In São Paulo, the worker Tião (Carlos Alberto Riccelli) is the son of the idealistic Otávio (Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), who tries to organize the workers with his friend Bráulio (Milton Gonçalves) against the exploitation of the employers. Tião's girlfriend, the also worker Maria (Bete Mendes), got pregnant and he decides to get married with her in a hurry. Tião was raised in the repressive period of the Brazilian dictatorship and is very afraid of losing his job, while his father has a totally different political position. Tião believes that the struggle between classes never changes, while his father has an opposite opinion, having confidence in better days. His mother Romana (Fernanda Montenegro) is the balance of their family. The dramatic story is not conclusive, portraying a period in Brazilian history when the workers were trying to organize the strikes and other movements against the employer, after a long period of dictatorship. Having a magnificent interpretation of an outstanding cast, this movie was awarded with the Golden Lion Special Jury Prize - in Cannes Festival (1981), and also awarded in minor international festivals in Cuba (1981), France (1981) and Colombia (1983), besides winning four prizes in a national festival (Air France). In the present days, the president of Brazil is a former worker, derived from the labor union and elected by the hopeful people, with the expectation of improving the life of our suffered people. He was one of the men who fought against the dictatorship and organized the movement of workers in Brazil. Ironically, he seems to have forgotten his campaign promises and origin, and Brazil has presently one of the highest unemployment rate in our history. In the end, unfortunately it seems that Tião was right. My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): `Eles Não Usam Black Tie' (`They Do Not Wear Black Tie')
