Four Days in September

An intelligent and moving historical drama
Brazil, 1969. The country is under the control of an oppressive military regime. A group of idealistic students join an underground revolutionary group in protest. Out of this climate of paranoia and violence, a bold plan is conceived: a plot to kidnap the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. This true story forms the basis for the excellent film "Four Days in September," directed by Bruno Barreto.

I have seen many historical films, and this is one of the best. There are no cardboard heroes or villains in this film; there are lots of moral shades of gray. Are these students terrorists or freedom fighters? Is the ambassador an innocent victim, or an ally of oppressive forces?

Leopoldo Serran's intelligent script is based on Fernando Gabeira's book "O Que E Isso, Companhiero?" The dialogue offers thought-provoking insights into the minds of the individuals involved in these events. The cast gives universally superb performances; particularly impressive is veteran U.S...

A great movie in spite of some minor inaccuracies
This movie faced a lot of criticism in Brazil for the liberties it took with history. Some criticism dates back to the publication of Fernando Gabeira's book, mainly the fact that Gabeira's importance in the kidnapping is overplayed. Other survivors from the operation claim he did not write the note to the press, as the movie shows. Also, a girl did try to get information from the Ambassador's security man, but she did not spend the night with him (and those who like to spot errors may notice the fact that he calls her by her code name, René, even though she introduced herself by a different name). And one just has to read other books about those days in Brazil to realize most torturers were sick animals, not guilt-ridden human beings like the guy in the movie.

In spite of all these flaws, the movie still works admirably as a snapshot of an era. I understand it was rather easy to sell this movie to the international market because Alan Arkin is in it and the event it is based...

Watch this movie: 60's in Brazil must not be forgotten
I think this movie was fantastic, but, first of all, in order to understand it, one must watch it trying to understand the socio-political reality of that time in Brazil. I was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1970 and lived there until 1995 and as a Brazilian Citizen who went through a part of the historical period shown in that movie, I must say I thought it was sad such a thing happened and even sadder the fact "Four Days in September" portrays a true story. However, I must also say that I am very happy that the Dictatorship Period, which started to be extremely harsh in Brazil during the 60's, has not been thrown into an old trunk of things to be forgotten. It is fantastic that we Brazilians are striving to keep those memories alive until all the shadows of that period be completely gone. Also, I must confess I thought it to be even greater that the originality of one young man, "Fernando Gabeira", and the courage and audacy of a few other young...

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