Property

A fixating amalgam of social commentary and transcendental realism (crystallizing the recent tradition or the Recife New Wave in Brazilian cinema) begins as a portrait of a traumatized woman and develops into a gripping thriller about the extreme disparities between classes and races in South America. Teresa and her husband travel to their family farm to take refuge from urban violence. But there they face a revolt by local workers, alarmed by the imminent loss of their homes. She locks herself in her armored car but is unable to start it. Meanwhile, workers try to communicate with her and, if necessary, take her out by force. The layer that separates these two universes may not be enough to contain the fear and violence that grows every passing minute. Reminding us that there are places in this world where ancient codes govern labor, race, and class relations, the filmmaker paints a picture of a society in which the rift between the elitist individualism of the rich and the collective rage of the poor seems insurmountable. At the same time, he tries not to forget that in-between the edges of the spectrum, there is a wide range of skin tones containing and reflecting the complex set of histories that define them.