Reviews

An underrated film that deserves more attention from the critics. This film is absolutely fascinating in the way that it analyses the intricate psychology of the characters - specially the young playboy who falls in love with his stepmother. It depicts in a very subtle way some questions that were taboos at the time of the brazilian military regime, such as incest, drugs and adultery, with such ingenuity that managed to avoid the harsh censorship of that period. These subtle situations evolve into a crescendo of realism that culminates with the final violent conflict among the group of criminals who found themselves isolated from the outside world and whose relationship quickly deteriorated. To sum up, this is a film that captures the attention from the beginning to the end, and remains so modern that certainly deserves a remake.

This film is a pride of Brazilian film industry. Certainly the best work from the great director Denoy de Oliveira (now deceased), it was based on a novel from the celebrated writer Domingos Pellegrini, "O Encalhe dos 300". It tells the story of a group of people who find themselves bogged down in a muddy highway situated in a remote forest after a rainstorm. This miscellaneous group consists of people so different as truck drivers and a wealthy businessman, nuns and prostitutes, drifters, crooks and even artists from a little circus. The only thing they have in common are the hardships they endure during their seven days in the rain and the mud, isolated from the world. This initial situation unfolds into one million stories of love and hate, comradeship and infamy, life and death; during this hell we take a deep tour into the human soul. One little dialog captures the spirit of the film: one kid asks his mother, a poor migrant from northern Brazil, "Mum, where are we going to?", and the mother: "Does it make any difference?". No other movie that I have ever seen has made such an intimate portrait of an entire people (in this case, the Brazilian people), than this one. Touching, unforgettable.

As some of the viewers have already pointed out, I think that the film is divided in two uneven and autonomous parts. The first part is in my opinion one of the best sci-fi movies of all times: a brilliant and meticulous foresight of the near future (which unhapilessly didn't materialize - for example the 400 meter high Tower without End, a project of architect Jean Nouvel that was to be built in La Défense) with a fantastic scenario and a thrilling plot, not at all devoid of grace and humour. The second part, however, is a dull mass of cheap philosophy in such a way that, by force of the contrast with the first half, turns the movie into an unpleasant surprise to the audience. Anyway, if I were to edit this film I would discard completely the second part of it, but...

Simply my favorite film. The other side of the American dream. I imagined that American movies were only that "Pretty Woman" sorta thing until I was struck by the power of this movie. Finally something with no pretty faces, beautiful scenarios and millionaire budgets. Only superb actings (which even deserved a little mention in a great psychology book such as "On Killing"), a dark, gloomy, decaying atmosphere and a striking plot - even people that hated this movie can't deny that it's very disturbing. I really doubt if something of this quality will be ever produced again.

This is an extraordinary film. A pitiless portrait of human race. Scola describes the life of poor and marginal people with no compassion, showing all their miseries and perfidies. In this sense, the film is very close to another masterpiece, Viridiana from Bunuel. Everything in this movie is so disconcerting (beginning with the slum which has a magnificent vista to St. Peter's Cathedral) that it also remembers me of David Lynch's works. Besides all that, the film is absolutely hilarious.