O Homem do Sputnik

An object falls out of the sky into the henhouse of a man living out in the country. It is said the thing may be the Russian satellite Sputnik. Once the news spreads, agents of the great powers turn up at his door. Everyone wants to get hold of the piece, and the man suddenly finds himself in the middle of the world. The film sets the large claims of the Cold War inside a rural comedy. A small man caught between great politics is the real subject. It comes from the vein of popular Brazilian comedy of 1959 known as chanchada. Agents trailing one another carry the comic side of the account. Oscarito, Norma Bengell, Cyll Farney and Zezé Macedo appear in Carlos Manga’s ninety eight minute Brazilian film, completed in 1959.