492: A Man Called Death

Henrique Goldman's 2017 Brazilian film is adapted from journalist Klester Cavalcanti's book, built on seven years of interviews. Júlio Santana commits his first killing at seventeen, guided by his uncle, and then continues it as a job; by his own account the number he killed is 492. The film does not draw him as a monster but insists on his ordinariness: religious, devoted to his family, respected by his neighbours. Most of the killings take place in the north of the country, in regions of land disputes and deaths nobody pursued, which explains how the work lasted so long. The story follows the bargain Santana strikes with his conscience, the cycle between repentance and carrying on. Marco Pigossi plays the part deliberately flat. Who it's for: viewers who like true crime adaptation and Brazilian cinema. Who it's not for: anyone who finds violence and the killer's point of view disturbing; the film narrates from his side.