The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler
This could have been a thriller, but thrills are cheap and Moratto aims for something more documentative, sombre and meditative. It’s about paying debts and the illusionary concept of freedom.
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Brazil · 2021
1h 33m
Director Alexandre Moratto
Starring Christian Malheiros, Rodrigo Santoro, Bruno Rocha, Lucas Oranmian
Genre Crime, Drama
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To provide for his struggling family, 18-year-old Mateus starts working in a junkyard for his boss Luca. But upon realizing he has become trapped in the dangerous world of human trafficking, Mateus is forced to decide between working for the very man who exploited him or risk his family’s future.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler
This could have been a thriller, but thrills are cheap and Moratto aims for something more documentative, sombre and meditative. It’s about paying debts and the illusionary concept of freedom.
Moratto’s concise firecracker of a movie is straightforward in its soul-crushing blows and an essential piece of social-realist cinema for our times.
7 Prisoners is mostly powered by the natural tension of its premise, which is simple and gripping and develops along a linear arc from bad to worse.
7 Prisoners’ unfolds satisfyingly, precisely by not offering us complete satisfaction or certainty. The question hovers of whether Mateus can ever escape his prison altogether, or merely into one with more comfortable furniture.
The Playlist by Monica Castillo
The tightly wound human drama increases to a boiling point that simmers all the way to the credits.
If the pay-off aims for the gut and misses, the journey to that point provides a searing microcosm of a corrupt and degrading system.
This impressive feature from Alexandre Moratto takes the topic of modern-day enslavement as a jumping-off point for a morality tale which gets increasingly knotty and satisfying as it goes on.
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