Against the Grain
Pia Angelo is a 9-year-old girl, who recently died and buried in a cemetery. Jose Angelo (Wagner Moura) is her father who is chased by the corrupt Brazilian police & eventually arrested. But just befo…
Against the Grain
Pia Angelo is a 9-year-old girl, who recently died and buried in a cemetery. Jose Angelo (Wagner Moura) is her father who is chased by the corrupt Brazilian police & eventually arrested. But just before arrest he manages to throw away one of Pia's old purses onto a garbage truck. Jose had hidden something inside the purse. The garbage truck reaches the dump site and unloads its contents. Three Brazilian Street teenagers Raphael (Rickson Tevez), Gardo (Eduardo Luis), and Rat (Jun-Jun) (Gabriel Weinstein) spend their time picking through litter in the hope of finding useful waste. They are among the hundreds of rag-pickers who work at the garbage dump who make a living off segregating trash and sorting out the useful items for recycling and other purposes. Gardo and Raphael are both 14 years old. The boys are paid less than the usual wage as they are kids. One day they discover Jose's wallet at the garbage dump. In addition to the cash, the boys find a key and an animal lottery in the wallet along with Jose Angelo's ID card. Meanwhile Jose is being tortured by the police for the contents of the wallet & eventually killed. The police want the money and the book, although it is not revealed what these refer to just yet. The police then deal with the rag-picker colony & offer R 1000 to anyone who can turn in the wallet. They say the wallet has clues to solving a crime and is hence very important. One policeman named Federico comes to the Favella and notices Raphael and Gardo, and even asks their names. Raphael does not believe the police and knows that the wallet is hiding a different secret, which he is now determined to unravel. They take the wallet to Rat. Rat is the smartest of the 3, and lives in the sewers. Raphael promises Rat an equal cut of the reward if he helps them figure out the mystery. Rat lives alone in the sewers as he has a contagious skin disease and is hence not allowed in the Favella. Rat finally figures that the key opens a railway locker. Gardo distracts the police (by robbing a lady's purse near the locker location and getting the police to chase him as he runs away) as Rat & Raphael open the locker to find a letter addressed to a prisoner at Cavo prison Joao Clemente. Clemente was lawyer and a social activist. Neither of them can read, and hence can't figure out the rest of the letter. The kids have a priest, Father Juilliard (Martin Sheen) and an NGO-worker, Olivia (Rooney Mara), who work in the rag-pickers district and are the only decent people they know of. Olivia has a laptop. Using that the guys figure out that Clemente was a lawyer and an activist, who even took to the streets to protest for the rights of the poor and the downtrodden. He was jailed by the politician Santos. Gardo wants to claim the reward, but Raphael says that he wants to meet Clemente first. Meanwhile the police are still searching for the wallet in the garbage dump. One of the inspectors Frederico Gonz (Selton Mello) gets suspicious when Raphael & Gardo don't report to work. Federico picks Raphael up & tortures him by putting him in the back seat of the police cruiser and driving wildly that tosses Raphael around in the back seat, leading to several injuries to his face and body. Meanwhile, Gardo takes Father Juilliard to look for Raphael at the local police station. The police refuse to cooperate and say that minors are not brought to that station. Federico tortures Raphael for information on the wallet, but he is stubborn and refuses to relent. Federico orders his deputies to finish him off, but they walk away when he leaves. Raphael survives. Raphael tells Rat & Gardo about the policemen talking about Santos (Stepan Nercessian). Santos is a politician in Brazil. They decide to take Olivia's help to meet Clemente by convincing her that Clemente is their brother & a lawyer & is in prison. The boys visit Santos's villa on the beach & learn from his gardener that Jose Angelo worked for Santos & stole R 10 million from him. Angelo was Santos's trusted man. He had the key to the safe. When Santos was out of town, he stuffed all the money into trash bags & stuffed it into a broken fridge (which he broke). He left with the money & a book that noted all the bribes taken and given by Santos. Meanwhile Gardo & Olivia meets Clemente. Olivia is shocked to learn that Clemente is not related to Gardo. Clemente says that Angelo was his nephew. Clemente reveals that the numbers listed in the letter are a code which will reveal the location of what Angelo had hidden. Santos finds that Olivia visited Clemente in prison & sends Federico back to the garbage dump. Federico finds Pia's wallet in Olivia's room & arrests her. The police then set fire to the dump as punishment to the entire community for not cooperating with them. The boys were close to cracking the code, which also falls in Federico's hands. The code points to the St Francis cemetery where Pia is buried. Turns out Pia is alive & hiding in the cemetery, while her casket has the R 10 million. Federico reaches the cemetery a little later than Raphael and the other boys. Federico takes control of the boys with a gun & gets them to extract the money. But Pia intervenes from her hiding spot & disables Federico. The boys run away with Pia, money & the book. The boys return to the garbage dump & secretly give some of the money to Father Julliard (along with the book), so that he can carry on his work. They throw 2/3 of the money all over the garbage dump & escape with 1/3 of the remaining money. Julliard teams with Olivia to put the details of the book on the internet, which is picked up by CNN & results in the arrest of Santos & other police officials including Federico.
