- In 1945 Rio de Janeiro, a customs official interrogates a suspected Nazi fugitive.
- Segismundo (Tony Ramos) is a former political police officer of Getúlio Vargas' government, who used to torture prisoners. In April 1945, he is the chief of the Immigration Office in Rio de Janeiro and, therefore, is in charge of preventing the entry of Nazis. Then, the Polish Clausewitz (Dan Stulbach) must convince him that he is a victim in order to gain access to the country. Peacetime is a film that turns a very complex issue (i.e. immigration) into a simple story of a day that changes the lives of two men.
- Rio de Janeiro, April 18, 1945. Brazil's foreign policy aligns closely with that of the United States and opens a brief period of democratic rule after the end of World War 2. For years, hundreds of people were arrested and tortured by the Vargas regime. But with the external pressure, several political prisoners gain freedom.
Segismundo is a former political police official of Vargas' government. A former tormentor, of those who complied with the most insane orders without conscience. But, ironically, the war is what draws its Peace. Segismundo fears revenge of his former prisoners.
Today he is head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Rio de Janeiro and has the mission to prevent the entry of the Nazis. Segismundo is who decides who may enter the country. Foreigners are interrogated by him, and at the slightest suspicion they're sent back home.
It is exactly what happens with Polish Clausewitz. It is suspected that he is a Nazi spy in the midst of so many different nationalities and accents that turned the quays of Rio after the war into a confused and noisy scene. All for trying to impress one of the immigration officials reciting a poem by Carlos Drummond de Andrade. The official, though not knowing who the poet was, gave Clausewitz to his boss, Segismundo.
Now, Clausewitz must use all his talent and his sad story to convince you that he is not a follower of Hitler. A real battle between the Polish art of persuasion and the armor of coldness and harshness that life imposed on his tormentor. In peacetime, the only weapon left to Clausewitz is the innate power to mess with people's feelings. Or what's left of them after the war.
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