A highly humored short film that brings back a nostalgic view from São Paulo of the 1920's where a notorious theif received a celebrity status
by the people and the press thanks to his methods and his escape routines which included scaling rooftops in long chases against the police authorities.
The curious funny thing is he only robbed rich people and never assaulted any of his victims, if there ever was one since his acts were always done in
secrecy in the dead of night or early morning hours. And the infamous man was very well-known in the Italian community of São Paulo known as the good thief and he was quite well
regarded by people. And this movie really shows it how it was.
Beto Brant makes an impecable short film, filled with humor, some action and plenty of reality in it - I was deeply amazed by the period
reconstruction of a distant era, it truly felt that the late 1920's was brought to life with its classic old cars, the Italian community still speaking their
native language with full energy and spit (amazingly done by the cast members, which includes Rosi De Campos in her film debut). Also in his film debut is
the lead actor Luiz Ramalho, playing Meneghetti, performing great stunts and excellent comical moments.
I was really hooked and impressed by this movie, just only finding a pity that the film wasn't a longer project since it had plenty of material to
become a potential hit rather than the fate it got as an obscure and overlooked short film. Meneghetti was notorious not only for his robberies and methods,
but also his escapes from jail, police stations and the man lived up to age of 90 and still being arrested for other crimes. By the 1970's - his final years -
the public image formed around him was very favorable, a view people shared that he was a thief of quality due to his non-violent acts, although two murders
were thrown against him (nothing was proved though).
The movie has a nostalgic feeling of old silent comedies and could easily go without any speaking dialogues, so it's a film very accessible to cinema
lovers, living outside of Brazil and Italy, which has the most lines of dialogues presented. To the Brazilian viewers a warning sign: the majority of the film
is spoken in Italian which may be difficult or disappointing to some viewers, but I insist that you should keep it going anyway, you won't miss all that much
from the film (except for the discussion between neighbors who are favor to the robber and those opposed him. It's hilarious all the bickering). But those scenes
flow very easily and you can get the exact context of what's happening.
A true gold spectacle and a must-see in my book. 10/10.
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