Against the Grain
Drama,Romance
Film Details
Pia Angelo is a 9-year-old girl, who recently died and buried in a cemetery. Jose Angelo (Wagner Moura) is her father who is chased by the corrupt Brazilian police & eventually arrested. But just before arrest he manages to throw away one of Pia's old purses onto a garbage truck.
Jose had hidden something inside the purse. The garbage truck reaches the dump site and unloads its contents. Three Brazilian Street teenagers Raphael (Rickson Tevez), Gardo (Eduardo Luis), and Rat (Jun-Jun) (Gabriel Weinstein) spend their time picking through litter in the hope of finding useful waste.
They are among the hundreds of rag-pickers who work at the garbage dump who make a living off segregating trash and sorting out the useful items for recycling and other purposes. Gardo and Raphael are both 14 years old. The boys are paid less than the usual wage as they are kids.
One day they discover Jose's wallet at the garbage dump. In addition to the cash, the boys find a key and an animal lottery in the wallet along with Jose Angelo's ID card. Meanwhile Jose is being tortured by the police for the contents of the wallet & eventually killed.
The police want the money and the book, although it is not revealed what these refer to just yet. The police then deal with the rag-picker colony & offer R 1000 to anyone who can turn in the wallet. They say the wallet has clues to solving a crime and is hence very important.
One policeman named Federico comes to the Favella and notices Raphael and Gardo, and even asks their names. Raphael does not believe the police and knows that the wallet is hiding a different secret, which he is now determined to unravel. They take the wallet to Rat.
Rat is the smartest of the 3, and lives in the sewers. Raphael promises Rat an equal cut of the reward if he helps them figure out the mystery. Rat lives alone in the sewers as he has a contagious skin disease and is hence not allowed in the Favella.
Rat finally figures that the key opens a railway locker. Gardo distracts the police (by robbing a lady's purse near the locker location and getting the police to chase him as he runs away) as Rat & Raphael open the locker to find a letter addressed to a prisoner at Cavo prison Joao Clemente. Clemente was lawyer and a social activist.
Neither of them can read, and hence can't figure out the rest of the letter. The kids have a priest, Father Juilliard (Martin Sheen) and an NGO-worker, Olivia (Rooney Mara), who work in the rag-pickers district and are the only decent people they know of. Olivia has a laptop.
Using that the guys figure out that Clemente was a lawyer and an activist, who even took to the streets to protest for the rights of the poor and the downtrodden. He was jailed by the politician Santos. Gardo wants to claim the reward, but Raphael says that he wants to meet Clemente first.
Meanwhile the police are still searching for the wallet in the garbage dump. One of the inspectors Frederico Gonz (Selton Mello) gets suspicious when Raphael & Gardo don't report to work. Federico picks Raphael up & tortures him by putting him in the back seat of the police cruiser and driving wildly that tosses Raphael around in the back seat, leading to several injuries to his face and body.
Meanwhile, Gardo takes Father Juilliard to look for Raphael at the local police station. The police refuse to cooperate and say that minors are not brought to that station. Federico tortures Raphael for information on the wallet, but he is stubborn and refuses to relent.
Federico orders his deputies to finish him off, but they walk away when he leaves. Raphael survives. Raphael tells Rat & Gardo about the policemen talking about Santos (Stepan Nercessian).
Santos is a politician in Brazil. They decide to take Olivia's help to meet Clemente by convincing her that Clemente is their brother & a lawyer & is in prison. The boys visit Santos's villa on the beach & learn from his gardener that Jose Angelo worked for Santos & stole R 10 million from him.
Angelo was Santos's trusted man. He had the key to the safe. When Santos was out of town, he stuffed all the money into trash bags & stuffed it into a broken fridge (which he broke).
He left with the money & a book that noted all the bribes taken and given by Santos. Meanwhile Gardo & Olivia meets Clemente. Olivia is shocked to learn that Clemente is not related to Gardo.
Clemente says that Angelo was his nephew. Clemente reveals that the numbers listed in the letter are a code which will reveal the location of what Angelo had hidden. Santos finds that Olivia visited Clemente in prison & sends Federico back to the garbage dump.
Federico finds Pia's wallet in Olivia's room & arrests her. The police then set fire to the dump as punishment to the entire community for not cooperating with them. The boys were close to cracking the code, which also falls in Federico's hands.
The code points to the St Francis cemetery where Pia is buried. Turns out Pia is alive & hiding in the cemetery, while her casket has the R 10 million. Federico reaches the cemetery a little later than Raphael and the other boys.
Federico takes control of the boys with a gun & gets them to extract the money. But Pia intervenes from her hiding spot & disables Federico. The boys run away with Pia, money & the book.
The boys return to the garbage dump & secretly give some of the money to Father Julliard (along with the book), so that he can carry on his work. They throw 2/3 of the money all over the garbage dump & escape with 1/3 of the remaining money. Julliard teams with Olivia to put the details of the book on the internet, which is picked up by CNN & results in the arrest of Santos & other police officials including Federico..