In Rio de Janeiro, the executive Murilo (Paulo Cesar Pereio) is a successful businessman, having an unhappy marriage with Renata and the nine years old daughter Ana with her. He has a love affair with Laura (Kate Lyra), the wife of Miguel, a young man climbing in the political career and having two children with him. Murilo and Laura seems to love each other and are blackmailed through compromising pictures by an unknown man, but Murilo refuses to pay any money for the negatives. Then, his daughter Ana is kidnapped by the same guy, and the chief of police Machado is in charge of the investigation. After his investigation, he realizes that the kidnapper was the homosexual hairdresser Nestor, having Renata as a partner. Meanwhile, the marriage of Laura and Miguel ends due to the scandal and Miguel travels with their children away from Laura. However, a criminal (Antonio Augusto) kills Nestor and Renata, and asks for ransom to Murilo. Murilo pays the large amount for retrieving his daughter.
I found this used VHS for sale in a rental and based on the information on the cover that the movie was awarded in 'Festival de Lages' (a minor Brazilian festival of cinema), and having Paulo Cesar Pereio and Kate Lyra in the cast, I decided to buy it. What a great surprise! The very realistic story of Rubem Fonseca, having betrayal, crime, thriller and drama is indeed a great unknown movie. The film I watched has subtitles in Spanish and is destined 'For Export'. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): 'A Extorsão' ('The Extortion')
