Free adaptation of Machado de Assis's short story "Pai Contra Mãe", having some of Nireu Cavalcanti's 18th Century chronicles as inspiration, the film tries to trace a parallel between life in Brazil during the slavery period and life in modern Brazil.—[email protected]

Latin America's leading purveyor of politically engaged cinema is back: Sérgio Bianchi returns with a caustic, at times humorous, and always highly provocative look at two hot button subjects in his native Brazil: race relations and economic inequality. Bianchi's film deftly weaves together two time periods in Brazil-the slave society of the 1700s and the modern day. Employing his expert storytelling combined with strong direction of a group of actors-who re-appear in each time period in varying positions of economic and social power-Bianchi engages the viewer directly in proposing that little has changed since slave days, even if some of the outward appearances have. This is filmmaking in its most daring and politically charged form—anonymous