Milhem Cortaz Movies
For decades, the South American metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has clocked in as staggeringly lethal. Its violence-scarred and blood-strewn ghettos (or "favelas") are regularly patrolled by crazed drug gangs whose open-fire battles with police often spread out onto the main thoroughfares and turn ordinary civilians into casualties. In response, the Brazilian government formed a crack paramilitary force known as the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, or Special Police Operations Battalion) to take matters into its own hands. Now, director José Padilha's social-consciousness drama Tropa de Elite carries viewers inside of BOPE for a scathing indictment of the cycle of violence that permeates Brazilian society, scripted by 12-year-plus BOPE veteran Rodrigo Pimentel. Wagner Moura (Hector Babenco's Carandiru) stars as Captain Nascimento, the leader of a BOPE unit who is seriously considering retirement in the face of his impending fatherhood. In an effort to pick his successor, he looks to two younger recruits, part-time law student André Matias (André Ramiro) and the bellicose hood Neto (Caio Junqueira) -- but soon recognizes that these naïve men will need to seriously mature before one can take the reins. Inevitably, the events that each encounters on the roughshod Brazilian streets -- particularly a trip to clean up some of the neighborhoods in anticipation of the pope's visit -- begin to shape and redefine them in ways that neither can even begin to anticipate. Meanwhile, BOPE grapples with its own internal problems -- particularly the extreme corruption and underhandedness of each squad leader, whose sideline activities range from resupplying weapons to gangs to the racketeering of strip clubs. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, (more)
- 2006
A noxious stench and a perfect derriere send the mind of a perverse pawn shop proprietor spinning into insanity in a darkly humorous tale of mental malaise from director Heitor Dhalia. Lourenço takes perverse pleasure in profiting from the misfortune of his fellow man. A pawn shop owner who relishes in the power that he holds over the desperate visitors to his modest store, Lourenço becomes fixated on a smell that seems to be coming from the bathroom drain and proves virtually impossible to eradicate. Another of Lourenço's strange obsessions is the behind of a waitress who works in a nearby restaurant. Though he hates the food she serves and can't even remember her name as hard as he tries, Lourenço's fixation on the waitress' shapely buttocks proves as difficult to shake as the repulsive smell which seems to have worked it's way into his very pores. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Selton Mello, Paula Braun, (more)
The sports biopic Garrincha, Estrella Solitaria tells the life story of Garrincha, one of Brazil's most beloved soccer stars. The film charts his many achievements on the pitch, as well as his numerous sexual conquests in his personal life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Brazilian filmmaker Hector Babenco directs the confrontational drama Carandiru, based on the best-selling novel by Dr. Drauzio Varella. The episodic story is set in Sao Paulo's House of Detention (referred to as Carandiru), one of Latin America's largest prison systems. The doctor (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) is an oncologist who arrives in the jail to test patients for HIV infection. Seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners. Several narratives develop, including the attempted murder of Dagger (Milhem Cortaz), the solitary confinement of Chico (Milton Goncalves), and the romance between Lady Di (Rodrigo Santoro) and Too Bad (Gero Camilo). The doctor eventually establishes a routine and sees the prisoners as survivors, leading up to the violent conclusion: a reconstruction of the October 2, 1992, prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Carlos Vasconcelos, Milhem Cortaz, (more)
