All language subtitles for Cabra Marcado Para Morrer (Twenty Years Later) - 1984 - Eduardo Coutinho

"A MAN SIGNED TO DIE"
TWENTY YEARS LATER

It's an underdeveloped country

Underdeveloped, underdeveloped...

April, 1962.

This was filmed when the National
Union of Students convoy

drove around the country to discuss
the university reform.

With them went members of the
students' Popular Culture Center

whose aim was to encourage local
cultural centers in the states.

Images of poverty in contrast with
imperialism

were a typical tendency of the art of
those times.

''Song of Underdevelopment''
is a good example.

As a member of the Center and
responsible for these shots

I have paid my tribute to the
nationalism of those times.

I filmed an oil field

exploited by Petrobras
in Alagoas State.

On April 14th, the students arrived in
Paralba.

Two weeks before,
Joao Pedro Telxeira,

founder and leader of the Sape
Peasant League, had been murdered.

The day after our arrival a protest
rally against the murder

was held in Sape,
a town 30 miles from the capital.

Elizabeth Telxeira,
Joao Pedro's widow,

attended the rally with
6 of her 1 1 children.

The people assembled in front of

the Small Farmers and Farm Workers
Association

known as the Peasant League.

At that time the Sape League
was the largest one

with over 7,000 members.

The league had been registered
3 years before

as a civil corporation in private law.

As rural syndicalism was
a non-existent right

the peasants found in the leagues

the only legal way to channel
their demands.

Elizabeth Telxeira was 37.

Joao Pedro was 44 when he died.

Before the peasants went to the rally

I made my first contact with
Elizabeth.

I had a short talk with
her at the League.

Higher rents, forced labor without
payment

eviction without compensation

the use of violence by big landowners.

In the struggle against all of this

Joao Pedro forged the unity of the
country people.

It was this day that inspired a feature
film on his life.

It would be called
''A Man Signed to Die''.

Produced by the Students' Center

and the Pernambuco Popular
Culture Movement

the film would be made on location
with the true characters.

Elizabeth and her children
would play themselves.

SAPE WORKERS HOLD FIRST
PROTEST RALLY

Two years later everything was ready
for filming.

But on January 15th, 1964

there was a skirmish in Sape

among the police and guards from the
sugar-mill

and the peasants.

11 people were killed.

The region was occupied by the
Paralba Military Police.

So filming was impossible.

The emergency forced me to move the
location

and I found the ideal spot in
Pernambuco State

at the Galilea sugar-mill where a first
league was founded in 1955.

When we arrived there

some 50 kilometers from Recife, the
capital we again prepared for filming.

With the League's permission and
the help of local people

we chose the locations and actors.

On February 26, 1964

when we shot the first take

we had a cast able to give time
to the film.

Now they owned their land,
thanks to a 4 year struggle

that ended in the expropriation of
Galilea.

Joao Mariano,
playing Joao Pedro Telxeira

was not from Galilea.

After being fired from a sugar-mill

he moved to Vitoria, the nearest town.

He was a Protestant like Joao Pedro.

We hired him along with
5 of his children.

These shots were to be used

to open the film with the credits.

The original plan to work with
the people involved

now only included Elizabeth as
herself.

She came to Pernambuco with us.

35 days after shooting had begun

on April 1, work was stopped by
the 1964 military coup.

Only 40 per cent of the script had
been shot.

Galilea was raided and its leaders
imprisoned.

Some of our crew were also arrested.

But most fled to Recife and
then to Rio de Janeiro.

Film equipment, negatives, rush print

tapes, scripts and notes...
all were confiscated.

But most of the printed negative
was saved

because it had been sent to
the lab in Rio.

8 stills were also saved by
one of the crew.

2 years later I received
a copy of the script.

It was rescued by a lawyer for
the Paralba leagues

when she was held in a barracks
in August 1964.

February, 1981.

1 7 years later I returned to Galilea
to finish the film.

There was no script.

Just the idea to try
and find the people

who had worked on the film before.

I intended to get statements
on the past

including facts linked to
the interruption of the film

the true story of Joao Pedro's life

Sape and Galilea's struggle

and people's experiences
since that time.

Only 2 who started the fight
in Galilea are still alive.

Jose Hortencio da Cruz and
Joao Virginio Silva

who is illiterate,
but a sort of tribal memory.

The first meeting...

It was him...
and his brother-in-law...

his nephew and me.

We got together here, talking...

in this very place.

I told my story and what ideas I had

about founding a society
to take care of the dead.

Because here the dead were buried
in a coffin lent by the mayor.

We took the body to the cemetery
and then the coffin back.

We called the coffin Lolo.

We'd borrow it from the mayor to
bury people.

Galilea was a disused sugar-mill
the land divided into small lots.

There, lived 1 50 families of tenants

who did subsistence farming.

The owner lived in Recife.

The tenants paid a yearly rent.

Rent increases were also a cause of
the League.

We got together, we had meetings.

We met by the road, by the weir,
in houses. Everywhere.

Then we got to the room
of this lad's father.

A room in old Zeze's house.

old Zeze gave me the room
so as we could meet.

We put down our aims and the name:

the charitable society for the dead

the Pernambuco planter's
Agricultural Society.

You couldn't call anything a union
or else you'd be dead.

Jose Francisco de Souza
(Zeze from Galilea)

the respected administrator of
the mill for over 30 years

was elected chairman.

The owner of Galilea evicted all
the tenants

when he realized that the League

had also aims of mutual assistance.

So the people looked for a lawyer to
defend their rights.

That was how I sought justice.

Didn't find it in Victoria,
but in the State Courts.

The Chairman of the Courts gave me
a deputy, Jullao.

He came, took over
and looked after it.

Things were getting better
and people came

who were thrown out of the mills.

They all came for help.
Galilea has a society

for the country workers.

The lawyer's a real tough guy.

So the men came

and we gave them cover.

After 4 years the mill owner gave up.

He made out he was going to sell up.

So we went to the
deputy and he said:

" I'll put it before the Chamber

and we'll see what we
can do about it."

There was a real set-to.
A real hullabaloo.

One shouted they wouldn't
expropriate Galilea

because it would mean

expropriating several Galileas
because

the idea would spread like wildfire
throughout Brazil

and people would get hooked on
the idea.

They'd get organized

and forced the authorities to
purchase other property.

-Yes, fortunately we won.
-Fortunately.

They voted for us.

The expropriation for social reasons

was carried out in December, 1959

by a fair compensation in money
as the Constitution rules.

Galilea became a symbol of the
peasant movement.

But even today the people have not
received the deeds.

After our arrival in Galilea

we showed what film we had to the
mill community

in 1962 and 1964.

The actors were our special guests.

Jose Daniel do Nascimento, 67

moved to Galilea when he was
thrown out of a neighboring mill.

His child had sucked some sugarcane
without permission.

Braz Francisco da Silva, 52

was one of the leaders of
the Galilea struggle.

He doesn't live here anymore.

He had to run away in 1964
and is now rarely seen.

Joao Virginio is greeted by Bla, 56

who left Galilea in 1975
and never returned.

He was a mill watchman,
and now is a quarry watchman.

Joao Mariano Santana da Silva, 59

who played Joao Pedro,
had not been here since 1964.

He meets these people only at
Victoria's fair, where he lives.

He has come with his grandchildren.

