Abraccine Top 100 Brazilian films


In 2015, the published a list with the 100 best Brazilian films ever according to the votes of its members. This poll was the basis for a book named The 100 Best Brazilian Films, published in 2016. The idea of the ranking and the book was suggested by publisher Letramento, with whom Abraccine and television network co-released the book. The ranking was done based on individual lists done by Abraccine's 100 critics, who initially mentioned 379 films. The full list was first made available to the public on 26 November 2015, and the book was released on 1 September 2016.
The list covers almost all decades between the 1930s and the 2010s, the only exception being the 1940s. A 1931 film, Mário Peixoto's Limite, is the oldest one and also the first ranked, while the most recent film is from 2015, Anna Muylaert's The Second Mother. The chanchada is represented by Carlos Manga's O Homem do Sputnik, while there is a plethora of 1960–1970s films, including Cinema Novo and films. Almost one third of the films were from the Retomada period, and the list included not only feature films but also documentaries and short films. Cinema Novo director Glauber Rocha is the filmmaker with the most films in the list: five; followed by Rogério Sganzerla, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Héctor Babenco and Carlos Reichenbach, each with four films.

Release

The Brazilian Film Critics Association was founded in 2011, and since then it has been considered one of the best institutions of cinema criticism. As such, there was a long-time demand for Abraccine to release such a list. The list was done after a suggestion of the publisher Letramento. In September 2015, Abraccine and Letramento started to work on a book about the world best films that eventually became about the best Brazilian films only. At first, 379 works were mentioned when all Abraccine's associated critics—more than 100—were asked to send a ranked list of their 25 best films. There was no specific criteria or guideline for these individual lists, each critic freely deciding their list. The final result of the poll was first made available to the public on 26 November 2015. The first list included Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's Conjugal Warfare and Hugo Carvana's Bar Esperanza tied in the last position; after a recount of the votes, Selton Mello's The Clown replaced them. When the book was released, during the Gramado Film Festival on 1 September 2016, some other changes in the ranking order were done.
The book, titled The 100 Best Brazilian Films, was the first publication of Abraccine, and was done in a joint venture with Letramento and television network. Edited by Abraccine's then president Paulo Henrique Silva, the 440-page work contained essays on each film selected. Prior to its release, the association did a research and concluded that only 5% of the Brazilian population watched Brazilian films regularly and most of them did not read film criticism. So, the book was published to draw attention to the importance of the Brazilian cinema and film criticism in a moment Brazilian media "depleted" such discussion, according to Silva. To promote the release of the book, twelve of the selected films were broadcast, in no particular order, on a special timeslot of Canal Brasil between 12 September 2016 and 15 November 2016. Two films aired each week, the first one being Anselmo Duarte's O Pagador de Promessas and the last being Cláudio Assis' Mango Yellow.

Content

The list features films of almost all decades from the 1930s to the 2010s, except for the 1940s. The oldest films in the list were Mário Peixoto's Limite, Humberto Mauro's Ganga Bruta, and Lima Barreto's O Cangaceiro, the first being also the first placed; the newest films were Anna Muylaert's The Second Mother, Fernando Coimbra's A Wolf at the Door, and Hilton Lacerda's Tattoo. The 1960s films placed high and seven were in the top 10. From the 1960s, there was a constant presence of Cinema Novo films, which were three—Glauber Rocha's Black God, White Devil and Entranced Earth, and Nelson Pereira dos Santos' Barren Lives —of the top 5. was also frequent on the list; its representants, Rogério Sganzerla, Júlio Bressane and Ozualdo Candeias had more than one film in the list. 30 films of the Retomada period feature in the list; however, Fernando Meirelles' City of God is the only to be among the top 10. On the other hand, only one chanchada, Carlos Manga's O Homem do Sputnik, appeared on the list, and no pornochanchada was mentioned.
The most cited director was Rocha, whose works appeared five times in the list. At first, Sganzerla, dos Santos, Héctor Babenco, Carlos Reichenbach, and Pedro de Andrade appeared with four films each. However, the latter was demoted to three films when Conjugal Warfare was removed from the list after a recount. There were only four films directed solely by a woman in the list: Suzana Amaral's Hour of the Star, Muylaert's The Second Mother; Laís Bodanzky's Brainstorm, and Ana Carolina's Sea of Roses.
In addition to feature films, the list also included documentary films—among them, Eduardo Coutinho's Twenty Years Later —and short films, such as Jorge Furtado's Isle of Flowers, Rocha's Di, and Linduarte Noronha's Aruanda.

Reception

Although noted that this kind of list always create some polemic, s Gabriel Oliveira praised the list for its plurality. Ernesto Barros of Recife's opined the list could be wider if outsiders and scholars were invited, but nevertheless considered it to be a good sample of the best of the Brazilian cinema. Writing for, Renato Félix thought the selection method was the "most democratic" one but also said it made impossible to conscious avoid overrepresentation of directors and movements; ultimately, Félix considered it an important publication because it was a good way to determine how Brazilian critics perceived its eras. Enock Cavalcanti did not give an opinion about the list content but commented in Diário de Cuiabá that the list itself should be praised as an effort to overcome the cultural prejudice Brazilian people have toward its on cinema.

