In 1925, Gabriela, a poor, uneducated, yet charming woman becomes cook, mistress, and then wife of Nacib, a bar owner in Ilhéus, a small Brazilian coastal town run by the local colonels.
A plane crashes in the Amazon jungle, and its passengers must battle their way through cannibals, slave traders, wild animals and murderous piranha fish to safety.
The Caravana Rolidei rolls into town with the Gypsy Lord at the mike: he does magic tricks, the erotic Salomé dances, and the mute Swallow performs feats of strength. A young accordion player is completely enamored of Salomé, and he begs to come along. The Gypsy Lord shrugs, and the accordionist...
A new incarnation of Cangaceiro bandits, led by Coirana, has risen in the badlands. A blind landowner hires Antônio to wipe out his old nemesis. Yet after besting Coirana and accompanying the dying man to his mountain hideout, Antônio is moved by the plight of the Cangaceiro’s followers. The...
Eldorado, a fictitious country in America, is sparkling with the internal struggle for political power. In the eye of this social convulsion, the jaded journalist Paulo Martins opposes two equally corrupt political candidates: a pseudopopulist and a conservative. In this context, Paulo is torn...
Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the...
In the village of Leva-e-Traz, the discovery of a oil field is responsible for a mass evasion of the townspeople. Left are the old and incapable for the extraction job. When the local priest announces he, too, is leaving the town, Satan emerge thrilled with the chance of overtaking the place.
Helena, a criminal's daughter, was raised in a boarding school. When the priest who was her teacher is killed by a group of outlaws, Helena and her female friends assemble in a strange gang of female bandits, wandering Northeast Brazil and forcing the men they capture to have sex with them.
In vivid images, the documentary-like story of a drover and his family in the northern badlands of Brazil during the drought. A family in the search of new hope and destiny.
Iolanda, a widow who is the matriarch of a large and complicated family, is the hostess of a large party in a mansion that brings back many memories. The celebration is marked by a barbecue with lots of gossip and fun among old friends.
In search of a better life, Luzia leaves the Northeast of Brazil and goes to Rio de Janeiro, looking for her fiance who went first to pave their way. Alone in the Marvelous City, she is forced to accept the friendship and protection of Calunga and, later, the company of Inácio.
A senator having contacts with illegal betting activities is killed by the man who is his right arm, who wanted to get his position. But the power structure resents this disturbance and can fall apart, specially since there's a witness.
When a prominent U.S. Nobel Laureate arrives in Salvador, Bahia, the city with the largest black population in Brazil, he stirs emotions by championing a long-forgotten local writer named Pedro Archanjo, who believed that humanity would be improved only through miscegenation.
An ubiquitous folk singer narrates the tale of a young boy, who apparently becomes immune to gunfire after his mother arranges for him to have an amulet bearing Ogum's blessings. As time goes by, he becomes a valuable member of a mobster's hit-team, but ends up joining a group of people who resist...