Everything was shown
as it had been filmed

out of order, unfinished scenes,
repetitions etc.

Don't talk about him 'cause
he's behind you!

Saturday night was the only time
to get them together.

Some had come a long way,
to see the show.

Mariano... It's him.

-Yes, it's Mariano.
-Isn't ? I recognized him.

They revealed in identifying
the characters

17 years younger.

-Gonna fight?
-Yes, now it's the time!

It's a real maven, isn't it?

Ze Daniel still lives in Galilea.

His house was used as the main set:
Joao Pedro's house.

Did you like the film the other day?

-Did you enjoy the movie?
-On Saturday? It was good.

What did you think?

I thought it was very nice,
very interesting.

All I have borne on duty...

-When did you become a protestant?
-I'm a believer...

After the revolution.
Wasn't it on April 1st?

On May 25th I gave myself to Jesus.

-What are you? Baptist?
-The Assembly of God.

Look at Braz!

You remember when we made the film?

I remember well.
We had such a good time...

-What did you think?
-It was really good.

But I missed the sound.

Braz Francisco da Silva is the
only prosperous one.

On his 10 acre farm
he grows vegetables

which he sells in Recife.

6 of his children live in Sao Paulo

and 3 people help him.

Working since he was 8,
now he is tired and wants to sell.

I want to sell up.

If anyone shows up...
Want to buy it?

Who? Me?
How much are you asking?

For around 3 million I'll sell.

For 3 million cruzeiros up.

Braz, known by his
neighbors as Joao

fled from Galilea in 1964
and changed his name

to avoid persecution.

Braz is disillusioned with
political activity

and no longer likes Galilea or
remembering the past.

It's Cicero!

Look! Cicero Anastacio!

He's down south and
we're seeing him here!

llmeira, Sao Paulo State.

Cicero Anastacio da Silva.

-When did you start here?
-May 5th, last year.

-What do you do?
-Iron roiling.

-Why did you move south?
-I was employed there,

but I lost my job and
was 6 months unemployed.

I moved south last year, in March.

Are you happy here?
Have you got used to it?

Up to now I'm satisfied.

No one get mad at me,
not even the boss.

No one says anything against me.
Not so far.

-Don't you want to come back?
-I'd like to.

I'd like to very much.

It's very cold here.
The wife can't ablde it.

I only haven't sent her back
because I can't .

I had my home and
friends in the north.

We had our causes

our movement, we used to talk about,
decide what to do.

We used to talk.
But here I have no one.

Only thing I did was buy
a TV to watch.

I like to watch the news

to know what's going on.

That's all I like to watch.

The only actor from Galilea who
could read and write

Cicero was also a production
assistant.

What do you remember of the film?

What do I remember?
I remember

the scene I did roofing that house.

The other asked me, and I answered:

" Dried meat's so expensive.
How can we live?"

I picked up a roof tile and
passed it up to the roof.

Roofing the house and asking me...

Then I answered:

" Dried meat's so expensive.
How can we live?"

Did you think we'd be back
to finish the film?

I always hoped you
would come back.

I used to think about it.
My mother was still alive.

" My son, that time will never come."
I'd say: " Stop it, Mom...

You only don't see
those who are dead.

Those who are alive, you see."

-Elizabeth Telxeira, right?
-So it is! Look at her!

Although they had not seen her
since 1964

the participants in the film recognized
her at once.

Elizabeth had disappeared 1 7 years
before.

Not even her family or her old friends
in the League

knew where she had gone.

Her eldest son, Abraham,
was the only one who knew.

I went to find Abraham in Patos,
Paralba State

where he is a journalist.

After making many demands,
he agreed to take the film crew

to his mother's house.

We went to the border and entered
Rio Grande do Norte State

still not knowing where
we were being taken.

After 4 hours of very bad roads

we glimpsed a village near the
piranhas River.

It was Sao Rafael, a good hideout.

480 miles from Sape and
over 800 from Galilea.

The town has only 3,000 people
and no television.

Elizabeth lived there with her son,
Carlos

the only one she had brought with her.

She had changed her name to
Marta Maria da Costa.

Elizabeth wasn't expecting me.

I began by showing her the stills
that remained from the film.

-How did you get this?
-This is what was saved.

The photographer hid them and so,
saved them.

I'm surprised.

I thought they had hidden everything.

They got the originals
but not the copy.

I mean: the original was in Rio.
They got the copy in...

Ma, acknowledge President
Figueiredo's liberalization.

-Yes. President Figueiredo...
-We're here thanks to him.

Thanks to him I'm
here with you now.

The only government that deserves
all our dignity... right?

For having given the right for
political prisoners

outside Brazil to come back
to their families.

Today, here I am

with my son, meeting you,
Coutinho, again.

I never expected to see you today
in my house.

And who do we have to thank?

I had no hope left

of ever meeting even
my children again.

I was afraid.
I've suffered a lot.

You'll bear witness to that.
I suffered a lot.

I was persecuted a lot.

They wanted to... to exterminate me.

-Have you been here long?
-1 6 years.

You came here 1 6 years ago?

After the movement
I had to run away here.

It was pretty difficult.
Everyone was after me.

I couldn't stay in Recife.

Things got better when I came here.

I hid.
No one knew who I was.

Nobody here knew who I was.
Now they know.

You all know.
When I came here

I wasn't going to say I had children.
To some people

I said I had children and my husband
had been killed.

But before I kept quiet.
I said nothing.

But, thank God,
here I am now telling the story.

And Joao Pedro and
Pedro the farmer... these...

Ma, I don't want to influence you...

But all regimes are the same...

if you don't have political protection.

They are all rustic,

violent, arbitrary

depending on
your economic situation.

All factions forgot Elizabeth Telxeira

simply because she had no power.

This is her eldest son's protest.

This film must record
my vehement objection...

something for which my mother's
heart lacks

intellectual and expressive capacity.

I'll record everything
the family wants to say.

I want you to record our rejection to
all systems.

It will be recorded.
I guarantee it.

-No system helps the poor.
-None.

I was thin, in black.

That same night
we showed Elizabeth

her two sons and
her neighbors the films from the past.

Elizabeth planting peanuts!

Abraham watched without interfering.

That one plays my husband.

The boys are happy!

Ah, my God...

No. That's the family
who plays that part!

Our arrival for the second day
of filming with Elizabeth.

In all, it was 3 days.

On the first Abraham made his
presence felt

especially at the beginning.
He didn't come for the rest.

Elizabeth told her life story
in two stages:

with and without Abraham.

In the living-room
and in the backyard.

Is Elizabeth in?

Come here, Elizabeth.

How's the class going?

-The class is here. We're...
-Everything all right?

Is it good?

Not many kids yet.
Today's the first day. They'll know

who the teachers are. Less kids came
today. Want to come in?

Come on in.

Let's see if the light's good enough.

Right. How are things in the city?

Last night I Iald thinking in bed.

I spoke bad yesterday.
But I was upset.

I should have started like you wanted.

From the beginning.
How we met and got married

and moved to Jaboatao.
Should have walted for today.

We'll do it again today.
Got a yard here?

Yes. Come in and have a look.

Elizabeth had only
the elementary school

and was teaching some children
to read and write.

You remember what year
you got married?

The year... 1942.

How did you meet
Joao Pedro Telxeira?

I met him in my father's store.
He was buying there.

We started courting

and eventually we got married.

