Terra Estrangeira

Terra Estrangeira is an engrossing, grainy black-and-white thriller made in the best film noir tradition. It is 1990, and Brazil’s newly elected president, Fernando Collor, has frozen all personal savings accounts. Young Brazilians, fearing a bleak future, leave the country in droves. Among them is Alex, who would rather eke out an existence as a waitress in Portugal than remain in São Paolo.

Paco, meanwhile, dreams of travelling abroad, and when his mother dies, he no longer has anything keeping him in Brazil. Accepting a delivery job from a shady businessman, Paco heads off to Lisbon. When things go wrong, Paco finds himself thrown together with Alex. The two end up on the run with a violin full of uncut diamonds, and an underworld honcho on their trail.