‘Are you a Maoist, a Trotskyist or a Leninist?’ Carlos Marighella has only one answer to this question from a French journalist: ‘I’m a Brazilian’. After the coup d’état that swept a legitimately elected government out of office in 1964 and brought a military dictatorship to power, Marighella led a group of young men and women into armed resistance. Born in 1911, this writer and politician was a successor of Latin American revolutionaries such as Zapata and Sandino – and not least Che Guevara, whose assassination in October 1967 provided the impetus for Marighella’s own struggle against oppression.
This film follows his life between 1964 and his violent death in November 1969. His attempts to convince the population of the necessity of the uprising is pitted against the omnipotence of the state censor which does everything in its power to marginalise the resistance. His commitment to dignity and justice leads to violence and terror. Before long, Marighella is regarded as public enemy number one. A commando under the leadership of a brutal officer named Lúcio is hot on his heels. A drama that is a parable of the present.