User reviews

This is Brazilian vanguard artist/painter Aldir Mendes de Souza's second and final full-length movie. It is a kind of docu-drama about sadistic hazing rituals for freshmen at Brazilian medical schools. Mr. Souza filmed real hazing scenes at two medical schools, USP and Santa Casa in Sao Paulo then mixed in professional actors. The movie takes a strong stance against hazing and when the students found out what the movie was really about, they nearly broke all of the film equipment and sent Mr. Mendes into the hospital. Besides being an artist, Aldir Mendes is a doctor, so you get the feeling that he must have been a hazing victim himself. Although this movie was well received when it came out and was regarded as prophetic when a hazing incident at USP medical school that resulted in a drowning death happened a few years ago, in a nearly identical way to a scene in the movie, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't really interested in Brazilian culture, or the psychology of hazing... It is not nearly as entertaining as the "Thank you may I have another" scene in Animal House, or the initiation-themed movie "Dazed and Confused".