List

RankTitleYearDirector
1Limite1931Mário Peixoto
2Black God, White Devil1964Glauber Rocha
3Barren Lives1963Nelson Pereira dos Santos
4Twenty Years Later1984Eduardo Coutinho
5Entranced Earth1967Glauber Rocha
6The Red Light Bandit1968Rogério Sganzerla
7São Paulo, Sociedade Anônima1965Luis Sérgio Person
8City of God2002Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund
9O Pagador de Promessas1962Anselmo Duarte
10Macunaíma1969Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
11Central Station1998Walter Salles
12Pixote1981Héctor Babenco
13Isle of Flowers1989Jorge Furtado
14They Don't Wear Black Tie1981Leon Hirszman
15Neighboring Sounds2012Kleber Mendonça Filho
16To the Left of the Father2001Luiz Fernando Carvalho
17Playing2007Eduardo Coutinho
18Bye Bye Brazil1979Carlos Diegues
19Assault on the Pay Train1962Roberto Farias
20S. Bernardo1972Leon Hirszman
21'1974Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna
22Men and Women1964Walter Hugo Khouri
23The Guns1964Ruy Guerra
24Ganga Bruta1933Humberto Mauro
25Bang Bang1971Andrea Tonacci
26The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga1968Roberto Santos
27Rio, 100 Degrees F.1955Nelson Pereira dos Santos
28'2002Eduardo Coutinho
29Memoirs of Prison1984Nelson Pereira dos Santos
30Elite Squad2007José Padilha
31The Priest and the Girl1965Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
32The Hills of Disorder2006Andrea Tonacci
33Santiago2007João Moreira Salles
34Antonio das Mortes1969Glauber Rocha
352010José Padilha
36The Trespasser2002Beto Brant
37All the Women in the World1967Domingos de Oliveira
38Killed the Family and Went to the Movies1969Júlio Bressane
39Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands1976Bruno Barreto
40The Unscrupulous Ones1962Ruy Guerra
41O Homem do Sputnik1959Carlos Manga
42Hour of the Star1985Suzana Amaral
43Sem Essa, Aranha1970Rogério Sganzerla
44SuperOutro1989Edgard Navarro
45Filme Demência1986Carlos Reichenbach
46At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul1964José Mojica Marins
47Foreign Land1996Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas
48The Woman of Everyone1969Rogério Sganzerla
49Rio, Northern Zone1957Nelson Pereira dos Santos
50Buccaneer Soul1993Carlos Reichenbach
51The Margin1967Ozualdo Candeias
52All Nudity Shall Be Punished1973Arnaldo Jabor
53Madame Satã2000Karim Aïnouz
54The Deceased1965Leon Hirszman
55Awakening of the Beast1969José Mojica Marins
56Everything's Alright1978Arnaldo Jabor
57The Age of the Earth1980Glauber Rocha
58Behind the Sun2001Walter Salles
59The Grand Moment1958Roberto Santos
60A Wolf at the Door2013Fernando Coimbra
61Kiss of the Spider Woman1985Héctor Babenco
62O Homem que Virou Suco1980João Batista de Andrade
63A Dog's Will1999Guel Arraes
64The Bandit1953Lima Barreto
65The Lyre of Delight1978Walter Lima Jr.
66Case of the Naves Brothers1967Luis Sérgio Person
67Bus 1742002José Padilha
68The Angel Was Born1969Júlio Bressane
69Meu Nome É...Tonho1969Ozualdo Candeias
70Suely in the Sky2006Karim Aïnouz
71The Second Mother2015Anna Muylaert
72Brainstorm2001Laís Bodanzky
73Tattoo2013Hilton Lacerda
74Estômago: A Gastronomic Story2010Marcos Jorge
75Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures2005Marcelo Gomes
76Perfumed Ball1997Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira
77Go Ahead, Brazil!1982Roberto Farias
78Lucio Flavio1976Héctor Babenco
79Traveller1999Paulo César Saraceni
80Anjos do Arrabalde1987Carlos Reichenbach
81Sea of Roses1977Ana Carolina
82The Land of São Saruê1971Vladimir Carvalho
83That Damned Meat1985André Klotzel
84Sergeant Getulio1983Hermanno Penna
85Mango Yellow2002Cláudio Assis
86Inocência1983Walter Lima Jr.
87Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões1981J. B. Tanko
88Di1977Glauber Rocha
89The Conspirators1972Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
90Cabaret Mineiro1980Carlos Alberto Prates Correia
91This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse1966José Mojica Marins
92Carandiru2003Héctor Babenco
93A Summer Rain1977Carlos Diegues
94Dois Córregos1999Carlos Reichenbach
95Aruanda1960Linduarte Noronha
96Blá Blá Blá1968Andrea Tonacci
97The Clown2011Selton Mello
98The Sign of Chaos2003Rogério Sganzerla
99The Year My Parents Went on Vacation2006Cao Hamburger
100Meteorango Kid: Intergalactic Hero1969André Luis Oliveira

Breakdown

By director

; 5 films
; 4 films
; 3 films
; 2 films
; 28 films
; 18 films
; 15 films
; 8 films
; 7 films
; 5 films
; 4 films
;3 films
; 2 films