Brazilian History Movies

A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

A man remembers forty-eight crucial hours in his life when, as a child, he visited his mother, the favorite woman of an important politician, in a bordello owned by him, right before some important political changes in 1937 Brazil. In those hours, he discovers his own sexuality.

Fernando, a journalist, and his friend César join terrorist group MR8 in order to fight Brazilian dictatorial regime during the late sixties. César, however, is wounded and captured during a bank hold up. Fernando then decides to kidnap the American ambassador in Brazil and ask for the release of fifteen political prisoners in exchange for his life.

Mexico City, November 1901. The police raid a private home where a secret party is being held. Among those attending is the son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz.

From a repressive childhood to artistic revolution, Ney Matogrosso transforms Brazil's stages — and himself — through music, creativity and inner fire.

Marta and Maria mourn the death of their brother Lázaro. A group of Jews try to comfort Maria while Marta leaves to meet Jesus. The disciples try to warn their master about the dangers of returning to Judea. Nearby, a miracle is about to happen.

Documentary about the first attempt to fight the military dictatorship since 1964. On the mountains of Caparaó, in august 1966, a group of former officers tried to start a great national reaction against the new regime, in an attempt to replicate a "Sierra Maestra" on Brazilian lands.

“Rio 2096 – A Story of Love and Fury” is an animated film that portrays the love between an immortal hero and Janaína, the woman he has been in love with for 600 years. As a backdrop to the romance, the feature highlights four phases of Brazilian history: colonization, slavery, the Military Regime and the future, in 2096, when there will be a war for water.

Authorized biopic of Brazilian evangelical bishop Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and owner of Record TV network. Based on a book trilogy of the same name, the movie tells the story of the self-made man who faced several moments of turbulence while pursuing his conviction.

Paulo Coelho is the world’s most translated living author, his books having sold over 165 million copies. But he was not always the inspirational global phenomenon he is today. Like the heroes in his spiritual classics THE ALCHEMIST and THE PILGRIMAGE, he long-searched for his calling, flirting with death, escaping madness, falling in love, and making rock ’n’ roll history in Brazil, all-the-while striving for success as a writer. A wild ride through a lifetime of stranger-than-fiction adventures, PAULO COELHO’S BEST STORY is a profoundly moving film that goes straight to the heart of the most beloved literary guru of our time, revealing the most incredible wonder of all: the man behind the masterpieces.

A Lebanese photographer living in Brazil in the '30s manages to film the band of Lampião, a legendary Brazilian bandit.

Afro-Brazilian poet and politician, the legendary Carlos Marighella. Driven to fight against the erosion of civil and human rights following the CIA-backed military coup of 1964 and the brutal, racist right-wing dictatorship that followed, the revolutionary leaves behind his wife and son to take up arms, becoming a notorious enemy to the power structure.

Through abrupt soundtrack shifts, this short film jumps between historical political imagery to explore the cinematic language of propaganda, unpacking complex concepts through sensory explosions — from the Brazilian military dictatorship to the Chinese revolution.

A knight, half soldier, half gaudério, dolphinfish hair in the sun, guitar on his back, enters the sleepy town of Santa Fe. Nobody could imagine that this man was also getting into their lives. Singing and drinking was winning the hearts of women and admiration of men. A storyteller of adventures, wars or lies? Based on the book by Erico Verissimo.

The story of Allan Kardec, from his days as an educator to his contribution to the spiritist codification.

The movie follows the life and career of Madame Durocher, first woman to be accepted in the Brazilian Medical Academy.

Reconstruction of the historical episode of the Inconfidência Mineira (Minas Conspiracy).

No overview available

Cruel and brave Brazilian outlaw called Corisco, living in the backcountry in the Northeast, an arid region, rapes 12-year-old Dadá, who becomes his woman, following him and his gang. Although they were supposed to fight against social injustice, they terrorized the small villages along their way.

When bandits take the town of Sertânia, Antão gets shot, arrested, and left to die. Bleeding out, Antão's delirious mind begins to recall the events that led up to the incident through a sequence of increasingly unreliable fever dreams.

