Jose Wilker Movies

A Brazilian astrophysicist who has spent most of his adult life in America returns to his home country to accept a prestigious government award and come to terms with his troubled past after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Upon returning to Brazil, Antonio (Jose Wilker) accepts his award and sets out to visit his adoptive father while attempting to find out the identity of his biological mother. Soon after being taken under the wing of street smart, dope dealing urchin Mosca (Sergio Malheiros) comes into contact with the wise Zeze (Lea Garcia). Fifty years ago the compassionate Zeze had provided Mosca's long lost mother with a helping hand in her most desperate hour, and now she has the opportunity to bring it all full circle by doing the same for the woman's son. As Mosca seeks out the company of the sensual Luciana (Tais Araujo), the ghost of a teenage girl (Anna Sophia Folch) flutters in the corner of his vision hinting that death can come calling at any time. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The life and career of the renowned Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos is portrayed in this biographical drama, which begins with the legendary musician looking back at his own life in his declining years, then leaps back and forth in time to show the highlights of his story. Villa-Lobos (Marcos Palmeira) first developed a passionate interest in music as a child, and took up the cello at the urging of his father (Othon Bastos). As a young man, Villa-Lobos (now played by Antonio Fagundes) becomes acquainted with a saxophone player named Donizetti (Jose Walker), who invites the young prodigy to join him on a journey through the Brazilian rain forests. Villa-Lobos is seized by indigenous tribespeople, and as he stays with them in the wilds he becomes fascinated with the musical structures of bird songs. In time, Hector begins writing his own music, which leans heavily on "natural" influences, but his young wife Luc'ilia (Ana Beatriz Nogueira) feels his work is too challenging, both for performers and listeners. Villa-Lobos eventually finds an appreciative ear for his work in virtuoso pianist Arthur Rubinstein (Emilio de Mello), who helps to support the composer as he travels to Paris to write and perform. In time, Villa-Lobos leaves Luc'ilia, though she actively contests their divorce, and the personal life of the aging composer (now played by Andre Ricardo) provides him with a number of trials and challenges as his work finally wins him an enthusiastic audience in his native land. Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida De Paixao received its North American premiere at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Amazon rain forest is a living laboratory for Dr. Robert Campbell (Sean Connery), a reclusive research scientist living with a Brazilian native tribe. Campbell has accidentally discovered a flower extract that cures cancer, but has been unable to duplicate the formula. With the assistance of Dr. Crane (Lorraine Bracco), he explores every possible chemical derivative, but continues to fail. When a child in the village is near death from a tumor pressing against his trachea, Campbell and Crane stand against each other on the moral issue to use the last of the successful serum to save him or to keep it for further analysis. At the last moment, Crane reconsiders, and agrees to save the child. At the same time, commercial loggers begin to creep ever closer to the village, and government officials demand the tribe's relocation. With only yards remaining between the bulldozers and the tribe, Campbell discovers a vital clue to the elusive elixir he seeks. His attempt to stop the workmen results in violence and a raging forest fire which destroys his lab equipment and the natives' village. The story ends with Campbell, Crane, and the tribe pushing deeper into the jungle in search of new answers.

In a change of pace from his usual action film fare, the skilled work of director John McTiernan brings emotional depth to what would otherwise be just another pro-environmental propaganda film. Connery, who had starred in McTiernan's crowd-pleasing 1989 film The Hunt for Red October, gives a convincing performance as the determined and complex researcher haunted by mistakes of the past. Bracco's character adds the realistic humor of the city scientist adjusting to Spartan life in the trees, but she does so with both strength and dignity. The constant bickering of two equally obstinate scientists gives a mild "honeymooners in the jungle" quality. Filmed in the Mexican rain forest, the canopy is captured in breathtaking cinematography. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide

