Brazilian Western

João de Santo Cristo loses his father in Bahia and comes to Brasília. He learns carpentry, then starts selling drugs. He meets Maria Lúcia, a senator's daughter. Against him stands Jeremias, who came from the same countryside, does the same work and loves the same woman. The story moves towards a duel. René Sampaio directs. Fabrício Boliveira plays Santo Cristo and Isis Valverde plays Maria Lúcia. The source is a song. Legião Urbana's Faroeste Caboclo runs nine minutes, has no chorus, and tells this story from beginning to end; almost everyone in Brazil knows the words. The film follows its events in order. Brasília is at the centre. The difference between the planned, wide, empty core of the city and its outskirts is the visual subject, and that Santo Cristo can never get into the centre is shown directly. The risk of the adaptation is obvious: turning into images a song whose words everyone knows. The film uses that in reverse and proceeds on the assumption that the audience knows the ending. It did well commercially in Brazil and reached young viewers outside the Legião Urbana generation. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian crime drama and adaptations that come out of music. Who it is not for: the characters cannot escape the shape of the song, the female character has limited function, and the ending is entirely known in advance.