UNST 233E - Global Perspectives Latin America: Nouwen: Find & Watch Movies

Built in the 1960s, Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a sprawling housing project built to keep the poor as far as possible from Rio's glamorous beaches and resorts. By the 1980s, it has degenerated into a war zone so dangerous that visitors from outside risk being shot to death on sight, a poisonous stew of poverty, drugs, and crime. "If you run away, they get you, and if you stay, they get you, too," says Rocket, who wants to be a photographer. Rocket's brother, friends, and neighbors begin with truck stick-ups, which lead to brothel hold-ups that lead to murder that leads to coke dealing that leads to street brawls with armies of gun-toting 11-year-olds. Soon a full-scale gang war rages in the City of God--understandably not covered by wary Rio photojournalists--but just the opportunity Rocket needs to make his move, get a job at a newspaper, and get out.

The film centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers (Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes) who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant.

A pair of horny Mexico City teenagers from different classes who, after their girlfriends jet off to Italy for the summer, are bewitched by a gorgeous older Spanish woman they meet at a wedding. When she agrees to accompany them on a trip to a faraway beach, the three form an increasingly intense and sensual alliance that ultimately strips them both physically and emotionally bare.

In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, due to international pressure, is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote YES or NO to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders of the NO vote persuade a brash young advertising executive, René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal), to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the despot's minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audicious plan to win the election and set the Chile free.

In Argentina, Alicia lives the sheltered life of the wife of a wealthy businessman but her whole life changes when she discovers that her daughter, adopted at birth, may have been stolen from a family of "los desaparecidos." In an effort to put her own demons to rest, and to keep the family together, Alicia investigates the 1970s campaign of torture and murder by Argentina's military dictatorship. This is the true account of a woman's need to tell the truth even if it would risk tearing apart her own family. This film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign

"A seventeen year old wheelbarrow leader dreams of becoming famous receives an unusual proposal to carry seven boxes of unknown content in exchange for a torn half of a $100 bill. Embarking on the journey seemed easy, but things get complicated along the way."

"A bourgeois woman is driving alone on a dirt road when she becomes distracted and runs over something. In the days following this jarring incident, she becomes dazed and emotionally disconnected from the people and events in her life. She becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone. The police confirm that there were no accidents reported in the area and everything returns to normal, until a gruesome discovery is made"

Maria, a poor Colombian teenager, is desperate to leave a soul-crushing job. She accepts an offer to transport packets of heroin -- which she swallows -- to the United States. The ruthless world of drug trafficking proves to be more than she bargained for.

"Fausta suffers from 'The Milk of Sorrow,' an illness transmitted through mother's milk by women who've been raped during Peru's civil wars. Stricken with the fear that she's contracted the illness from her mother's breast milk, Fausta goes to extreme lengths to protect her own sexuality and safety. After her mother's sudden death, she finds herself compelled to embark on a frightening journey for re-awakening, freedom, and wholeness"

Recently retired criminal court investigator Benjamín decides to write a novel based on a twenty-five-year-old unresolved rape and murder case which still haunts him. Sharing his plans with Irene, the beautiful judge and his former colleague, Benjamín's initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks as he sets out to identify the murderer. But Benjamín's search for the truth will put him at the center of a judicial nightmare, as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present, testing the limits of a man seeking justice and personal fulfillment at last.

Six short stories involving people out for vengeance. Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover's betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.