Assault on the Pay Train

Roberto Farias's 1962 Brazilian film recounts a train robbery that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1960. The holdup of a train carrying payroll money occupied the country's attention for a long time, and the film follows the event and what came after. Its real subject is the aftermath. Once the money is taken it turns out to be unspendable: some of the robbers live in a favela, and suddenly appearing rich means being caught. That detail separates the film from a standard crime narrative and puts class at its centre. The character played by Eliezer Gomes is among the first major leading roles carried by a Black actor in Brazilian cinema. The film counts among the most notable works of the period just before Cinema Novo, and its realistic street shooting influenced the generation that followed. Who it's for: those interested in Brazilian film history and crime films drawn from real events. Who it's not for: viewers expecting the pace of a modern crime film; the telling stays close to the forties Hollywood mould.