IMDb user comments for
O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (1997)

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17 comments in total

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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Thank my lucky horseshoe, 7 February 2003

Author: vvanpo (vvanpo@comcast.net) from Renton, WA USA

The year is 1969. Brazil is under a brutal military dictatorship. Political prisoners are being held and tortured. In order to get the junta to free some of their comrades, a group of ragtag "revolutionaries" kidnap the U.S. Ambassabor and threaten his life unless their demands are met.

Well-written and tense, the film ably demonstrates the flaws of people trying to fight fire with fire: "an eye for and eye". Alan Arkin is wonderful as the ambassador. His character gives incisive psychological sketches of his kidnappers: fervent and brooding; yearning and lost.

Fernanda Torres and Pedro Cardoso are marvelous as comrades who become lovers by their admittance of how really scared they are.

My subject line refers to a line in the script that aptly describes the bending of the political spectrum at its ends. I'm glad I found this movie.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Great movie recording Brazilian history, 4 July 2005
Author: pat_miranda_03 from United States

Four days in September is not supposed to be funny, predictable, or boring. It is a piece of Brazilian history from the 60's and based on real events. Those dark years of Brazilian history are not supposed to be fun. It was certainly not boring either. For those who admire different cultures it is a great movie and a great introduction to contemporary Brazilian history. It starts with Girl from Ipanema and lots of images of a country that was enjoying itself in the years before the military coup. Leila Diniz, Bossa Nova, all was allowed before the military coup in 1964 and hence compose the first scenes of the movie. Characters are based on real participants of the kidnapping and Fernando Gabeira (Paulo) is still engaged in politics in Brazil. It's also worth noting that Fernanda Montenegro (Dona Margarida) and Fernanda Torres (andreia/Maria) (mother and daugther in real life) are both in this movie. It's a great piece for those who are willing to learn a little bit more about an amazing country that is Brazil.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Gripping, suspenseful, real., 15 February 2001

Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA

"Four Days in September" examines the 1969 politically motivated kidnapping of the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. The Oscar nominated film is a realistic and believable dissection of the short lived international incident perpetrated by a small group of leftist extremists opposed to Brazil's military dictatorship. Unlike most such films, "Four Days..." puts a realistic and human face on all sides; the police, the rebels, and the American diplomat played by Arkin. A captivating, suspenseful drama in Portugese and English languages for realists.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
An interesting historical story made engaging by the focus on the people involved and the smaller situations, 10 October 2004
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

When the Brazilian Government is overthrown by a military uprising, the result is a dictatorship over the people. With protests violently broken up on the streets, armed struggle is seen as the only solution and leads to the formation of the 8th October group (MR8). Desiring direct action, Fernando and Cesar join the group and are trained in weaponry and the likes. However during a bank job, Cesar hesitates to kill and is shot and captured by the police, while the others flee. It is this that gives Fernando the idea to kidnap the American ambassador in return for the release of 15 captured revolutionaries and bringing the events to the attention of the world. This film tells the story of the four-day hostage situation in the mid-sixties.

I'm not a particularly well-read person and there is a lot of history (even recent history) that I am simply not aware of and this includes the events and times presented in this film. For that reason I cannot really comment on the accuracy or level of detail containing in this telling but what little I have since gleamed from other sources tell me that it is pretty fair and close enough to being accurate. The plot is well told and is made interesting by the attention paid to the people involved in the situation; the drama and tension comes from them rather than false action sequences or stand-offs. The thanks for this should lie with the cast but also with the script that creates the characters and makes them 'real', meaning we find it easier to understand them and feel for the positions they are in. The historical context is well done and I did find it very easy to get engaged in.

The characters are where it is at and they are all very 'human'. We are never made to totally root for them because of what they are doing, but we are helped to understand why they are doing this and how hard it is for some of them to actually turn their words into action. Cardoso does this best and he is the real heart of the film and easily the most sympathetic character. He has good chemistry with Arkin, who does well acting in a foreign film. Torres does well to gradually soften her character as the film goes and it makes her more interesting than she was early on. Support is all pretty good with no really weak performances anywhere but the film mostly belongs to these lead three. The direction is good, capturing the feel of the period early on (where stock footage blends seamlessly into the main film) and producing tension without overdoing the style over substance.

