Synopsis
A semi-documentary on the people of Rio de Janeiro. The camera follows boys from a hillside shanty town who sell peanuts at Copacabana, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and a soccer game. Various subplots, involving characters they meet along the way, are interspersed.Read More »
Banned by Brazil’s Federal Department of Public Safety, “Rio, 40 Grau”s is a landmark film that ushered in the wave of Neorealist cinema in Brazil – Cinema Novo. The film chronicles a day in the life of five peanut vendors from the favelas (shanty towns) of Rio de Janeiro. Other subplots involving characters they meet along the way are interspersed. This was one of the first Brazilian films to address the issues of race, poverty, and class. These themes would continue to be examined by dos Santos throughout his career.Read More »