Incidente em Antares

In 1963, in the fictitious city of Antares in South of Brazil, the workers decide to strike, fighting for better salaries and working conditions. Meanwhile, seven locals die: the conservative and Catholic matriarch and very powerful lady, Quitéria Campolargo (Fernanda Montenegro); the corrupt lawyer Cícero Branco (Paulo Betti); the Spanish anarchist shoemaker Barcelona (Elias Gleizer); the drunkard Pudim de Cachaça (Gianfrancesco Guarnieri); the prostitute Erotildes (Marília Pêra); the student João da Paz (Diogo Vilela); and the pianist Menandro Olinda (Ruy Resende). Once their bodies remain unburied due to the general strike, they decide to claim to the local authorities the right of being buried. The Major Vivaldino Brazão (Cláudio Corrêa e Castro), the judge Quintiliano do Vale (Carlos Eduardo Dolabella), the "Colonel" Tibério Vacariano (Paulo Goulart) and the local sheriff are not able to force the workers to return to their normal activities, so the dead citizens disclose dark secrets about corruption of the leaders and the dwellers. Once they are corpses, they are not subject to the laws of the living and they can freely speak about the sordid hidden secrets.

In 1971, the Brazilian writer Érico Veríssimo released this novel, when Brazil lived a tough military dictatorship, which initiated in 1964, and three years after the suspension of the civil rights through the Unconstitutional Act 5 (AI-5). Coincidently, the incident in Antares happens on Friday, December 13th, the same day of the AI-5. The cast of this mini gathers some of the best Brazilian actors and actresses, highlighting the name of Fernanda Montenegro. The well developed screenplay mixes comedy and drama in right doses so that the viewer does not feel the 216 minutes running time. The recent released DVD is a worthwhile investment and entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Incidente em Antares" ("Incident in Antares")