Top 10 Movies from Brazil

The Top 10 Movies from Brazil is a selection of the most voted movies from IMDB. Is your favourite Brazilian movie on the list?

1. Cidade de Deus (2002)
2. Tropa de Elite (2007)
3. Central do Brasil (1998)
4. Carandiru (2003)
5. O Beijo da Mulher Aranha (1985)
   (best known as Kiss of the Spider Woman)
6. Cidade dos Homens (2007)
7. Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora É Outro (2010)
8. Orfeu Negro (1959)
9. Abril Despedaçado (2001)
10. O Homem Que Copiava (2003)

How we built the list

The initial  list was created by searching Brazil as Country of Origin and Portuguese language (http://www.imdb.com/search/title?countries=br&languages=pt&sort=num_votes).  Then, we had to refine the list as many movies are coproduced between countries or directors and actors are mostly from other nationalities.

The criteria used to determine the “nationality” of a movie are:

• Country of origin (production).
• Language (in this case Portuguese).
• Nationality of the director and majority of the cast.
• Topic

Some movies are still difficult to classify. That is the case of Kiss of the Spider Woman (O Beijo da Mulher Aranha) (1985): coproduction between Brazil and the United States; directed by Hector Babenco (born in Argentina but Brazilian resident); main roles played by William Hurt (USA), Raul Julia (Puerto Rico) and Sonia Braga (Brazil). Although there is a clear Brazilian presence and the story happens in a South American prison, most movie lovers wouldn’t consider it a Brazilian film. Because many online sources classify it as a Brazilian movie, we decided to include Kiss of the Spider Woman in the list.

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