Four Days in September () is a 1997 Brazilian thriller film directed by Bruno Barreto and produced by his parents Lucy and Luiz Carlos Barreto. It is a dramatized version of the 1969 kidnapping of the United States Ambassador to Brazil, Charles Burke Elbrick, by members of Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8) and Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN).

It was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards.

Background

The film is "loosely based" on the 1979 memoir O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (in English: What Was That, Man?), written by politician Fernando Gabeira. In 1969, as a member of Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8), a student guerrilla group, he participated in the abduction of the United States ambassador to Brazil, negotiating to gain release of leftist political prisoners. MR-8 was protesting the recent takeover of Brazil by a military government and seeking the release of political prisoners. But, the military further increased its repression of dissent, MR-8 and ALN members were tortured by the police, and democracy was not re-established in Brazil until 1985.

The film explores Paulo's love affair with Andréia, the guerrilla leader. It suggests a kind of friendship developing between Paulo and Elbrick. The ambassador is portrayed as a decent man who shares some of his kidnappers' frustrations regarding the Brazilian military dictatorship, and one who fulfills his duty to his own government.

Cast

The main characters include:

  • Paulo / Fernando Gabeira (Pedro Cardoso) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
  • Andréia / Maria (Fernanda Torres) - the beautiful and tough MR-8 guerrilla-group leader who falls in love with Paulo/Fernando.
  • Charles Burke Elbrick (Alan Arkin) - the American ambassador, who forms a bond with Paulo/Fernando.
  • Jonas / Virgílio Gomes da Silva (Matheus Nachtergaele) - member of ALN guerrilla group
  • Marcão / Franklin Martins (Luiz Fernando Guimarães) - second in command to the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
  • Renée / Vera Sílvia Magalhães (Cláudia Abreu) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
  • Toledo / Joaquim Câmara Ferreira (Nélson Dantas) - member of ALN guerrilla group. He's a Spanish expatriate in Brazil that fought the dictatorship of Francoist Spain
  • Henrique (Marco Ricca) - former Navy enlistee and member of the National Intelligence Service of Brazil
  • Brandão (Maurício Gonçalves) - member of the National Intelligence Service of Brazil
  • Júlio / Cid Benjamin (Caio Junqueira) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group and one of the kidnappers.
  • César / Oswaldo (Selton Mello) - member of the MR-8 guerrilla group, arrested prior to the kidnapping of the Ambassador.
  • Dona Margarida / Elba Souto-Maior (Fernanda Montenegro)
  • Lília (Alessandra Negrini) - wife of Henrique
  • Mowinkel (Fisher Stevens)
  • Jorge Cherques

Reception

Critical response

The film had mixed reviews, in part because of its fictionalizing Brazilian history, and its uneasy portrayal of terrorist activities by student radicals. Four Days in September has an approval rating of 59% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10.

Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Four Days in September is an uneasy hybrid of political thriller and high-minded meditation on terrorism, its psychology and its consequences." He noted that the film suggests the kidnapping was followed by worse political events, with increased repression, and torture of MR-8 members. He describes Cardoso as the most complex character.

See also

  • List of submissions to the 70th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
  • List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

  • James Berardinelli review: Four Days in September
  • Four Days in September, BBC