Santo and Jesus, Metalworkers (1983)

Overview

From its very title, Cláudio Kahns and Antônio Paulo Ferraz's Santo e Jesus, Metalúrgicos is crystal clear about where it stands and about its messianic flair. Through a wordplay with the religious connotation of the names of the two men, murdered during the worker strikes of the late 1970s in São Paulo, it associates sainthood and Christ himself with the working class. That association is reaffirmed throughout the film, from the very beginning, including by a priest. The martyrdom of metalworkers Nelson Pereira de Jesus and Santo Dias da Silva is the starting point to denounce the working conditions faced by factory workers, and the repression which ensues whenever they try to resist them. However, the film also presents us with the 'official' version of the facts, going so far as to feature interviews with the man who killed Nelson. Obviously, it sides with the workers, as it conveys the strength of the oppressed and the impudence of the oppressors.