Abstract:
It’s the story of an illiterate Brazilian, Pedro, and his daughter, Angelica -- how they scramble to stay alive in their shanty-town and mobilize their neighbors into action. ‘Wake Up, Pretty Maria’ is the first line of a song every Brazilian knows. It was composed eighty years ago by a backwoods Robin Hood named Lampião. Pedro’s friends make it their song. They dub themselves the “Pretty Marias” and show how poor people can be extraordinary. This is about Brazil, the poverty, the politics, religions, courage, music, soccer, and there’s a smidgen of sex.