Mercy

Cláudio Assis's 2019 Brazilian film is set in a small coastal town. An oil company arrives; houses and shops are bought up and people are pushed out. The film does not tell the resistance through a single hero. Different residents come forward in turn, each answering the offer differently, and the narrative does not judge who sold and who stayed. Fernanda Montenegro and Matheus Nachtergaele appear. As is usual in Assis's cinema the tone is harsh and the sexuality explicit, with images built on saturated colour. Who it's for: viewers of Brazilian cinema and narratives of displacement. Who it's not for: viewers who would be uncomfortable with explicit sexuality and coarse language.