-Was your father against it?
-Yes, he was.

Was it true you had to run away?

What was that all about?

I eloped. My father never
agreed to the marriage.

I eloped.

And so you went to the Massangana
sugar mill?

-Joao Pedro went to work there?
-Yes.

-What did he do?
-He worked in the quarry.

-He worked in the quarry.
-On the sugar mill land.

-When did you go to Cavaleiro?
-That was in 1945.

It was no good, so we moved and
he worked in a quarry...

in the outskirts of Recife.

Joao Pedro became friends
with Manoel Serafim.

They were neighbors.
They went to the same church

and worked together.
Manoel still lives and works there.

In Cavaleiro, Jaboatao,
in greater Recife.

He was not very dark

with wild curly hair... yes, rather wild.

He had rather wiry hair.

He was built kind of...

He was big built.
His face was sort of wide...

A round face with a forehead

that shows these people are good,
you know.

A person you can rely on.

A high forehead, without being bald.

Was he lively?

He was big built.
Maybe stronger than him.

Muscular... muscular arms.

We lived in Recife.

He began his political life in Recife.

He took part in workers' unions...

-At the quarry?
-At the quarry.

Workers at the quarry.

In Cavaleiro he already had those
ideas of his.

His idea of always being on the
workers' side.

Of working for the worker.

Fighting for the Union and workers'
demands.

So they stopped giving him work.

They started cIamping down.

He left to Paralba

to be chairman of the League.

So I said to him:

" There's dangerous people there.

You'll come to a bad end."

And he said: " I don't want to die...

But I'm not afraid to get shot for
such things.

It can happen.

I could get shot.

But it's better than dying of
starvation."

So Daddy sent for us

and Joao Pedro tried to set up the
League.

He organized the peasant's league
in 1958.

1958, 1959, 1960...

1961 , 1962, and then he was killed.

What was the farm like?
Was it your father's ?

The farm we lived on was Daddy's .

-How big was it?
-I don't know how many acres.

-Was it small?
-It was small.

-Could Joao Pedro write?
-Yes. Read and write. A bit.

Was he a Protestant
when you got married?

-He became one later?
-Later.

-In Jaboatao?
-Yes. He got into it there.

He spent a lot of time at it.

Then he threw himself into politics.

He concentrated on the leagues and
left the church.

Until one day, when he was arrested
by the Army...

they asked him questions from
the Bible and he answered.

" So you are a true Protestant.
You answer everything I'm asking."

-You stayed Catholic all the time?
-Yes.

-Never fought over religion?
-Not once.

He accepted it.
He would say

he wouldn't baptize the children.

They'd be pagans.
I accepted it. No problem.

He worked on the farm.
He lived and worked on the farm.

Only in his free time on Saturdays
and Sundays

would he go out, or they'd come here

to discuss things

and he'd ask them
how they were surviving.

Others came to tell him
they had been thrown off

that the owner had evicted them
out of hand.

He'd say, " Friends, we must unite.

United we can put an end to this
style.

That the owners can take our fields,
but unless we unite.

They'll keep on doing it."

Market day was meeting day.
He'd call the people.

I stayed in the League,
stamping cards,

signing them, asked who wanted to
join, the payments...

In this sequence of
''A Man Signed to Die''

a group of peasants led
by Joao Pedro

were discussing rent increases
with the administrator.

The dialogue was created by the
actors

through an improvisation
before filming.

What's all this about?

You shouldn't have come in a convoy.

When you come to pay,
Iet just one come. It looks bad.

I'll change your housing situation.

You're very close to one another.

We pay right but
you want to put it up.

You're the leader, Joao Pedro.
These ideas of yours!

He's not the leader.

But according to the agreement
he can make a reasonable appeal.

We have no choice in the matter.

Look, I'm very upset with
you about all this.

You're upset?

You shouldn't be.

I bury your sons and put your wives
in hospital.

You have everything you need.

You need a stronger argument
than that.

You don't think.
You don't seem to have any sense.

You're half-witted and get in the way.

-I want to settle this!
-Mill owners don't die

and administrators don't die.
Only peasants die.

We don't want a fight with you,
but we can't pay.

You know you're mine and I'm yours.

I want you to be satisfied.

I don't want a fight.
The land is all ours.

But I won't sign this idea
of no rent increase.

I can only sign when the boss gets
back from town in a week.

I have my orders.

We can wait a week, can't we?

According to what his answer is,
then we'll decide.

Let's think about it.
life is sweet.

Go back home. Talk about it and
forget it. We're together.

Next week we'll be back
to hear his answer.

The day will come when you won't be
able to keep on doing this.

So your father argued with
Joao Pedro?

-Yes.
-They didn't see each other?

Dad said he wanted to take the land.

Take what wasn't his.

I explained but Dad said it wasn't
right.

And Dad really fought with him.

We had some cattle at home.

Dad had sent it there to look
after the milking.

Dad had it sent away.

He sold the farm to Antonio Vitor

so we had to go away.

Dad said: " Get some land and
go live there."

It was all very unfair there.

What was unfair?

They used to kill the country workers.

They were thrown out
without any rights.

People got persecuted.

You couldn't even go out to work.

You were persecuted, saw people die

and families abandoned in the fields

while they took over the plantations.

I met alfredo at the League.
He was a member.

He was a fighter and very
long-suffering.

Pedro Ramos put pressure on him.

Until one day, in the fields

he met the landowner's hired thugs

who attacked and killed him.

When they threw stones at the door
you sang, right?

They banged on the door
and called for Joao Pedro to open up.

They said the lawyer
was waiting for him.

Do you remember the song you sang?

-Yes, I remember.
-What was it like?

Lady, why is your
Baby a-crying?

He's full up and a-crying
'cause he wants his milk

Lady, why is your
Baby a-crying?

He's full up and a-crying
'cause he wants a smack

He was arrested several times.

And he got misattentive...

One day when I was teaching the kids

he sat outside on the porch,
bare-chested.

Several policemen arrived.

Several policemen.

There was no time.
They got him.

They took him off,
bare-chested and all.

He believed in the struggle.

The big landowners offered him money.

So he would give up the fight.

They would give him another...
any way of surviving.

I remember this day and night.

What he suffered and never gave in.

He never came home and said:

" Elizabeth, I regret it."
That, never!

He was as solid as a rock.

He said: " I'm planning
a meeting for Saturday."

I said: " It's not possible.

To prepare the meeting."
He said:

" I will."
I said: " Count me in."

He got a jeep and
went around the farms

and that day we had our biggest
protest rally.

He believed the big landowners
would kill him.

One day I called him:

" Joao Pedro, let's leave the State.

We can't go on.
It's too difficult.

People say that

the landowners are thinking on
killing you.

They say the day you're killed.

They'll cut your ear off
and make a drink of it.

That can't be.
Let's leave

and go down south."

He looked at me and said:

" You and the kids are here.

You've got the pictures
as a souvenir.

But I ain't gonna chicken out.

I'm positive they're gonna kill me.

I can see hate in their faces.

Wherever I go they're grouching.

I can see their wrath.

I know I've had it.

They're gonna kill me sure as eggs.

Now, I'll tell you something:

They'll do it cowardly."

COUNTRY FAMILY
THREATENED

It was on April 2nd... a Monday...

He was going to make a deal
with the lawyer

about the land we lived on

and about which we
disagreed with the owner.

