Iracema

The 1974 Brazilian film by Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna follows a young girl who comes from the Amazon to Belém, is driven into prostitution, and takes to the road with a lorry driver working the newly opened Trans-Amazonian highway. Along the way the forest is felled, settlements are built, and nobody looks at what is left behind. The film joins fiction and documentary indistinguishably; the cast are not professionals and many scenes were shot in real situations. The military dictatorship banned it; it could not be shown in Brazil until 1980. It screened in Critics' Week at Cannes. The subject is heavy and the film offers relief at no point. Who it's for: viewers interested in Brazilian cinema and the history of the Amazon. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content involving sexual exploitation and underage characters, or wanting narrative clarity.