Films with: Babenco, Hector

At play in the fields of the Lord

The tale of two men's experiences with a native Indian tribe in the Brazilian rain forest. One is an American mercenary hired to drive the Niaruna Indians off their land, who joins forces with them instead. The other is a missionary sent to convert the natives to Christianity.

DVD 11143

Carandiru

Set in São Paulo's House of Detention, locally known as Carandiru. An oncologist arrives at the jail to test patients for HIV infection. Seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners. Narratives develop, including the attempted murder of Dagger, the solitary confinement of Chico, and the romance between Lady Di and Too Bad. The doctor eventually begins to see the prisoners as survivors. Culminates with a violent conclusion: a dramatization of the October 2, 1992 prison riot known as the Carandiru Massacre, in which 111 prisoners are killed.

DVD 3758

Pixote a lei do mais fraco /

"Ten-year-old Pixote (Portuguese slang for 'Peewee') is one of three million homeless children in Brazil. Hauled off to a crowded detention center, wide-eyed Pixote witnesses rapes, beatings and other acts of random violence by both the guards and the inmates. With the transvestite Lilica and his lover Dito, Pixote escapes from the reform school where he and his friends hit the streets alone, embarking on a life of violence and crime."--Container.

DVD 1380