This movie is inspired in the novel by the Portuguese writer Ferreira de Castro which was a best-seller in 1930 and was translated in several languages. In 1912 a Portuguese young man comes to Brazil running away from the Republic which had been proclaimed in Portugal in 1910, since he was a monarchist. He is educated (can even play the piano) but he gets only a job as "seringueiro" (rubber-gatherer) in a remote place in the Amazonian jungle which is almost like hell. The law there is the will of the white owners of the ground where the rubber trees grow and their foremen which can punish the workers (mostly Negroes or half-caste) by whipping or even killing them by such faults as not producing enough work or trying to escape, in a system akin to slavery. The workers while working in the forest are also subject to attacks by savage Indians tribesmen and wild animals such as ounces and jaguars. After a certain time the young man gets some kind of "promotion" and comes to work in the store and the office of the rubber estate where he gets better treatment and is even admitted at the table of the owner. There he falls in love with the beautiful book-keeper's wife which will bring him a lot of trouble in that kind of milieu. The movie is very well made and shows in a very realistic way the daily life in an Amazonian rubber estate. It's served by an excellent cast of performers including those who do the roles of the semi-slave workers. Its only flaw in my opinion is its inconclusive end after the final very violent scenes of the climax. But a good movie in any case.
