In the west area of Rio de Janeiro, the school teacher Verônica (Andréa Beltrão) works in a CIEP nearby a slum. Verônica is separated from the police officer Paulo (Marco Ricca) and his mother is interned in a public hospital waiting for a varicose veins surgery on her leg. When the boy Leandro (Matheus de Sá) is left in school and her mother does not arrive to bring him home, Verônica takes the boy home in the slum. However, the street where the boy lives is blocked by the police and the vendor of the bar advises her to leave the place since Leandro's parents have been killed and the boy would be the next. Verônica brings the stubborn and annoying boy home and when she opens the flash memory that Leandro's father gave to him in the computer, she sees that his father had recorded a deal between corrupt cops and drug dealers. Verônica is chased by both, dirty cops and drug traffickers, and tries to escape with Leandro to another place.
The 1980 "Gloria" is a dramatic thriller written and directed by John Cassavetes with his awesome wife Gena Rowlands in the lead role. In 1999, Sidney Lumet remade this great feature with Sharon Stone performing Gloria in a terrible remake, but he gave the credits to the writer John Cassavetes. "Verônica" is an adaptation of John Cassavetes' story to the sad reality of the slums of Rio de Janeiro but without the deserved credit of the original writer. The storyline is exactly the same but instead of New York, Rio de Janeiro; instead of mafia, drug dealers and dirty cops; instead of a black book of an accountant with copy of the records of the transactions, a flash memory with images. The annoying character performed by Matheus de Sá is unconvincing in his emotions, and Verônica's reaction in school is completely inadequate for an experienced teacher. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Verônica"
