A director casts mental patients in a death penalty play—and becomes the condemned man.
In the movie, Eduardo Moscovis is Danilo, a stage director obsessed with the injustice committed against XIX century farmer Manoel da Motta Coqueiro, case that initiated the process of extinction of death penalty in Brazil. Incited by a beautiful and mysterious woman, Danilo takes a fateful decision. He stages a play about the case with himself as Motta Coqueiro and psychiatric patients playing all the other parts. When the borders between reality and fantasy start to blend, Danilo relives the historical facts in first person, all the time conscious of the tragic doom of his character. Full with uncommon characters and surprising turns, the movie approaches the issue of death penalty in a refreshing new perspective.
Acting
Moscovis dissolves into dual identities with terrifying commitment.
Direction
D'amato weaponizes theatrical space until it suffocates.
Production
Psychiatric hospital as liminal purgatory—production design that cages.
Director
Cris D'amato
Eduardo Moscovis
Danilo / Motta Coqueiro
Milena Toscano
Aline / Úrsula das Virgens
Vanessa Gerbelli
Dra. Márcia
Renata Batista
Ana
Edmilson Barros
Edmilson / Benedito
Mariana Bassoul
Vânia / Francisca
Charles Fricks
André / Julião
Cadu Fávero
Claudionor / Fernandes
Dirce Migliaccio
Dona Iolanda
Pablo Sanábio
Felipe / Fidélis / Paulinho
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Motta Coqueiro was Brazil's last death row inmate before abolition in 1882; the film weaponizes this obscure history.
The casting of actual psychiatric patients wasn't documentary-style—the actors were professionals, making the 'exploitation' entirely thematic performance.
BR
