In a violent working-class district of São Paulo, Valter lives with his wife and children. One day, three small-time criminals move into the house next door. Gradually, Valter becomes scared and is at a loss how to protect his family.
Sérgio Bianchi tackles head on the question of urban violence, a theme repeatedly addressed by Brazilian cinema. But unlike most of these “punch-up” films, where realism is taken to the extreme, the filmmaker sets an almost imaginary tone to his story, preferring a psychological study of paranoia. He shrewdly paints, with the same brushstroke, the emotional, social and territorial upheavals that create this violence.
M.M.
