Lamarca

Sérgio Rezende's movie is a strong and well done movie on dire Brazilian military dictatorship, focusing a core character from the resistance against autocratic rule, communist guerrilla leader and former Army captain Carlos Lamarca, well played by Paulo Betti. This is particulary remarkable if one considers the deep crisis Brazilian cinema faced those years. It was released before "Retomada", when there was very little investment in producing films in Brazil, and very few movies were made in the country. Given those constraints, even an irregular but interesting movie could be acknowlwdged as an achievement, but this is not the case. Lamarca is more than that: it is a very solid movie, with good characters, direction, script, art direction, pace. It is also very brave in the way it highlights important political issues which are often hidden. That didactism is not reached at cost of the film's narrative fluidity, what must also be praised. All actors do a great job, not only Paulo Betti: Carla Camuratti as Iara Iavelberg, Deborah Evelyn as Lamarca's wife, Eliezer de Almeida as "Zequinha" José Campos Barreto, Ernani Moraes as DOPS commissioner Flores (actually coward Sérgio Fleury), José de Abreu and Carlos Zara as military officers, and so forth. Torture scenes and each revolutionary who dies on screen are pinches in our hearts. Moving and politically important film, and a milestone in Brazilian cinema.