He'd been called by the lawyer
and was going to pick up

the eldest boy's books at the
same time. He started high school.

He brought my books, did he?

You're a real teacher to me,

and you are a school.
This is, for me

my strength, my reason for living

being able to talk to Mr Coutinho

fighting with him over
1 00,000 cruzeiros

over 50,000, 1 0,000,
20,000, 1 00,000.

I could fight for 1 0 million
if necessary.

Why? Not only was my
father a saint

but I have a mother...
Well, you can see...

Forgive the interruption.
Go on.

When he was killed on
the Cafe do Vento road

they even shot up the books
he was carrying.

They were covered in blood.

He was smoking when he was shot.

About 8 o'clock,
the papers had the news.

A big report on him.

Everyone bought it.

And it said:

" Chairman of the Paralba
League shot."

And his name was there like an
important person's .

And we all felt so sad.

As if the sun had stopped.
And that cold serenity...

the sadness of snatching a life and
leaving emptiness

without joy, that everyone felt.

You only heard of his death next day.
Why?

The reasons...

I think the landowners
tried to cover it up.

And our friends, I think...

when they heard, they also didn't ...

didn't have the courage
to come and tell me.

How did you react?

-Did you go wild?
-That's it.

I could hardly believe it.

I went to the town where he was

together with Abraham.

We walked, and got transport
half-way.

I went to the morgue where he was,
dead.

He was riddled with bullet wounds.
Horrible.

So sad.

His ear was still full of mud

and there was a pool of blood
on the floor.

The criminals were never punished?

There was no punishment.

Joao Pedro Telxeira was ambushed
and killed...

on April 2nd, 1962

by two soldiers of the Military Police.
Another participant

was a cowhand from landowner
Agnaldo Veloso Borges's ranch.

AGNALDO MAKES STATEMENT
TO ENQuiRY COMMITTEE

The judge in Sape ordered
Agnaldo's arrest

as one of the instigators
of the crime.

But he got off by taking a chair
on the Legislative Assembly.

Agnaldo was the fifth vice-deputy.

One deputy and 4 vices resigned to
allow him into office.

In March, 1965

the 2 policemen who killed
Joao Pedro

were unanimously acquitted
by the jury.

The film started an hour ago
and everyone's attentive.

Joao Virginio and his wife...
Braz... Bla...

Ze Daniel... Joao Mariano...

Joao Mariano was the only one
who was not politically active.

When we asked him to do the film
we told him who Joao Pedro was.

He accepted at once because
he had been thrown out of a mill

and was unemployed.

He gradually began to identify
with the part.

He is leader of a Baptist church
in Victoria.

I interviewed him by surprise
the day after the film.

Well, you see...

I don't take part

in certain movements.

I got into this movement 1 6 years ago,
for instance

through the mill where
this movement arrived.

Just a minute.
There's too much wind. Cut.

Start again.
What you said was perfect.

Don't worry, Mariano.
Tell us how you live.

OK, Mr Mariano?

OK, Mr Mariano?

I think you know all about it.
I didn't want to be involved.

I was at the mill,
because of the league and so on.

I left the mill to avoid getting mixed
up in it all.

When I got to the town,
you came looking for me.

So I took on this...
let's say... career

without knowing what I was doing.

Then I realized
it was all about property

land, and so on.
Because I don't need land.

I've got my bit.
I live without meddling with A or B.

But when you came...
you were so nice to me...

I was interested in the work,
not for this revolution business.

And that's that.

That had nothing to do with it.
Tell me...

How do you live now?

Off my own bat.
I have no mill boss over me.

And I want nothing
to do with them, either.

That's my life.

Were you a Protestant at that time?

Yes. That's why
the church rejected me.

I was excluded from it.
I was very upset.

That's why I don't want to
go on with it.

I can believe you're recording
what I'm saying

but you can see from
my face that I'm not

that dedicated to this movement.

How long have you been a Protestant?

-28 years.
-The Baptist Church?

Yes, sir.

Once bitten, twice shy.

I was once disappointed.
Why would I be again?

Why were you so disappointed?

Because the church wouldn't support
the movement.

I don't want revolution.
Just peace and quiet.

Everyone to their own life.
Let sleeping dogs lie.

That's how it is.

-You sell a few things at home?
-Waste of time!

You weren't harmed by
making the film, were you?

No, not harmed.

Except by the mill owner.

In the revolution he was after
me and wanted to kill me.

Because of a case in 1963?

Because they compensated
me at the mill...

Not because of the film.
I wasn't called by anyone.

I wasn't disappointed.
Only by the church.

Did you enjoy seeing
yourself on the film?

I enjoyed it, yes. You do, don't you?
I mean the fruits of your work.

I live by my work.
My part was natural, wasn't it?

Not something to harm A or B.

So I enjoyed it because
I saw the fruits of my work.

Elizabeth went to the south, 20 days
after her husband was killed.

On May 5th, 1962, in Brasilla

she spoke to the parliamentary
commission on agrarian affairs.

I had to go to Rio

to take part in the
Enquiry Commission.

When I arrived in Rio

I went on to Brasilia.

There, the Deputies and the President

thought I had to take Joao Pedro's
place to support my children

and to boost the League.

I was the widow of the leader.

I went on. I said I would take over
even if I died.

Even if I died.

So I took over and worked at it.

In my fight I protested against
Joao Pedro's assassination

and that of all his colleagues
who had died.

I was arrested.

Not by one,
or two or three policemen.

They shot at my feet.

They shot at my feet.

Even so, I didn't stop
but got into the car.

When I got there, they asked me
some stupid questions.

They asked me how I got on with
things overseas. Rubbish!

That was probably Elizabeth's
last rally.

The rally took place at the beginning
of 1964.

To celebrate the founding
of the Rural Union of Talpu,

near Sape.

In answer to the peasant movement

the Government encouraged rural
unionization.

2 weeks after this demonstration there
was the conflict near Sape

which didn't allow filming in the area.

A month later, in February 1964

Elizabeth came to Pernambuco for the
filming in Galilea.

SAPE WITH GOD FOR
DEMOCRACY

THE FAMILY MARCH IN ARELA,
PLANCO AND ULRAUNA

GUARABLRA HOLDS FAMILY MARCH
FOR GOD AND FREEDOM

JOAO PESSOA IN MARCH FOR
GOD AND FREEDOM

MARCH TO RECIFE DRAWS
200,000 PEOPLE

These were the last scenes filmed

on March 31st, 1964.

It was when Joao Pedro
gathered the peasants

to discuss the formation of the
Sape League.

Three shots only were filmed.

First, when Elizabeth served coffee.

Then, when she hears a noise outside
and goes to see.

The last is when
she comes back and says:

''There are people out there.''

-There are people out there!
-There are people out there!

-There are people out there!
-There are people out there!

There are people out there!

-And then?
-March 31st, huh?

March 31st and here we are
surrounded by the Army.

Not from Pernambuco,
but the Army from Paralba.

No one knew any soldiers here.

They walked in. Not by car.
They all walked in.

Everybody ran.
There were soldiers everywhere.

Just looking for 3 people:
Joao Virginio, Zeze and Rosario.

They only wanted those 3.

And the film people,
but didn't get them.

That's who they most wanted,
the film people.

-And your father's house?
-It was over there.

The house was over there.

It isn't there anymore.
Very old.

