Bog of Beasts

Baixio das Bestas, a small and remote village in Brazil, has retained its customs and its secular culture despite the encroachments of modern life. Cicero, a young man from the area, returns from the city where he is studying and spends his days idling around with a bunch of friends, playing tricks on local residents. Until the day he sets eyes on Auxiliadora, a young girl in the village. From then on, he can think of nothing else, and wants her above all things. However, the young woman lives with her grandfather who believes that in this decadent era it is an essential duty to protect his granddaughter’s virtue. He feels that to preserve her virginity the ends justify the means, even if it involves violating her privacy and seeing the tiniest things as a challenge to his authority. The inevitable confrontation between Cicero and the grandfather takes place on a public holiday, in front of the young Auxiliadora… –Locarno Film Festival