In 1963, in the village of Milagres in a very poor area of Brazil, a group of soldiers arrive to protect the store of a politician from a group of starving people. They have rifles for guarding the food and avoid the sacking by the population. One of the soldiers, completely drunken, kills a local in a dispute with his colleagues for killing a goat. The truck driver Gaúcho (Átila Iório) revolts against the passivity of a father that has just lost his little daughter, who died of starvation, and the pacific population that only prays and follows a preacher, and fights against the soldiers.

When a construction worker falls to his death due to a deliberate laxness in safety regulations, the construction foreman's son-in-law attempts to get some compensation from the construction company for the man's widow. Instead, he runs into obstruction after obstruction. This impassioned indictment of the fraternity of greed won the Silver Bear Award (second prize) at the 1978 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

六年后，圭雷拉在新电影运动的顶峰时期拍摄的又一部现实主义杰作，这部影片为他第一次获得了柏林电影节最佳导演金熊奖。

Vava是里约城里一个穿着时髦的花花公子，整天无所事事，到处闲逛，靠自己一个有钱的富商叔父供济过日。突然某天叔父打电话来说不管他了，失去所有经济来源的Vava立刻从花钱如流水变得一文不值，于是他心生邪念，找来刚结识的另一小混混Jandir，密谋绑架叔父的情妇Leda，然后拍她的裸照去勒索一笔钱。结果在海滩上他们拍完后，身心受辱的Leda告诉他们自己的声誉根本没人会关心，她可以帮他们骗来富商的亲生女儿Vilma，拍Vilma的裸照拿去要挟绝对更有用，于是他们又开始了一场新的计划，不过接下来故事的发展却远远超出了你我惯常的想象，四个人居然陷入了一场复杂的感情游戏之中，而最后的结局出人意料