400 Contra 1: Uma História do Crime Organizado

This movie has no story whatsoever. The cast is not bad, but there is a lack of investment, therefore they go back and forth, not having a story to tell... It's all about "bang bang" and curse.

Not worth even watching the trailer.

Total trash.

The movie is about the early creation of the biggest criminal organization in Brazil, the "Comando Vermelho" (Red command). The movie is inspired in the book of William da Silva, played very well by Daniel de Oliveira (Cazuza). It is an outstanding REAL story, very interesting.

Unfortunately the acting, besides Daniel and a couple of other actors, is poor, with some unknown actors that didn't convince as captain Werneck.

There are also other problems such as the confusing editing, coming back an forth between 1980 and 1970 too many times, complicating the understanding of the movie.

Another flaw is the prison. There are three groups in the jail, and each group had too many characters and they all had the same appearance, so that the spectator has difficulties in distinguishing the gangs. And sometimes one gang member murders another and we don't know the reasons nor which gang was fighting other gang.

Some prisoners are killed by the guards while trying to escape, and another, Baiano, for the same reason only has his head shaved, and the movie makes it a huge punishment. (I prefer bald then dead.) This sequence is terrible, as is the one when other gang members with bald heads protest in the refectory.

The budget is not 400 million, it is incorrect in this site.

Concluding: They had the chance of making a great movie, with an amazing story but made only an average film.

It's hard to follow the story and sometimes you're under the impression that there's something wrong, since you can't really connect the different pieces to build something coherent.

It's built on top of a number of stereotypes, it narrates an important period of Brazilian history without the proper attention that it deserves.

I'm amazed to see that such a bad movie might have cost around BRL 478mi, which is as off today around US$ 288mi. Worst than that is the fact that most of it might have come from public funds.

There's a number of interesting Brazilian movies out there that you should be watching before you spend your time with this one.