User reviews

João Batista de Andrade's documentary on infamous and dangerous criminal Wilsinho Galiléia is a true finding that managed to survive time and become one of the greatest films ever made in Brazil. It was a TV project for TV in one of many episodes of Globo Repórter - for those who know the show, it was a lot different back in its first years since it allowed a combination of journalism with re-enactments by actors instead of the usual nature/health/social issues topics of our current days, all beautifully filmed and without acting. One broadcast was enough for the military regime confiscate the film and block subsequential views due to its violent nature and its criticism that authorities either were doing anything effective to catch the guy or when they did it was a whole set up that brutally murdered him instead of arresting him - and this was back when the system was slowly rehearsing a return to democracy. It was ressurected in the early 2000's (can't remember if a copy was found by the director or was one was found hidden somewhere; all I know is that many critics hailed it as a masterpiece, a hidden gem that could stand on the same level as many feature films or documentaries that received major releases).

Wilsinho Galiléia was a young cruel murderous car theft that was extremely brutal to his victims. As mentioned earlier, the documentary mixes real actors with testimonies from people who knew the 18 year-old criminal - like neighbours and members of his family (mother and brothers) - and re-enactments of his crimes with actors: Galiléia is played by Paulo Eudes (a weird casting since the actor looks like a 30 year-old then a 18 year-old). And it was filmed on a cinema-verité style that seems highly factual through the whole time because the acting feels convincing for most of the time; though some of the family's testimonies seems staged at times - so it's like the fiction became facts and the facts became fiction. Interesting fusion.

Andrade's film is a tragic trip to the memory lane of a different era and a reminder that the criminal types were few compared with today, they always had their minutes of fame but always paid some price. It reflects about not just issues of criminality, methods of murder, it's also an extended look on poverty and how it all affects - in some cases - the outcome of one person become marginalized. Wilsinho's mother was a figure worthy of pity. Taking care of five boys along, working hard to provide the best she could and with the resources she had and then...seeing one by one become criminals, murderers, jailed either in juvenile facilities or later on prisons. The horror and tragedy of wasted lives, not just that family, but specially their victims who were robbed and deprived of their lives just because the weak social/economical situation of an angry majority is a key factor for the violence a more fortunatue minority suffered. Never a justification, it's always a thought on how things really are. Powerful film. 9/10