Olhos Azuis

I was involved in this trama from beginning to the end... almost didn't blinked! Great story amazing cast. Congratulations to all involved!

Eu fikei envolvida na trama do início ao fim... quase sem piscar! Um super roteiro e um super elenco. Parabéns à tds os envolvidos!

"There are worse things than death, living too long." A wonderful film, and one that is rarely portrayed, such as the humiliation that Latinos, Arabs, and Afro-descendants go through in American immigration (thank God I didn't have that misfortune), a multilingual, lovely, realistic, sincere, dramatic and tragic film... Irandhir Santos, Cristina Lago and David Rasche are very good and José Joffily does an excellent job directing... A topic that is so in vogue, especially after the changes in legislation made by Trump now in 2025.

On his last day of work before mandatory retirement, Marshall, an American immigration officer, arbitrarily detains Latino passengers inside a room at a New York airport. There, he conducts interrogations that expose them to various humiliations, which take a tragic turn. The main target is Nonato, a Brazilian living in the USA. Two years after this episode, the former officer crosses the backlands of the state of Pernambuco, hoping to find peace of mind. However, he realizes that disappointment and helplessness are the only feelings that accompany him.

I have used IMDb for many years, but never bothered to make an account. But Olhos Azuis is such an incredibly good movie that I had to make a review, hoping that this will help more people to get to know this film.

I borrowed the DVD from a friend, but was sceptical and thought it might be some mediocre low-budget movie. But man, was I wrong!

The cast is just great, all lead characters (and the rest as well) are played very convincingly. At times funny, at times very tough, this movie really left a mark on me. Its main topics are racism and abuse of power - which might sound a little boring - but believe me, you will get totally sucked into the action - and the political messages of it are IMHO very important in this the era of the American Empire ;)

I am sure that if the movie wasn't so critical of the USA, it would have gotten a lot more attention in the media (outside of Brazil). As most of the dialogue is in English, you don't have to be Brazilian to understand it. So, do yourself a favour and watch this moving and utterly interesting movie if you get the chance!

I've watched with vivid interest this movie, which I stumbled upon by pure chance. Three things caught my eye and attention: it talked about a theme which is usually left aside by commercial film makers, and second, because it involved people from Brazil, country where I live. I have been to the US as a visitor and I noticed some hidden or open hostility against foreigners, especially Latins. It's certainly no coincidence that kind of treatment, taking into account that we, Latins, are the last group in social and economic terms in American society. That perception is well shown in the movie. The 'integrated' Latin is the one who was born in the US, all the others are seen as intruders, most usually. That's also shown in the movie, which also depicts well the personal character of authority: people in charge of public jobs may often allow personal beliefs and perceptions interfere in their action. The third thing I noticed immediately is that the acting was very convincing and well-performed, although in some moments the script and its situations are difficult to be put on stage. It's, in my view, a good movie, which talks about an important and relevant situation.

A person with some experience in watching movies (any sort of movies)

can grasp the whole plot in the first ten minutes.

The screenplay is painfully schematic. There is the blue-eyed badly resolved character of an immigration officer, the refined but dishonest Argentine couple, the (of course !) patriotic Cuban girl, the silly uneducated group of generic Latin-Americans, the poor Brazilian prostitute, etc...

Characters are just silly, sociology awfully simplified. The message seems, unfortunately, as moralistic as one can find in one of those fairytale books people read for three year old children: everybody is equal, but Americans are bad equals, in particular, rednecks. Ridiculous, to say the least.

Just the same old (and bad) Soviet realism that curses Brazilian arts. I guess it can possibly have some sort of impact on a 13 year old reader of Las Venas Abiertas De La America Latina, but if you are (mentally) older than that it is just not worth your time.