Four Days in September ("O Que É Isso, Companheiro?") is a 1997 film from Brazil, directed by Bruno Barreto.
It is based on a Real Life terrorist kidnapping that happened in 1969. As the opening titles explain, in 1964 a right-wing military junta took over in Brazil, and in 1968 said junta assumed full authoritarian control, eliminating freedom of speech and of the press.
Fernando is a young left-wing radical who feels compelled to move beyond protests and speech-making and into direct action. He joins the Revolutionary Movement of 8th October (MR-8), a paramilitary group, and takes the code name "Paulo". Soon, "Paulo" is involved in a bank robbery that gets his friend Cesar shot and captured by the police.
MR-8 gets away with a large haul of money from the bank robbery, but little else, and specifically no publicity as state-run media won't report the story. Fernando realizes that the group must pull a caper that punches through the wall of media censorship, something the authorizes won't be able to cover up.
His idea: kidnap the American ambassador. So they do just that, ambushing Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick (Alan Arkin) and whisking him away to a safe house. MR-8 issues a communique in which they demand the release of 15 political prisoners in return for the release of the ambassador. Will their demands be met, or will the police track them down? And will Fernando/Paulo, who begins to form a tentative friendship with Ambassador Elbrick, be able to kill him, if it comes to that?
Fisher Stevens has a small part as Mowinkel, one of the staffers at the embassy.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: In their final meeting, Maria desperately tries to take some comfort in the fact that a Brazilian pop singer mentioned a dissident's name in a song. Fernando the realist pours cold water on that, saying that nobody cares and they didn't actually accomplish anything.
- As You Know: When Cesar expresses skepticism of Fernando's talk of radical action, Fernando says "The pretty-boy actor is afraid!", telling the audience what Cesar does for a living. This sets up a later scene where Fernando bumps into Cesar while the latter is leaving a dress rehearsal of A Doll's House.
- Based on a True Story: A fictionalized re-telling of the September 1969 kidnapping of Ambassador Charles Elbrick. The end titles mention that a mass amnesty was given out in 1979 for political crimes without mentioning what happened to Fernando. The real Fernando Gabeira returned from exile after the amnesty and continued his activism (and, after this movie, got elected to the Brazilian parliament).
- Bittersweet Ending: The revolutionaries achieve their goals when the government folds and releases the 15 prisoners, and Ambassador Elbrick is sent home alive. But two of their members are dead, Maria's been left in a wheelchair, and they're all being kicked out of the country. And there's a suggestion that the whole escapade was All for Nothing as political change didn't come to Brazil until many years later.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: It's not a wedding dress, but the effect is the same. As the gang watches the first news bulletins about the kidnapping, Renee is shown holding the Ambassador's crisp white dress shirt, which has a bright red bloodstain from the cut on his head he suffered during the kidnapping.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: State Sec practices it, even as Henrique worries that it's discrediting the government and fomenting the very revolution they're trying to stop. Water torture (dunking) on Cesar gets him to reveal the code names of the rest of the gang. Fernando is being hung upside down at the end of the movie. Whatever the cops did offscreen to Maria left her a paraplegic.
- Conversation Cut: There's a cut from Fernando and his lefty friends talking about the moon landing, to Ambassador Elbrick hosting a viewing party where his friends are watching the moon landing. Mowinkel makes a sarcastic comment about the Apollo project as a show of American might that is similar to what Fernando and his lefty friends are saying.
- Distant Finale: The last scene, set eight months after Fernando and Maria were arrested, shows them being released from prison and sent into exile after a different group kidnapped the German ambassador. Maria has been rendered a paraplegic after being tortured by the authorities.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Jonas does this when putting a gun to Elbrick's head and demanding that he reveal who in the American embassy works for the CIA.
- Establishing Character Moment: How do we know that Fernando is a left-wing radical? Because when he sits and watches the moon landing in July 1969, he carps that it's American imperialism under a different guise.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Fernando's face is dramatically framed in shadow when Elbrick first gets a look at him, when Fernando bursts into the room with a gun because he thinks the cops might be outside.
- Faux Action Girl: Maria, the leader of the MR-8 cell that Fernando joins. She comes off as a badass, running all the newbies through target shooting practice and talking a big game about the need for radical action. However, as the last few hours before the 10 pm deadline tick away, she becomes much more vulnerable and hesitant, wondering if they've gone too far. Not only does she have sex with Fernando in a Pre-Climax Climax need for emotional comfort, she tells him her real name (Andreia). Late in the film she bursts into tears at the thought that the kidnapping was All for Nothing.
- Honey Pot: Renee, the sexy young new member of MR-8, who puts the moves on the head of security at the embassy. She manages to get him to reveal some important info, like how the Ambassador typically doesn't use a security detail and how his limo doesn't fly an American flag.
- The Horseshoe Effect: Discussed Trope. Cesar, who has figured out that Fernando is part of the MR-8 gang and thinks little of MR-8's style, tells Fernando that he and his group are basically just the same as the right-wing junta they're fighting.
- Police Are Useless: An observant older woman sees the MR-8 gang lingering suspiciously on a street corner, calls the cops, and tells them that there are some fishy people outside her window clearly up to no good. The cops blow her off.
- Pre-Climax Climax: The looming deadline which will end in either MR-8 getting what it wants, or MR-8 killing the ambassador, leads Fernando and Maria to finally have sex.
- Questioning Title?: Only in the original Portuguese, "O Que É Isso, Companheiro?", which was the title of Fernando Gabeira's memoir. It means "What is this, friend?".
- Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Discussed Trope. Jonas and Tomas, the two veteran terrorist leaders brought in to help MR-8, worry that the soft college kids in the gang are not going to be pretty good terrorists. Tomas winds up cooking Spanish rice, complaining all the while that the lazy students don't know how to cook. This turns out to be plot-relevant, as the cops get a lead and find the safe house because a shop keeper reports a suspicious order of fast food in bulk.
- State Sec: One of the supporting characters, Henrique, is an actual member of State Sec, mainly Brazil's National Intelligence Service. He's ridden with guilt, cringing at his girlfriend's horror when he tells her what he does, and telling a coworker that he's been plagued with nightmares after torturing "terrorists" who are mostly dumb college kids.
- Stock Footage: At the beginning, stock footage of anti-government street protests. Near the end, stock footage of a big Brazilian soccer match on Independence Day 1969; MR-8 releases Elbrick in the crowd outside the stadium.
- Voiceover Letter: How Elbrick's proof-of-life letter to his wife is presented, when she finally reads it.
