Slums (favelas): movies, ranked
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- DirectorFernando MeirellesKátia LundStarsAlexandre RodriguesLeandro FirminoMatheus NachtergaeleIn the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
- DirectorAlê AbreuStarsVinicius GarciaMarco Aurélio CamposLu HortaA little boy goes on an adventurous quest in search of his father.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsSergio CorrieriSalvador WoodJosé GallardoFour vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era.
- DirectorNelson Pereira dos SantosStarsGrande OteloJece ValadãoMalu MaiaA talented songwriter of sambas is forced to face the social injustices of the city around him.
- DirectorPaulo MorelliStarsDouglas SilvaDarlan CunhaJonathan HaagensenBest buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
- DirectorAna RieperA glance over the trajectory of the samba singer Clementina de Jesus (1901-1987). Revealed late, at the age 63, she became one of the biggest voices in samba and was considered the link between the Brazilian culture and the African roots.
- DirectorGuilherme AzevedoStarsGuilherme AzevedoTim LopesThe trajectory of Arcanjo Antonino Lopes do Nascimento, Tim Lopes. Considered one of the greatest investigative reporters in Brazil, who did a singular and revered journalism.
- DirectorCarlos DieguesStarsJosé WilkerTaís AraújoSérgio BrittoAntonio, a famous Brazilian astrophysicist and professor at an American university, receives the news that he has a fatal disease. Upon returning to Brazil to receive an official tribute, he discovers the identity of his true parents and the surprising love story between them, which changes his life.
- DirectorLúcia MuratStarsGrace PassôJoana de VeronaMarco Antonio CaponiGlória is a woman from Rio de Janeiro who tries to move on with her life despite the traumas caused by an abusive father and a drug dealer brother. She starts therapy with Camila, a young Portuguese psychoanalyst.
- DirectorStephen DaldryChristian DuurvoortStarsRickson TevezGabriel WeinsteinMartin SheenSet in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.
- DirectorSergio RezendeStarsJosé WilkerMarieta SeveroJonas BlochBiography of Brazilian congressman Tenório Cavalcanti, who used to appear in public carrying a machine-gun, and wearing a black cloak.
- DirectorBruno BarretoStarsSonia BragaJosé WilkerMauro MendonçaIn a small city of Brazil, a woman named Flor marries a man named Vadinho, but once married she finds that he is a good-for-nothing. She works teaching cooking and he takes all of her money to gamble. After Vadinho dies, Flor marries Tedoror, the owner of a drugstore. Flor is happy with her new husband but misses the love life with her previous husband. When one day the ghost of Vadhino comes back to pursue her.
- DirectorRoberto FariasStarsEliezer GomesReginaldo FariaJorge DóriaFilm about the true events in Rio de Janeiro, in 1960, when a gang having the infamous outlaw Tião Medonho as a leader performed a sensational railroad hold-up on a train carrying a small fortune.
- DirectorBruno BarretoStarsBetty FariaDaniel FilhoBrandão FilhoFausta is a survivor who dreams of building a house on land she's buying on the installment plan. Meanwhile she lives in a one-room tin-roofed hovel with her idle husband, João, and she works as a maid. The elderly but randy Zé, who carries advertising signs at the train station, buys her perfume and invites her to spend Sundays with him. She accepts. After João injures his foot, stops work, drinks more, and wallows in self pity, Fausta sees Zé as her way out, if he'll help her buy the land and build a house. Through it all she's a scourge, arguing, jeering and being jeered, but also displaying the spirit and energy of her idol, Tina Turner.
- DirectorWalter SallesDaniela ThomasStarsFernanda TorresLuiz Carlos VasconcelosMatheus NachtergaeleOn December 31st of 1999, the destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.
- DirectorCavi BorgesLuciano VidigalStarsAlexandre RodriguesLeandro FirminoRoberta RodriguesA film documentary about the fate of the young actors of the award winning film City of God by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. It shows how their lives unfolded after the film's worldwide success.
- DirectorLav DiazStarsCharo Santos-ConcioJohn Lloyd CruzMichael De MesaAfter 30 years of wrongful imprisonment, a woman plans to take revenge on her former lover.
- DirectorMaurício FariasStarsAndrea BeltrãoJulio AdriãoCamila AmadoA teacher takes a student to his house in the slum, but on arrival discovers that drug traffickers have killed his parents and now are looking for him.
- DirectorMarina MeliandeStarsMarina ProvenzzanoSandra MariaPedro GracindoRio de Janeiro, 2016. The hottest summer in history. The city is preparing for the Olympic Games. Ana, a 32-year-old public defender, works in the defense of a community threatened with removal by the works of the Olympic Park. Meanwhile, she's been noticing purple fungus-like spots on her body. Strange things begin to happen in the city as well as in Ana's body. The temperature rises, creating a humid and suffocating atmosphere. The sultriness accumulates before giving way to heavy rain.
- DirectorAffonso UchoaStarsMaurício ChagasAristides de SousaEldo RodriguesJuninho, Menor, Neguinho, Adilson and Eldo are young dwellers of Nacional's neighborhood, Contagem's suburbs. Divided between work and fun, crime and hope, each one of them will have to find ways to overcome the obstacles and tame the tiger that they bring inside their veins.
- DirectorLaura Mora OrtegaStarsNatasha JaramilloGiovanny RodríguezCarmenza CossioAfter the murder of her father, a young art student Paula searches for the contracted killer who carried out the crime, a young man named Jesús.
- DirectorCarlos Augusto de OliveiraStarsAnders W. BerthelsenBárbara GarciaDavid DencikThe story of one man's journey from Denmark to Brazil to get a child.
- DirectorLuis DantasStarsSara AntunesAriclenes BarrosoAndré FrancoSet over 72 hours at the height of the 2012 attacks and counterattacks between military police and organized crime in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoStarsBenedita da SilvaMilton GonçalvesFerreira GullarAn essay on the imagination, cultural identity and prejudice against black people, focusing on the work of Gabriel Joaquim dos Santos, salt mine worker and semi-illiterate black artist who has built, in São Pedro d'Aldeia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Casa da Flor (House of the Flower), made of objects found in the trash.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraIrandhir SantosAndré RamiroAfter a prison riot, former-Captain Nascimento, now a high ranking security officer in Rio de Janeiro, is swept into a bloody political dispute that involves government officials and paramilitary groups.
- DirectorMarcel CamusStarsBreno MelloMarpessa DawnLourdes de OliveiraA retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraAndré RamiroCaio JunqueiraIn 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits.
- DirectorFernando Grostein AndradePaulo EduardoStarsJean AmorimDaiana AndradeEmanuelle AraújoIn the ghettos of the greatest metropolis in Brazil, a midst flying bullets, love and any number of hurdles, young people's stories mingle and collide in the search for dreams and choices. Inspired by true stories, the feature film 'Broken Town' reveals the struggle faced and the choices made by teenagers who have always been surrounded by weapons, crime, and hardship.
- DirectorNeville de AlmeidaStarsBruna LinzmeyerJohnny MassaroChay SuedeA group of playboys organize the last party of the year in a slum before the change in weather.
- DirectorLúcia MuratStarsVinícius D'BlackMonique SoaresRafael MarianoFree adaptation of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet translated to the harsh life in Favela da Maré, one of largest and most violent slums in Rio de Janeiro.
- DirectorRodrigo BittencourtStarsFábio PorchatMariana RiosKiko MascarenhasThe community of the DDC is at war. White boy Morro (Fábio Porchat) and transvestite demoness Blonde (Kiko Mascarenhas) vying for power in the community. Oblivious to this, Of Faith (Luke D 'Jesus) believes it needs to become the head of the hill to win the love of Gildinha (Mariana Rios), his muse. Everything gets worse when the bumbling reporter Vanderlei (Fábio Assunção) forges a cover that will give the talk. The story also brings Felipe Neto as a narrator timely interventions.
- DirectorEmílio Domingos
- DirectorNelson Pereira dos SantosStarsModesto De SouzaRoberto BataglinJece ValadãoA 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.
- DirectorHelvecio RattonStarsAlexandre MorenoBabu SantanaAdolfo MouraBased on the true story of four friends who decide to install a communal pirate radio station called Rádio Favela in a shanty-town, to give voice to the outcasts' complaints.
- DirectorCláudio Roberto
- DirectorRita de Cácia Oenning da SilvaKurt ShawStarsHelena Iara da Silva ShawLayza da Silva BritoJoão Cavalcanti BuarqueAn encounter between children from the favelas of Recife and their peers in middle class apartments opens up the world to both groups.
- DirectorMárcio VenturiStarsFernando Alves PintoInez ViegasOne reality. Two actors. Three couples in crisis.
- DirectorRachid BoucharebStarsJamel DebbouzeRoschdy ZemSami BouajilaA drama about the Algerian struggle for independence from France after WWII.
- DirectorBruno BiniStarsGiovanni AraujoRomeu BenedictoJonathan HaagensenAfter the arrest of a drug dealer , three people have to deal with their fears in one of the most violent cities in the country.
- DirectorOzualdo Ribeiro CandeiasStarsMário BenvenuttiValeria VidalBentinhoAbout people who live by the margins or Rio Tietê, in São Paulo, Brazil.
- DirectorAly MuritibaJandir SantinThe ball runs smoothly. While the RAP echoes of speakers, four friends roam around the track with very different goals. Mari only thinks about the flow that can take her to the end of the CWB Rhymes circuit, the MCs battle's most famous in the city. Japa is concerned with the sale of Nando products, who tests the boy. Gui hopes that the ball runs smoothly and that the end of the party can go home with the profit of the box office. He needs a lot of money. Café, just wants to enjoy. What they do not know is that their fates will be sealed forever after tonight.
- DirectorJoaquim Pedro de AndradeStarsPaulinhoRiva NimitzHenrique CésarA few weeks before Carnival, slum boys organize huntings for stray cats, whose leather can be used in Samba percussion instruments, like the Tamborim, a small drum.
- DirectorJuliana AntunesStarsAndreia Pereira de SousaLeid FerreiraFelipe Rangel SoaresTwo Brazilian women try everything to survive in the favelas.
- DirectorLeon HirszmanStarsLélia AbramoLuiz Inácio Lula da SilvaVinicius de MoraesA detailed look at the events that led to the continuous strikes that shut down many factories during the still repressive days of the military regime. The workers union, led by syndicalist Lula, demanded better work conditions and better payments, fighting not only against their exploitative bosses but also the political establishment of the time. Crowds were gathered, protests and marches were planned, constantly followed by the police but the workers bond and strategy was so strong and efficient that everything turned out in their favor, with peaceful movements and no casualties on both sides.
- DirectorCarlos DieguesStarsToni GarridoPatrícia FrançaMurilo BenícioIn a dangerous but human Rio's slum, rises the love affair betwen Orfeu and Eurídice, provoking jealousy and violence in times of carnival.
- DirectorAndré Novais OliveiraStarsGrace PassôRusso AprRejane FariaIn order to take a new job as an employee in the public sanitation department, Juliana moves from the inner city of Itaúna to the metropolitan town of Contagem in Brazil. While waiting for her husband to join her, she adapts to her new life, meeting people and discovering new horizons, trying to overcome her past.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoDocumentary on poor people living in two slums in Rio de Janeiro, on the occasion of New Year's Eve.
- DirectorJeferson DeStarsCaio BlatJonathan HaagensenSilvio GuindaneIn the slum of Capão Redondo in São Paulo, the twenty-third anniversary of Marco Aurélio a.k.a. Macu will be celebrated with a "feijoada" (a typical Brazilian dish of black beans and pork) and beers promoted by his mother Dona Sônia and their closest friends. Among the guests are Macu's childhood best friends Jaiminho, who plays soccer in Spain and is waiting to be summoned by the coach to the national team, and Pibe, who has a baby and is living with Macu's former girlfriend Claudia. Macu owes money to the dangerous criminal Serjão and Napão and will host a boy that will be kidnapped by the delinquents in order to pay for his debts. Along the day, Macu stays with Jaiminho and Pibe recalling their childhood together. By the end of the day, Serjão and Napão tell Macu that they have changed their plans and the kid will not be kidnapped, but Jaiminho instead. Further, he shall meet the powerful Dr. Venceslau for further instructions. Now Macu is to be on the horns of a dilemma between his friendship for Jaiminho and the fear for the gang of his slum.
- DirectorGlenda NicácioAry RosaStarsValdinéia SorianoAline BrunneBabu SantanaFive friends drink beer and chat at Violeta's house. Bit by bit, their stories of love, loss and suffering are told, revealing the acts of love and friendship that helped them through the hardest times of their lives.
- DirectorTomas PortellaRené SampaioStarsRaphael LogamRui Ricardo DiazCyria CoentroPower-hungry drug lord Evandro embarks on a ruthless rise to power in Brazil's crime-ridden favelas. Evandro's ascension puts him on a collision course with Victor, a reckless detective with nothing to lose.