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Based on a novel by Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, this film chronicles the determination of a certain Sargeant Getulio (Lima Duarte) to bring a political prisoner from a local village into the capital of the province. The setting is the 1940s in the northeastern area of Brazil, and the sparring between two political parties at the time serves as a backdrop for the story. Although the film was completed in 1978, director Hermano Penna waited five years to release it -- to a very warm reception.