Young Jesus is taken on a vacation by his parents (Rita Blanco, Adriano Luz) to a deserted beach resort. They accidentally fall into overnight wealth after Jesus digs in the sand, uncovering a large drug stash. Others characters intersecting here include an alcoholic actress, a philandering banker, a general trafficking in arms, priests who close their church and head north as hitchhikers, politicians who watch an all-girl production of Julius Caesar, and beggars who recite a children's story in a huge heap of trash.
Direction
Botelho's absurd interconnected ensemble precision.
Writing
Biting allegory where trash and treasure blur.
Director
João Botelho
Rita Blanco
Jesus' mother
Adriano Luz
Hélio, Jesus' father
Branca de Camargo
Redhead
João Perry
banker
Alexandra Lencastre
banker's lover
Maria Emília Correia
Amélia Castro, the General's wife
Canto e Castro
Hipólito, the older Priest
Mário Jacques
Rezende Castro, the General
Maria João Luís
Antónia Suzette Almeida, the sculptor
Rosa Lobato Faria
Mimi Furgel, the Countess
Sofia Leite
interior Designer
Paulo Bragança
Lino, the Younger Priest
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Portugal's late-90s cinema renaissance, satirizing EU integration anxieties and national identity crises.
The title 'Tráfico' deliberately evokes both drug trafficking and human trafficking—everyone here sells something, including themselves.
PT
