds in finding the mother lode, but with that discovery gets his freedom and a mine to go with it. His owner is persecuted by others for his liberal views, while Galanga, in the meantime, has established himself as a leader in the emancipation of the slaves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two young friends grow up in the same region and share the same music and dances, and the same religious and cultural customs, yet their paths slowly diverge 180 degrees because one is the son of a politician and the other the son of a laborer. As the two grow apart, each has to address problems such as the abuse of power and the influence of a drug underground that are shared by many societies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide