Conterrneos velhos de guerra

Developed over a thirty year period, the film highlights the utopian project of the construction of Brasilia, supposed to have been completed within five years, and finally finished only in 1960. Led by unrealistic enthusiasts, the project attracted peasants from the Northeast and other underprivileged areas, to whom one promised a sure livelihood and a city that would be theirs. But the utopia quickly became a nightmare for the workers – the enormity of the job itself, accidents caused by the deadline imposed, rebellion, killings. Today, the promised happiness is lived out in slums on the outskirts of Brazilia. Its expension has allowed promoters to push the workers even further from a city that was once to have belonged to them.