We bulit in again someplace else.

Ze Daniel's house was
Joao Pedro's in the film.

The film equipment was kept there.

I went through, the wood up there

and I shouted to Daniel's son:

" Duda! Tell them they're coming!

The troops are all coming behind.

They're nearly there."

Duda was playing football,
but came up...

and gave the message.
You left.

I walked over but
they weren't coming.

When I got there,
you were climbing the hills.

The film crew had already gone.

They were hiding in the wood
behind that hill.

The troops arrived.
When I looked from up there

I saw 3 Army trucks.

About 8 at night.

I heard thuds coming from inside.

The Army were ransacking everything
in the house.

Turning it upside down.

They took the mattresses off
the beds... It was a mess.

The big keg where we kept the flour

had been thrown outside through the
kitchen door.

A pan of manioc we were cooking
for dinner...

they threw out into the yard.

They broke our bags and cases...
my sister's case...

They took the generator,
and the spot lights.

They took all the machinery,
all the material.

SUBVERSIVE MATERIAL
APPREHENDED

ARMED FORCES' EXCLUSIVE ARMS

FILMS TO TRAIN PEASANTS
IN SUBVERSION

REFLECTORS

ALL APPREHENDED BY
THE ARMY IN GALILEA MILL.

This front-page picture from
the ''Diário de Pernambuco''

shows cans of films, tripods,
reflectors, a megaphone...

Normal film equipment.

It was in Galilea that the Army
apprehended material

from the largest subversive
communist group in Pernambuco

abandoned by left-wing leaders
with the women and children.

In a typical peasant hovel

highly subversive material
was found, set up

by international left-wing groups,
protected by

the last State government.

There was a powerful generator

for expensive cinema projectors.

Among many others, the film taken

the week of the coup was
''Signals of Death''.

It showed how the peasants should
react in cold blood

with no sense of guilt or remorse
when shooting was necessary

or decapitation or other forms
of elimination

inflicted on ''reactionary''
prisoners in battle

or taken to Galilea.

Meanwhile, a sociologist who
wishes to remain anonymous

drew up a plan to be used
in the case of the mill

to help in the moral and social
recovery of the sub-race

to which the communists tried to
reduce these peasants.

Ze Daniel took us to a hideout.

At night the troops went back
to Victoria.

We were all together in the wood

and later the kids arrived shouting.

" Dad... Oh, Dad! Dad!"

I wanted to go.

" Don't go there, no."
I wanted to go.

"Come and have coffee.
They've gone."

old Ze Feliciano said:

"Ze Daniel, come home.
They've gone. Have some coffee."

-I wanted to go.
-Didn't you answer?

Because Coutinho was there saying:
"Don't go. No. Don't go."

I wanted to...

We were worried the Army
might still be there.

Might have been there still.

We left the wood early with Elizabeth

and said goodbye to the people.

We split into groups of 3 and
got onto the Recife road

a few miles further on.

We all took separate buses

and managed to get to Recife.

We only later found out
that 5 crew members

who wanted to stay in Victoria,
had been arrested.

The Army went back to Galilea soon
afterwards.

The same day, April 3rd,
Ze Daniel gave himself up.

I gave myself up.
At first I said to him:

" I beg you by your mother's milk,

for the love of Jesus Christ
our Savior...

If you can see any reason
why I be arrested

or beaten, or shot 2, 3 or 4 times,
if I can stand it."

He said: " You're scared
to be a prisoner." I said yes.

That's why I respect man,
woman and child.

So I can be respected too
as a poor old man.

I'm weak, thank God.

I live by my respect and want to die
respected and in honor.

I heard you'd called me.
I want to die at home.

But not be in jail and beaten.

If that's it, I'll face anything
but not give myself up.

Sergeant Saralva says: " Tell me
where the guns are, Ze Daniel."

Well, says I, " There's that gun
you took from home

and others, shotguns
to hunt fowl to eat

and these are the guns in Galilea."

" No, Daniel. The machine-guns."
"I never seen one. I heard of.

I see one now in your hands.
I wanted to see one."

We hid the film camera
with Daniel's help

in a sort of cave in the wilds.

It was the last piece of equipment
found by the Army.

-Under that rock there.
-Go on down...

-Can you tell where it was?
-Under that rock there.

-What was under it?
-The film machine, under the rock.

He asked. I didn't want to say,
but I said: " We'll see."

I didn't want to say what I knew.

We came down.

I said, " I think they came down here" ,
but I didn't say I'd put it...

We got there... I saw the slope

and I spotted the camera.
I said: " Look over there!"

So they got hold of the camera.

Then he started up shouting:
"Look what I've found!"

Joao Jose, Daniel's son
was 20 at the time.

The only thing I managed to keep

were 2 books left on the table.
The Army took everything else.

I always keep my books in this case.

History of a Manuscript -
Kaputt.

" Every morning

I'd sit in the garden

under an acacia tree

and get down to work.

If any of the SS militia

came near the garden,

the peasant would warn me
by a cough."

So, when the troops arrived,
the other would warn him.

And the Army wouldn't get him.
He'd escape.

The story of your film is like that.

" When I had to go to the front

I entrusted the manuscript Kaputt to
my friend Roman Suchena

who had hidden it in the pigpen wall.

I will always be grateful to the
peasant Roman Suchena

and his daughter-in-law
for helping me

to save my manuscript from the hands
of the Gestapo."

You associate that book
with the film, right?

One of you left it here.

-Whose book is it?
-It was left on the table.

-How many years have you had it.
-1 7 years. And this one.

It's got Fernando Duarte written in it.

-I think he was that thin man.
-The photographer.

Must be.
I said it was the film people's .

One was about films and things too.

The Army Captain wanted this one
because it was about

the World War and Russia or
something.

But I said: " It was mine."
He said: " It was the Cuban's ."

I said: " No siree, this book is mine."

-Who were the Cubans?
-You were.

He thought we were Cubans?

He thought you were them
bearded Cubans

filming here back then in 1964.

So I said: " No sir, there's no Cubans or
communists here."

ACCORDING TO MILLITARY
INFORMATION 3 ARE FROM CUBA.

He said: " But you'll show us where
their arms are.

And where they were.
They wanted a revolution."

I said: " They didn't say anything about
revolution or about Cuba."

" How did they talk?"
"The same way as everyone else."

" Did they have a bit of an accent?"

I said: " Sure, they spoke normal
enough.

But people from Rio speak a bit
different."

The other said:
"They could be from Rio.

People from Rio have an accent,
don't they, lieutenant?"

I said, " They sounded normal."
"They talked normal like?

You understood them?"
"Of course" , I did.

After

he said: " So now you show us where
the guns are."

I said: " There be only 2 farmers
who have those.

A gentleman from the
Bento Velho mill,

and Lourival Pedrosa
from the Gameleira mill.

He has a lot. He's a big-time farmer.
He's a trouble-maker."

He said: " Ah, so that one's his.

I want to see yours here
'cause Jullao said there was.

20,000 guns for you to start a
revolution, d'you hear?

And the communists were filming
here for the revolution."

Then he started getting mad.

I said: " There's no Cubans or
communists around here.

There's people dying of hunger
and allments, like I am.

People round here need food
and medicines

freedom and land to work on."

Then he said:
"No! Tomorrow I'll bring medicines.

Call the people hidden out there.

So we can prescribe some medicine
and have a talk.