Leticia (Vera Fischer) is a beautiful woman who is the obsession of two men. One is her extremely jealous ex-lover, the other is a pilot who routinely makes trips to the gold mines in the jungles of the Amazon. Leticia is embroiled in a scheme to sell a forged painting which is supposedly by a famous artist. So is her ex and his assistant. Things get heated as the romantic competition between the two men is complicated by the shady business deal, and the action reaches a climax in the Amazon jungle. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In 1981, Ronald Biggs was kidnapped by agents from Scotland Yard from his Brazilian hideout for his participation in the 1964 British train robbery. This feature was written by Biggs and director Lech Majewski as a fictionalized account of the authorities trying to bring the colorful crook to justice. Paul Freeman plays Biggs, infamous for his participation in the $5 million heist dubbed "The Great Train Robbery". Jack McFarland (Steven Berkoff) is the Scotland Yard agent obsessed with apprehending Biggs and placing him on board a British navy ship bound for England. Nudity abounds in the final carnival scene as Biggs stays one step ahead of his captors. Colorful scenes of Rio are the highlight of this feature hampered by a thin script. ~ Dan Pavlides, 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 this highly stylized Brazilian drama a sax player fondly remembers one wonderful night spent with his life's love and decides to find her again. He embarks upon a quest through the wild streets of Rio to find her. Along the way he meets an assortment of odd urban underworld characters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This political thriller is set against the background of actual turmoil in Brazil in the 1970s, so viewers familiar with that time and place in history will get the most out of O Bom Burgues. Lucas (José Wilker) is a banker with clandestine leftist sympathies who is embezzling money from the bank to support the Communist Party, and also privately supporting a more radical group of guerrillas/terrorists that even the Party is against. Lucas' sister is a member of that paramilitary unit, and when they capture the Swiss ambassador and ask for certain concessions from the government, the action leads to serious trouble for Lucas. Not to mention the fact that his mistress is also the lover of a well-known ultra-conservative - complicating matters several times over. Those unfamiliar with Brazilian history will still enjoy the excitement in this film - even if confused now and again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bye Bye Brazil, the gifted director Carlos Diegues' follow-up to his 1978 Xica da Silva, became one of the most popular and fiscally successful imports of late '70s and early '80s South American cinema. Bye Bye is a muted and low-key ensemble drama about a shabby circus crawling from small town to small town through the Brazilian backwaters. As the curtain rises before us, the circus claims three participants: the slightly scary, medicine-show-like leader, Lorde Cigano (Jose Wilker), who sports a carnival-like 19th century mustache and cape, and keeps the audience mesmerized with magic tricks; the erotically charged, raven-haired dancer Salome (Betty Faria), "Queen of the Rumba"; and the deaf-mute strongman Swallow, who doubles as a fire breather. The troupe quickly adds yet another member shortly after the story begins: the strapping young accordion player Cico (Fabio Junior). He signs on with the circus when he catches sight of Salome, and is thus lost to his expectant wife, Dasdo (Zaira Zambelli) forever -- despite his obligation to cart the missus along with the troupe. The preponderance of the drama explores the shifting relationships between the circus members over the course of their journeys; it also reveals how endangered the troupe has become, both by the inability of locals to pay (the performers accept melons and other edible goods as recompense) and by competing entertainments such as television. These endangerments will ultimately force Cigano and co. beyond desperation -- to the point of ending the circus altogether and prostituting out Salome and Dasdo, just to turn a buck. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Jorge Amado, this Brazilian comedy follows the strange events that befall Doña Flor (Sonia Braga) after she is left a widow by the death of her wild, irresponsible husband. (He died after another wanton night of carousing) Attempting to marry more wisely the second time around, Doña Flor weds a stable, but boring, pharmacist who has no interest in sex. When she discovers that her new sex life is less than satisfying, Doña Flor is visited by the sexy ghost of her late husband. This film is in Portuguese with English subtitles. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Revolutionaries in 16th-century Brazil come in for close study in this 1972 Brazilian/Italian film. A group of intellectuals, with the exception of a Corporal Tiradentes, these revolutionaries plotted the overthrow of the Portuguese colonial government. In a compelling scene, an informer slips into the governor's bathtub to tell him of the group's plans. The entire group was rounded up and put in prison where, Inquisition-like, they were tortured until they recanted. Only Tiradentes refused, and was killed. One of the film's ironic moments is a shot of modern Brazil officially celebrating the dedication of this lone patriot. It is ironic, because the country was under the control of an undemocratic, strict military government at the time. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide