Barra Pesada

In this very dirty and violent film about dangerous underworld in Rio de Janeiro, Queró is one of the most despicable leading role characters I have ever watched in cinema: he not only robs and steals, but also betrays friends and agreements, is racist, is violent against gays and women but coward when facing stronger men without a gun. I wish Nelsão and Brandão had beaten him much more. Poor Negritinho, a friend he does not deserve, who engaged as his partner in crimes just for helping him to pay a gambling debt (in a pool game to deadly Brandão) but soon became, together with him, a victim of extorsions and aggressions by Teleco and former pro wrestler Nelsão. Queró's only good quality is hating pimpery, but is due the fact that his mother was herself a prostitute who suffered a lot, and he saw it when was a kid. Despite that background, is simply impossible to have even a slight empathy for him.

I started by watching the 2007 version, which is also based on the novel Querô, uma Reportagem Maldita, by Plínio Marcos, but updated and more faithful to the original novel, which is a portrait and a denunciation of what was going on in the "slums" of Santos at that time. However, here, because it is an alternative, low-budget work, I also watched a low-quality pirated version, with darkened images, the film becomes Carioca, a more tied-up plot, not very captivating, and with a lot of violence.

Marked by a violent childhood, a young man gets involved in a life of crime. Between one scam and another, he becomes the main target of a manhunt that involves the criminal underworld and the police itself.