Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Brazil, 1972, 35mm, 100 min., Portuguese w/ English subtitles
Based on the poem “Romanceiro da Inconfidência” (1953) by Cecilia Meireles, The Conspirators tells the story of the uprising known as the “Inconfidência Mineira,” Brazil’s first attempt at independence from Portugal. When the coup was suppressed, only one of the conspirators – Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (aka Tiradentes) – refused to throw himself on the mercy of the Portuguese crown, becoming a martyr and a mythic figure as a result. Filmed at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship, The Conspirators traces Tiradentes’ rise and fall, drawing veiled but clear connections between the country’s past and present.
