A strung-out journo chases a priest who's gone radio silent in Brazil's political powder keg. What happened to the voice of the people?
Henry Czerny plays American journalist Michael Coleman, a strung-out expatriate writing for a Brazilian newspaper. His professional obsession is Father Stephen Louis, a mildly popular and charismatic priest who has been the major political opponent of the greedy and ruthless landowners of the Bahia region. Mysteriously, the usually outspoken Father Louis has been silent for three months. With the Brazilian Congress about to vote on a major land-redistribution bill that could potentially tip the balance of power even further, Father Louis’s support of the peasants and his condemnation of the landowners is more important than ever. Coleman sets out alone for the politically unstable Bahia region to capture a highly anticipated interview with the elusive priest.
Acting
Czerny's unraveling journo is all nicotine stains and nervous sweat
Cinematography
Bahia's lush decay vs. claustrophobic interiors
Direction
Gardenberg's patient, politically charged slow-burn
Director
Monique Gardenberg
Henry Czerny
Michael Coleman
Patrick Bauchau
Padre Stephen Louis
Marília Pêra
Renata
Júlia Lemmertz
Julia
Daniel Dantas
Alfredo
Ana Beatriz Nogueira
Márcia
Valdineia Soriano
Vitória
Otávio Augusto
Mattar
Otávio Müller
Edmar
Luís Melo
Cristo
Jackson Costa
Orlando
José Rubens Chachá
Amigo do Cristo
Marília Gabriela
Entrevistadora
Miguel Lunardi
Carlos Reis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Brazil's post-dictatorship redemocratization, the film channels real anxieties about landless workers' movements and rural violence that dominated 1990s Brazilian headlines.
Henry Czerny filmed this between his breakout in 'The Boys of St. Vincent' and before 'Mission: Impossible'—a forgotten bridge between Canadian indie cred and Hollywood villainy.
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