Francisco Brasileiro

Meant principally for a sympathetic audience, whether Catholic or not, this routine story about a priest's receiving the call to the cloth may be a bit slow and theatrical for some viewers. Directed by Lima Barreto, the tale is told in a series of flashbacks as the priest remembers how he was transformed as a child into a person willing to give his life in service of the church and his God. Barreto also scripted the story, which in the end, may be too filled with religious platitudes and preachy overtones to effectively convey its message.

Camillo Mastrocinque was one of many foreigners who came to Brazil in the 1950s to make films. The director of melodramas during the Italian fascist era directed this film, Areião (Inca Film, 1952), which could have spared Maria Della Costa. The film was renamed La priggione di sabbia to compete at the Venice Film Festival, but was rejected.