Overall this is a pretty good film, telling a straight story using the characters to drive it forward and involve the audience. The film has tension but it comes from the people involved and the situations they face in the attempts to do the 'right thing'. The script delivers the characters to the actors and the actors are convincing in their delivery, producing an engaging and interesting film that helps deliver historical relevance in a miniature story.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrorism or heroism?, 14 January 2003
Author: Flavio Velame from Brasilia, Brazil

The movie, based on the Fernando Gabeira's novel, is intense, full of action, motion and meaning. How a few young rebels planned and executed the kidnap of the US Ambassador in Rio - on that time, the Embassy was still there. Very well produced and edited, special comments about the sound, with some moments of silence and other with a disturbing noise. An expert crew. Take a look in Pedro Cardoso, who represents Fernando Gabeira. OK, some scenes of the movie are different from the original written version, but I should say it looks really good. But I would never suggest somebody else to try repeating their adventure and kidnap the US Ambassador...

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Intelligent and exciting, 22 March 2000
Author: Arkaan Semere (alistair72@hotmail.com)

This is a truly passionate film about young men and women who fight for ideals that they believe in.

A Brazillian rebel group has kidnapped the American ambassador for Brazil, and demands that fifteen jailed political prisoners be let free. This leads to some tense sequences with Fernando, the most intelligent and cowardly of the kidnappers, and the ambassador (played brilliantly by Alan Arkin).

This could have become a routine thriller. It isn't due to it's intelligence and passion. A very worthwhile movie.

** Even if you're turned off by the idea of subtitles, don't worry. There is a lot of English.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A new Era, 12 July 2003
Author: jungpfeffer from US

After the dark era of the 1980s - when the only movies being produced locally were, to put it mildly, very erotic - the Brazilian Movie Industry struggled to regain international credibility. And, while "Carlota Joaquina" and "O Quatrilho" clearly paved the way, this is (in my opinion) the production that put Brazil back on the charts. Based on a true story, "O que É isso, Companheiro?" is brought to life by actors who are probably the best performers of the currently generation, and earned an Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The most amazing aspect of this movie, however, goes unknown by international audiences: two of its main actors (Pedro Cardoso and Luiz Fernando Guimarães) achieved success, in Brazil, through their work as comedians.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent story-film with one flaw, 19 October 2004

Author: B. P. M. Chicxulub

I think that perhaps this film has been undervalued by other IMDb reviewers. What rot they disgorge! This is a finely acted, written and judged movie. Not particularly 'cinematic'; more a use of the medium of cinema to tell a fascinating story of revolutionary activity in pre-democratic Brazil. It is high quality stuff and kept me entertained throughout. The ending narrates the ending of a real life event so I cannot see how they might have made it more exciting for the bored viewer; or indeed less predictable. One criticism is that the film-makers did not successfully conjure an atmosphere of totalitarian oppression -- this supposedly tyrannical regime felt quite benign: you can't *tell* us it's oppressive, you have to *show* us. Make us experience it alongside the characters. As it is the film was less tense, mellower than it could have been, and the viewer does not root for the revolutionaries as much as he might as a consequence. But overall, an excellent and worthwhile film. 6.75/10

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Funniest Brazilian film, 22 December 2002

Author: rzabbot@bol.com.br from Brazil

''Four Days in September'' hasn't a wonderful script, but it's funny and has a precise reconstitution of the turbulent end of the 60's. If the screenplay gets some liberties, they're imperceptible (for those who doesn't live here in Brazil). Bruno Barreto is in a great moment in his direction, and the cast is something incredible. The best things of the film, however, are the sequences of action (simple-minded on a general point of view, but marvelous, for Brazilian cinema).

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Brazil at the 60's, 8 March 1999
Author: Elaine Costa (elainet@widesoft.com.br) from Brazil

Great cast. It's a notorious sample of Brazilian cinema . A true story about a revolutionary army against military dictatorship at the 60's in Brazil. Bruno Barreto was able to recreate Rio at that time and tells a true story about those terrible days.

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