No overview available

During World War II, looking up the Mountain, in Italy, a Brazilian Expeditionary Force - FEB - mines weeping platoon is hit by a panic-attack that sets them running aimlessly right in the middle of 'no man's land'. Desperate cold and hungry, the ill-prepared soldiers have to choose between facing military court or delve deeper into enemy lines. After a tense discussion, they decide to save their faces with the Brazilian Army by tackling a daring military objective: to disarm the most feared minefield in Italy. On their way there, they end meeting two others deserters; a remorseful Italian soldier trying to join the Partigianos and German officer who is just simply tired of war. with unexpected help of their ex-enemy, the soldiers are set to accomplish a mission that so far had been deemed impossible.

The life of Fernão Dias, a 17th century Brazilian frontiersman known as "the Emerald Hunter".

A film that portrays the anguish of an artist on the day of the presidential elections in Brazil in 2018.

In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.

The story of Francisco, a very simple and poor man whose dream was to see his children become country music stars, and who made all the efforts to make it happen.

Rio Grande do Sul, 18th century. In between the arduous work on the land aiming for the prosperity of her family's farm and the constant attacks from bandits that the militias can't control, a young lady matures amidst the struggles of life. However, after saving the life of a semi-Indian, the wind brings in love, as well as tragic events to her and her family.

The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politicians in Brazilian history.

Covering the last years of the famous Brazilian fashion designer in her doomed quest for justice, Zuzu Angel follows the case of her activist son Stuart's arrest, torture, murder, and subsequent corpse disposal by the military forces in early 1970s Rio de Janeiro, during the darkest era of Brazilian military regime and media censorship.

After her parents were killed by a troupe of soldiers in search of Lampião, an outlaw living in Northeastern Brazil, Maria marries Filipe, a horse whisperer. But his nephew Coriolano soon develops an attraction for Maria, while a jealous Filipe decides to break his marriage and sends Maria away.

The true story of Assis Chateaubriand, the first magnate of communications in Brazil. Due to his influence during the late 1930s up to the early 1960s, he has come to be called 'the Brazilian Citizen Kane'.

No overview available

Hebe Camargo is one of the most emblematic entertainments in Brazil. At her 60s, she went on to control her own career and, despite the criticism, the dreadful husband and the powerful and sexist bosses, she revealed herself to the public as an extraordinary woman, capable of overcoming any personal or professional crisis.

A German family moves to a small town in the interior of the state of Paraná, Brazil, and buys a hotel there, which soon becomes sort of a meeting point for Nazi sympathizers.

No overview available

Inspired by the moving book “Só as Mães São Felizes”, by Lucinha Araújo, Cazuza's mother, the film covers a little more than 10 years of the singer’s crazy and brief life – from the beginning of his career in the Circo Voador venue, in 1981, to the huge success and the apotheosis of his shows with the Barão Vermelho band, his solo career, his relations with his parents, friends, lovers and passions, and the courage he had to face his final years, with HIV, until his death, in 1990.

Based on Érico Verissimo's literary trilogy, Time and the Wind follows 150 years of the Terra Cambará family and their opponents, the Amaral family. The struggles between the two families begin in the missions and lasts until the end of the 19th century. The film also features the period of formation of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the dispute of territory between the Portuguese and Spanish crowns.

On the eve of his return to Europe after an extended involuntary stay in 16th-century Brazil, the German sailor Hans Staden is captured by a hostile cannibal Indian tribe. In order to survive he tries to convince the Indians that he is not Portuguese (their enemies) but a friend of the French (their allies), and that his God would be very angry if they were to eat him.

No overview available

Based on the biography of Luiz Gama, one of the most important characters in Brazilian history, a black man who used the laws and courts to free more than 500 slaves. Born of a free womb, Gama was sold into slavery at the age of 10 to pay off his father's gambling debts. Even as a slave, he became literate, studied and earned his own freedom, becoming one of the most respected lawyers of his time. An abolitionist and republican who inspired an entire country.