Go call Joao Virginio."

I said: " I don't know where he is."

I gave myself up.
I spent 7 days hidden.

Unable to go anywhere.
So I gave myself up.

When I spent...

8 days in the 4th Army...

On April 1 5th, when the
Government took over...

Castelo Branco...
they took me to the Police.

I had to make a statement.

Two cops beat me up.

Two other leaders were arrested
the first half of April.

Zeze da Galilea,
freed after 3 months.

Severino Gomes da Silva, Rosario,
Zeze's adopted son

who was in jail for 45 days.

I produced here

half a truck of goods a week.

The Army got me
and threw me in jail.

I was blinded in one eye.

I lost the hearing in one ear.

Another beating and my heart went.

I spent 6 years in jail.

What good did I do for Brazil
behind bars?

They took my watch, my belt

and my money.

They took my jeep.
It's behind City Hall in Victoria

at the police station.
They never gave it back.

Call that revolution? Put me in jail,
my kids left hungry?

They took a car, my papers,
everything.

Why should the Army do this to me?

Better to have me shot than do that.

I got even more angry than I was.

Leaving my kids to starve and me
beaten up in jail.

I spent a day in a tank full of shit.

Turds this big, and soup and piss up to
my walst.

I tiny space, and me...

I spent one hour like this,
another like this...

I stood up for 24 hours.
Only the devil can bear it!

Standing up for 24 hours
in a tank of shit.

Only Satan... I don't believe...

I'm alive, because
I never saw a spirit like me

bear it, even so many electric shocks.

There's nothing better than days with
a night in between.

Our Lord Jesus Christ will protect us.

God's grace is continually upon us.

I trust in God, because this misery...

One day the people got to realize
who they are.

We can't stay trampled on for ever.

Condemned to 1 0 and a half years
in jail

Joao Virginio was released in 1970

after serving 6 years
of his sentence.

The Recife Penitentiary was turned
into a cultural center

in 197 6.

On April 3rd, 1964, a week before
Joao Virginio's arrest

Elizabeth left Galilea with
the film crew

and went to Recife.

Unable to return to Sape or stay
in Recife

she decided to go to Manoel
Serafim's house in Jaboatao.

The direction assistant, Vladimir
Carvalho, took her there.

She changed her name to Marta

and pretended to be Manoel's
sister-in-law.

She stayed indoors always.

2 months later, she gave herself
up to Paralba's authorities.

-Did they treat you well?
-Yes. The Army treated me well.

They asked you about Cuba?

-Yes.
-What did you say?

I said I'd gone to visit my son there

who had gone with a grant

from the government there

and the government had sent me
an invitation

to visit my son.

That's why I went to Cuba.

Did they accuse you of squatting
or anything?

I didn't know about squatting.

It must mean a failing out of
owner and tenant.

Because no owner wants
a tenant to have rights.

He wants him bound and gagged.

So the tenants has to see to his
own problems.

After 4 months in jail,
Elizabeth went back to Sape.

She went to her father's where
her children were.

Then the persecution came.

The police came to get me again.

-At your father's ?
-Yes. So the police came

to get me again to take me away.

I could be tortured or even killed.

I thought about it and
asked my Dad.

I said: " Dad, I can't go with so
many policemen.

Since they say
they're friends of yours

tell them to go away

and I'll go there tomorrow."

I was sick.
Dad spoke to Colonel Luiz de Barros

and said I couldn't go

but guaranteed I'd go there next day.

So they took his word
for it that I'd go.

Next day I couldn't .
I got the car and said I'd go

but I couldn't .
I knew I'd be tortured.

Or even killed like Alfredo
and the kid.

In September, 1964,
just before Elizabeth's release

Joao Alfredo Dias and

Pedro Inacio de Araujo,
founders of the Sape League

disappeared after leaving prison.

They were never found.

3 days later

a paper told that 2 mutilated corpses

had been found on a road in Paralba.

The paper said they were victims
of the Death Squad.

The bodies were never identified.

Your parents helped you
all this time?

Don't even know if they're alive.

-I don't even know.
-Why didn't he help you?

I really don't know.

Maybe he doesn't have our address.

Didn't he help to bring up the kids?

Yes. He raised two of my brothers.

He raised two of them?

We've never told where we are.

Going to say now?

-Right.
-From now on...

From now on we tell everything.

Makes things easier.

I want to find the rest of the family.
I'm going to try.

Why did you choose to keep
Carlos especially?

Well, you see...

Dad didn't want him 'cause he
found him like Joao Pedro.

-He said he wouldn't have him.
-Is he like him?

Yes, he is.

In 1962 the persecution spread
wider.

3 months after Joao Pedro's
assassination

Paulo Pedro, one of his sons,
was mysteriously attacked.

What happened to Paulo?
What was the attack?

That was...

a thug on orders from
big landowners...

The same ones that murdered
Joao Pedro.

-What did they do?
-They shot him...

They shot him in the forehead,
in the fields.

-Bad hurt?
-He got hurt bad.

I don't know if he's still alive.

-Never saw him again?
-Never.

-Don't know where he is?
-No, I don't .

Never heard any news.

What happened to your
daughter, Marluce?

She poisoned herself and died.

-Was she so upset?
-Yes.

She said that since her father
was killed

she hadn't had a single day
of happiness.

She was always upset.

She said she felt so sad...

that it got to such a point.

In December, 1962, 8 months
after Joao Pedro's death

the eldest daughter, Marluce,
took arsenic and died.

GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE BY
TAKING ARSENIC

MARLUCE, DAUGHTER OF
JOAO PEDRO TEIXEIRA, WAS 1 8

When did you meet your first brother?

I met him in 1978.

That's when I went to Patos.

In Patos I looked for him.

-Abraham?
-Yes.

-You don't know the other eight?
-I don't know any of them.

How are you known here?

I'm known here as Marta Maria
da Costa. Even legally.

Why did you choose Marta.

It sounded like a martyr...

The name of someone who
has suffered, like me.

But after this film you'll go back
to the world, won't you?

Yes. I'll go back to the world.

The neighbors know...

The neighbors,
everyone knows who I am.

Now I'll see my friends,

find my kids, my parents...

Will you visit your parents?

Yes, and especially my kids
out there.

I know they're out there
and I must find them. Right?

The first week of April, 1964,

8 of Elizabeth's children were
rounded up

and shared out among
grandparents and aunts.

Abraham stayed in the capital
to study.

Isaac was in Cuba since 1963 with
a government grant.

1 5 days after my meeting
with Elizabeth

I went to Sape to retrace the past.

A few miles from the town,
where he was killed

there was a stone monument
and an iron cross

and a bronze plaque in his memory,
blown up in 1964.

The plaque said:

''Here lles Joao Pedro Telxeira,
martyr for agrarian reform''.

Actually, Joao Pedro is buried in
Sape Cemetery

in an unmarked grave.

Joao Pedro was born in the
nearby town of Guarabira

and lost his father early on.

little is known about his youth.

Not even a photo is left of
Joao Pedro alive.

The house he lived his last years
in seems abandoned.

After the founding
of the Sape League

Elizabeth's father, Manoel da
Costa, a small landowner

quarrelled with Joao Pedro and
sold the farm.

Threatened with eviction,
Joao Pedro went to Court

for the right to live there or
receive compensation.

After his death Elizabeth stayed
but cut her father.

