Nildo Parente Movies

Jack Noah (Richard Dreyfuss) is all actor: Self-possessed, obsessive, vulnerable, and an addict for praise, his soul burns with "the craft." Having just finished a grade-Z straight-to-cable crime thriller in the fictional South American country of Parador, he gets the ultimate acting challenge (though it's more like an offer he can't refuse) from Roberto Strausman (Raul Julia), the Paradorian dictator's chief advisor. The challenge: impersonate the country's dictator, whose just died. Strausman knows just how to manipulate Noah: He takes him to a meat locker, shows him the director's body (actually Dreyfuss' brother, Lorin), threatens to kill him, and he brings clips of Noah's best reviews. Thus enticed, and bearing a striking resemblance to the man, Noah accepts the job. Under the exacting direction of Strausman, he follows the script precisely. Noah immediately enjoys the job's perks, not least of which is the dictator's scorching mistress, Madonna (Sonia Braga), but of course cannot conceal his real identity to her. A close call with Parador's revolutionaries and Madonna's brimming social conscience push Noah to take command of the role. He starts pushing a kinder, gentler social agenda, and incurs Strausman's wrath. It begins to look like Noah will play the dictator's last act, but a chance meeting with a stunt man friend (Michael Greene) inspires a caper that will change all of the characters' fates. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

Based on the first-hand writings of Brazilian political-activist Graciliano Ramos, Memories of Prison, stars Carlos Vereze as Ramos. The time-frame is the 1930s, during the dictatorial regime of Getulio Vargas. Because of his anti-Vargas sentiments, Ramos is shipped off to a hellhole of a prison island. Knowing full well that he's expected to die in jail rather than be "rehabilitated," Ramos nonetheless survives, if for no other reason than to expose the sadistic cruelties of Vargas' minions. Placing an unpleasant period in Brazilian history within a personal perspective, Memories of Prison is one of the best of the many films directed by Nelson Pereira Dos Santos. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gabriela was based on Jorge Armado's novel Gabriela, Clove and Cinammon, which also served as the source of a typically steamy Brazilian TV soap opera. Set in 1925 (when the novel was first published), the film stars Marcello Mastrioanni as Nacib, a bartender in the Bahian village of Parati. When a drought descends upon the surrounding countryside, slovenly-but-sexy Gabriela (Sonja Braga) wanders into Parati with some friends and relatives. Immediately entranced by Gabriela's earthy sensuality, Nacib hires her as a cook and potential lover. Jealous of the attentions paid to Gabriela by the local menfolk, Nacib decides to marry her, then orders her to dress and behave in a more prudish fashion. But Gabriela can't help straying sexually, and as consequence it is Nacib who is forced to undergo the film's major character transformation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lucelia Santos plays the controversial Luz del Fuego in this film about the Brazilian striptease maven who performed with equally naked live snakes, in an era (the 1950s) when striptease, with or without live snakes, was a social pariah. She went on to found a nudist colony on an island in Rio's Guanabara Bay, and was regularly linked with one prominent politician or another. The cause of her death in the 1960s has never been revealed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Focusing on the culture and beliefs of the people in the state of Minas Geraes in Brazil, this highly innovative drama by director Carlos Alberto Prates-Correia continuously blurs the line between fantasy and reality. At center stage is a man and his life, viewed from the perspective of his dreams, visions of the past, interpretations of the present, and a "real" world somewhere in-between. Cultural and social vignettes from life in Minas Geraes are interspersed throughout the film; the avant-garde approach of Prates-Correia contorts some of these vignettes into enigmas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

When the Portuguese colonized Brazil, they enslaved as many of the local native population as they could lay their hands on to work on their plantations. This movie, set in the 18th century, tells the story of one tribal chieftain, an actual historical figure, who actively fought against the Portuguese. Legend has it that he could transform himself into an animal or a bird at need. In a parallel drama, the enslavement of native peoples by modern drug-barons is also depicted. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi