Jorge Coutinho Movies List

In the tiny poor town of Asa Branca, in the middle of Brazilian Northeast, Roque Santeiro is worshiped as a saint. He was supposedly killed by a bandit, 18 years ago, trying to save the local church. After his disappearance, local leaderships such as landowner Sinhozinho Malta and mayor Florindo, took profit on that to control the humble population. They even make up a widow, Porcina, who should have married Roque secretly before his death. What they don't expect is that Roque is alive, and he's back to, allegedly, "save his people". Now Malta, Florindo, Porcina, and others must hold him down and explain the "truth" to their commoners, in a desperate attempt to save their own bottoms. Meanwhile, mysterious facts surround Asa Branca, such as a Werewolf, a film crew who are trying to shoot a movie about Roque's story, and violent murderers.

Helena is a sweet, honest, sensitive and a warrior woman who faces the premature pregnancy of her daughter Joyce, who in turn is abandoned by her boyfriend, the irresponsible Caio. The biggest problem is the girl's father, Assunção, Helena's ex-husband, who does not accept the situation. Lonely and alone, Helena awakens a passion for the endocrinologist Carlos Alberto, and has her feelings matched. But Carlos is committed to the possessive Paula. The girl's parents, Zuleika and Rômulo, anxiously await their daughter's wedding with Carlos, who will save the family from financial decay. But Carlos is the type of man that women don't really forget. Even married to Paula and in love with Helena, he is still harassed by ex-wife Sheyla, who is not satisfied with having lost him and dreams of a rapprochement.

In the 1930s, novelist and politician Graciliano Ramos is accused of being a communist sympathizer. He is then arrested and sent to the Ilha Grande prison, where he experiences the disturbing treatment reserved for common prisoners.

The life of a runaway slave who founded the Quilombo dos Palmares, an outlaw community of Brazilian slaves.

A Maranhense young woman and a carioca tourist photographer fall for each other and get separated by destiny and a woman obsessed with his family's fortune.

Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the world, including Indians and Jews. Ganga Zumba (Toni Tornado) becomes president of Quilombo, the first freely elected leader in the Western Hemisphere. Naturally, the ruling Portuguese want to subjugate Zumba and his followers, but the Quilombians are ready for their would-be oppressors. The end of this Brave New World is not pleasant, but the followers of Zumba and his ideals take to the hills, where they honor his memory to this day. Writer/director Carlos Diegues takes every available opportunity to compare the rise and fall of Quilombo with the state of affairs in modern-day Brazil.

Balogun's most political film is a confrontation with the African wars of liberation. Based on Carcase for Hounds, Meja Mwangi's novel about the Mau-Mau uprising, it is set in an unnamed country and thus offers the vision of a pan-African struggle for freedom and against colonial oppression. The central figures in the straightforwardly and powerfully told story are the guerrilla leader Haraka and his adversary, the English colonial official Kingsley. In the end, the film becomes a homage to the freedom fighters from all over Africa: the final images show Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Amílcar Cabral, among others.

A young rock singer meets his childhood heroine, a famous singer who is now wallowing in alcohol and sex.

Four candidates for a federal judge position embark on a madcap, no-holds-barred race to outdo one another, each committing his own brand of mayhem.

The old servant and chronicler Dom Sabas tells how his desolate South American town is the scene of a ruthless power struggle. The landowning Assis family, reduced to a widow and son, tries to hold out against the young, despotic mayor. No less effective then actions are anonymous rumors and accusations, which often stir the inhabitants' moves.

This adaptation of a classic Brazilian novel focuses on the relations of charismatic characters within a tenement.

Rich and spoiled kid, frustrated for not being chosen to join the soccer lessons his idol Zico was going to give, asks his father to clone the player. But a small girl smells something fishy going on and asks her friends to help save the Brazilian soccer star.

A rock singer goes to Brazil to shoot a video, but winds up getting kidnapped and enduring a number of seemingly bizarre and hilarious events.

A Deusa Negra is a love story that spans two centuries. In 18th century Yorubaland, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil. In present day Nigeria, at his father's deathbed, the young Babatunde promises to go to Brazil and search for traces of their once-enslaved ancestors. Beginning with a Candomblé ritual, his journey takes him ever deeper into this culture and, in a dream-like sequence, affords him a deeper understanding of his ancestors' suffering and powers of resistance. Balogun effortlessly links present with past, real with magical worlds and discourse with trance. The hypnotic atmosphere is also heightened by the music of the Nigerian drummer Remi Kabaka, which plays with repetitive patterns and distortions.