In 1981, 17 years after her escape

her children didn't know where
she was hidden.

Nor if she was dead or alive.

Near Joao Pedro's house we
looked for his daughter

Near Joao Pedro's house we
looked for his daughter

Maria das Neves Telxeira,
or Nevinha.

We only knew she was married
and was a teacher nearby

the place where Joao Pedro
was killed.

How long is it since you saw
your mother?

A long time.

1 5... maybe 1 2 years.

Do you miss her?

Of course... She's my Mom.

And your brothers,
Abraham and Carlos?

We haven't seen either of them.

The others are nearer.

Did you know you father?

Yes. I was 6 or 7 when he died.

-Do you remember him?
-Not much.

-Your daughter?
-Yes.

-What's her name?
-Juliana Elizabeth Telxeira..

-You called her Elizabeth?
-Juliana Elizabeth.

-Why Elizabeth?
-My mother's name.

How can we see Peta, your brother?

At my grandfather's ,
by the flour house. Know it?

Would your grandpa welcome a visit?

Well, he's a bit funny about
this sort of thing.

The other day...

some people came in a car.
I don't know if they were...

cattle rustlers, or something.

I know they came everyday,
every week.

He was quite... many people
round here thought that...

Elizabeth might try to kill him.

A lot of people thought so.
So, he got it into his head

that she wanted to kill him
or steal something.

I know people did try...
cattle rustlers, I think.

Manoel Justino and
Joao Pedro Telxeira Jr

agreed to be filmed.

Elizabeth's father chickened out
and went back in.

-Your grandpa brought you up?
-Since I was little.

He brought the whole family here.

Then one uncle took one,
another took another.

Everyone raised the family.
We'd have died otherwise.

Because 12 children in one house...

hungry... If it hadn't been
for the family...

Everybody took someone
and 3 stayed at home.

I'm still here.
2 girls went to Rio.

We are alive thanks to the family.

Even so I'm not mad at my mother.
I'll see her any time.

I'll go wherever she is.

-Got a picture of your Dad?
-No, I haven't .

Nor of my mother.
I can't remember anything.

I was 4 years old.

-You were 2 when your father died.
-No. I was 4.

I was born in 1960.
They killed him in 1964.

-No. He died in 1962.
-He died... in '64.

I was little.
I can't remember.

You built his tomb again?

People destroyed it.
I'm the only one here...

as his son.
I said, I'll raise his cross because

they can't do that.
I can make another.

I said I would make one
because I remember him.

I knew where the place was.

So I made one again.

I lit a candle and all that.

Why wouldn't Manoel have his
photo taken?

Because an old man thinks
like the kids.

We eventually persuaded him to
come out and talk.

You never got on with
Joao Pedro, did you?

No. I didn't ask him.
He came.

I gave him some advice but
he wouldn't listen.

-So you never got on with him?
-Never.

-But he was a good husband?
-Yes.

He became my enemy.
He said if I went...

if I set foot there he'd give me
a good hiding.

-Who said that?
-Her husband did.

He said I'd better not meddle
with things.

I'd better get back to work.

Elizabeth's father never once said
the name Joao Pedro.

Still active at 84

Manoel has a small flour mill

and goes everyday to buy wood
and manioc, at nearby farms.

Joao Pedro Jr help him as a driver.

On this road, further ahead

on Manoel's land,
Joao Pedro was killed.

Elizabeth used to come by here

to head demonstrations to her
husband's memorial.

Caxias, Greater Rio de Janeiro.

October, 1981.

8 months after Elizabeth's
declarations.

-Is Marta in?
-That's me.

-I'm a friend of...
-My mother.

-Your mother's . Did you know?
-More or less.

Is there light here?

This is your brother, Carlos.

-Do you remember him?
-Yes.

We went to see her
in Rio Grande do Norte.

Here she is washing clothes in
the river.

She sent you a big hug.

She's coming to see you.

She's got to get your brothers.

Carlos...

Abraham.
Carlos and your mother.

I remember her well.

This is on film.

-When did you come to Rio?
-I came here in 1971 .

-And never went back?
-I went there about 5 years ago.

Do you hear from the people
in Sape?

-No.
-Don't they write?

It's me that...

-You don't say where you are?
-I cut myself off.

-Why?
-You see, the family...

When you most need them

that's when they didn't help.
Especially my brother.

I'm not mad at them.
But when I most needed them

they didn't help. Especially my
maternal grandparents.

-They didn't help you?
-No.

And they have some money,
don't they?

The family does,
except my mother.

-Any grudge against your mother?
-No. Even though she gave me...

Even before I was born she gave
me to my grandmother.

-Why did she do that?
-I really don't know.

We were 1 2

but she only gave me away.

Not even...

-You remember your father?
-Yes, I do.

I adored him.
Not just because he was killed.

I adore my mother too.
I bear no grudge... really.

I adore her. When she comes...

Will you now go back to the world?
Will you see everybody again?

Yes. I will go back to the world.
The neighbors know now...

Everyone knows I'm in
Rio Grande do Norte.

I'll get in touch with my friends,

find my kids, my parents...

-Will you visit your parents?
-Yes,

and especially because of my
children.

I know they're out there. I've got
to get to know them.

-The neighbors didn't know?
-They knew nothing.

Dad thinks I'm overseas or dead.

-Why did you come here?
-For work.

-Where did you work?
-I worked...

I forget the name of the street.
Here in Caxias.

I was pregnant when I came.

My firstborn's now 1 0.

-You came with him?
-I was pregnant.

-He was born here?
-Yes.

I was well-off at the beginning.

I even had a car, jewelry,
everything.

Then the man I was living with...
You went there...

Manoel lives in Felizardo Fortes St,
number 66.

I lived with him for 10 years.
I have 3 kids by him.

Then he acted up. We couldn't go
on with it.

We separated and I came here
penniless.

But, it doesn't matter.

-And the children?
-I have 4.

Santa Clara Faculty of Medicine.

Capital of the province of
Las Villas in Cuba.

December, 1981.

Isaac Telxeira is in the 5th year of
Medicine.

Film shot at our request by a
Cuban film crew.

What I remember about Brazil
and my father's struggles

is that it was about 20 years ago.

At that time
the peasant leagues began

and my father had to...

was committed to working in the
Northeast

where he founded

and worked for the Sape League.

I think he was a pioneer

of the peasant leagues.

And it had great repercussions.

His struggle and his death...

Everyone

thinks highly of a peasant

a simple man dedicating his life

to the struggle of the Brazlilan
people.

Jose Eudes.
Do you know him?

Yes, I do.

-Could you call him?
-Certainly. Follow me.

He's the watchman here, right?

You from Educational TV or from
Giobo Network?

No. Movies. It's a report but for
a film.

By Avenida Brasil, Rio de Janeiro.

The warehouse of an engineering
company.

May, 1982. 1 year and 3 months
after filming Elizabeth.

-Who's Mr Coutinho? Excuse me.
-It's me, it's me.

Only you come in. I want to talk
to you.

pleased to meet you. Jose Eudes.

Only he comes in. Excuse me.

I want to talk to him in private.

Take it, please.

After a long talk and a few
demands

Jose Eudes Telxeira agreed to be
filmed. But outside.

-Do you remember your parents?
-No.

No.

Who ralsed you?

An uncle who I call Dad.
His name's Eudes.

He's my uncle, but I call him Dad.

You were 4 when your father
died?

-And you remember nothing?
-Nothing.

Honestly, I can't remember
anything.

But you remember your mother?
You were 6 in 1964.

No. I don't remember her.

I know her from these photos.
I didn't recognize her.

-Would you like to see her?
-I miss her very much.

When I got her first letter, I cried.

I couldn't remember her.

I called mother the aunt who
raised me.

I still consider her my mother.

My mother had to disappear
when they killed my father...

so none of us were baptized.

So my godparents baptized me
and brought me up.

I have 4 brothers I don't know.

Paulo, Abraham, Isaac...

and Carlos.
I don't know Carlos either.

-Don't you know Paulo?
-No.

-Why?
-Because... Paulo...

When I was there he went to
Nazare da Mata with my uncle.

So I never knew him either.

-What does he do now?
-He's a driver for a company.

And he's married.

My brother went to his place.

He said Paulo is upset with the
whole family thing.

He said he drinks a lot and is very
angry.

Me too... I used to live with
a woman

and she said: " You're different
from everyone else."

I don't know... Sometimes I just
don't speak to anyone.

My family history makes me so
angry.

Olaria, a district of Rio de Janeiro.

Film shot on the same day as
Jose Eudes. May, 1982.

Does Mrs Marinez live here?

Yes, but I don't know if she's in.

Could you see for me, please?

pity. The window's closed.

-What? like this?
-No. It's very simple.

-How are you?
-Fine.

-How lovely. What's his name?
-Rodrigo. And Elana.

-Are they both yours?
-Yes.

-How long have you been in Rio?
-7 years.

Why did you come? Why did you
move?

-Marta sent for me.
-Did she?

I lived with an uncle.
She sent for me.

-You remember your mother?
-No, have never seen.

I've only seen her in one of
Marta's photos.

-Don't you remember your father?
-Never seen him.

-You were 8 months old...
-3 months.

-Would you like to see her?
-Of course.

-Or do you feel hurt?
-Hurt? No.

Not at all.

-Did she write to you?
-Yes. She's written twice.

This is the first one.

Would you read a bit?

You say you don't know where
you came from.

You came from the love between
me and your father.

Of course I'm so glad you're coming.

I asked her if I could go
and see her.

That's what I want, to meet

all my children

and be with you all. Thanks
to the political liberalization

I can now see all my children again.

I wasn't able to live with,
raise and love you.

Destiny was against it. It must be
as God wills.

But I shall be

so happy just to have one day go
get all my children

together again.

The filming we did in St Rafael

in February, 1981

meant the end of Elizabeth's
reclusion.

After she was filmed, she was no
longer Marta

but Elizabeth once again.

-You take in washing, Elizabeth?
-Yes.

What else do you earn a living?

Washing dishes in a bar.

And I teach the kids.

-4 times 1 .
-4.

-4 times 2.
-8.

-4 times 3.
-1 2.

-4 times 4.
-1 6.

-4 times 5.
-20.

-4 times 6.
-24.

-4 times 7.
-28.

-4 times 8.
-32.

The neighbors knew nothing.

What was their reaction?

They looked for photos, tried to
find out who I was.

I said I lived in Recife and worked

as a maid,
that it hadn't worked out

and I had moved to the backlands.
That's what I told them.

-Are they glad to know now?
-Yes, they are.

Did you enjoy the film about
Elizabeth?

It's very important because
Marta...

I mean Elizabeth,
had a very sad past.

Many things were really very sad.

Now you know, has she changed?

She's the same old Elizabeth,
my friend.

Who else wants to speak?

When she arrived here

she was my neighbor first.

We've always been great friends.

My Zorro was her first pupil.

And for me,
she's just like a mother.

Did you think she
only had one child?

-What did you know about her?
-Nothing, when she arrived.

Where did you think she'd come from?

From Jucurutu.

She'd come from Jucurutu.

-Thought she had just one child?
-Yes, I did.

-Are they all your friends?
-Yes. All good friends.

She was my nextdoor neighbor.

We really felt for her and her
suffering.

We say she seemed sort of sad.

But she said nothing except that
her husband

was dead... had been murdered,
and she had other children.

But that she never saw them.

We saw something awful had
happened to her.

We wished her happiness since
she is such a nice person.

We're going to miss her.

RURAL WORKER'S UNION OF
ST RAFAEL

He's the Union chairman.

We talked a lot

about the Union

and its present activities.

We also talked about the people
in Vale do Azu

and how they'll be compensated

when they have to leave.

He knows more about it as he's
the Chairman.

St Rafael is a dying town.

The National Department Against
Drought

is carrying out an irrigation
scheme

and is building a dam.

The water will cover the whole area.

As they have no deeds, the small
landowners

will receive what they consider
poor compensation.

The local Union is heading the fight.

Elizabeth helps you?

She advises me from what she
has suffered

and I advise her.
We've talked a lot about it.

Did you know she was Elizabeth?

-Yes, I knew.
-For how long?

For about a year, since we got to
know each other better.

-Did you know who Joao Pedro was?
-Certainly.

-Who was he?
-A great leader.

-Where from?
-From Paralba. From Sape.

She telling me about what she
went through...

and me backing her up...

I understood what all persecuted
Union leaders suffer

from landowners and the
authorities in Brazil.

Well, let's get our things together

and say goodbye.

I thought I'd never see you again
and our friends.

But now... I see my house...

old friends visit me...

and that's really wonderful for me.

I never gave in,
never gave up the struggle.

What I did was the only way.

We must thank our President

for giving us the honor to be able

to talk and speak and see our
children and parents

and all our relatives.

You really caught me close
to tears. I'm really moved...

It was 16 years. Abraham hadn't
been here.

Never had the chance.

I was moved.

I never expected it.

He called up and said he was
coming.

The girl heard and said he was
coming with

another brother, then Carlos,
3 brothers coming.

When he got here he said:
"Carlos is here."

" No, Mom, Coutinho's here and
the reporter people."

I said, " I wonder what's happening."
I was... really moved.

-Was the report good?
-Yes, very good.

I'm sorry I couldn't help.
I can't help, but...

it certainly touched me.

-See you soon.
-Are you really going?

-Yes, we must be going.
-I hope everything was OK.

The fight goes on. The same
needs as in 1964

are still with us.
They haven't budged.

The workman, the peasant,
the student have the same needs.

The fight goes on while there is
hunger and poor wages.

Who wouldn't fight for better
days? You must fight.

Whoever has the good life,
let him keep out of it.

I have suffered, I have to fight
and I dare to say

the regime must be changed.
We must fight while

this so-called democracy,
this hunger exists.

-Democracy without freedom...
-Wages of hunger and misery?

While workmen's sons have no
right to study.

like now, when I...

when the kids pay I don't know what.
But no one can.

A month later Elizabeth left
St Rafael to live in Patos

with Abraham and Carlos.

Until June 1983, when this text
was written

Elizabeth had only seen
2 of her other 8 children:

Nevinha and Joao Pedro Jr,
in Sape.

We last filmed Joao Virginio in his
yard

on Carnival Sunday, 1981.

10 months later he died of a
heart attack in the same place.

He was buried in Victoria
cemetery

next to Zeze from Galilea.

1964 Crew

1981-83 Crew

Translation revised by
Carlos Roberto de Souza

Translation coordination
HBO BRASIL LTDA.