''7 Prisoners'' () is a 2021 Brazilian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Alexandre Moratto from a screenplay written by Moratto and Thayná Mantesso. The film stars

Christian Malheiros Christian Malheiros (born 14 August 1999) is a Brazilian actor. He is known for his award-winning performance in the 2018 drama film ''Sócrates'', which was praised by critics and earned him a nomination for Best Male Lead at the 34th Independen ...

and

Rodrigo Santoro Rodrigo Junqueira Reis Santoro (; born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor. He is known in Brazil for his appearance on local telenovelas and internationally for his portrayal of Persian King Xerxes I of Persia, Xerxes in the film ''300 (film), ...

and premiered at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021, at Venice Lido in Italy. This edition marked the festival's return to its full format following the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, COVID ...

on September 6, 2021. It was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in November 2021.

Plot

18-year-old Mateus leaves the countryside in search for a job opportunity in a

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

junkyard. Once there, Mateus and some other boys become a victim of a work system analogous to

modern slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to exist in the 21st century. Estimates of the number of enslaved people range from around 38 million to 49.6 million, d ...

run by Luca, forcing Mateus to make the difficult decision between working for the man who enslaved him or risking his and his family's futures if he is not complicit.

Cast

as Mateus *

as Luca * Bruno Rocha * Vitor Julian as Ezequiel * Lucas Oranmian as Isaque * Dirce Thomaz

Production

During an interview with

Film Independent The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

on his award-winning

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

Sócrates Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply known as Sócrates , was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder. His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with s ...

'', Brazilian-American filmmaker Alexandre Moratto announced that he was developing an original screenplay about

and

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

in Brazil. Moratto was set to re-team with co-writer Thayná Mantesso on the film. On September 5, 2020, Moratto revealed that he was collaborating again with directors

Ramin Bahrani Ramin Bahrani (; born March 20, 1975) is an American Film director, director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Bahrani's Chop Shop (film), ''Chop Shop'' (2007) as the sixth-best film of the 2000s, calling him "the new director of ...

and

Fernando Meirelles Fernando Ferreira Meirelles (; born 9 November 1955) is a Brazilian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for co-directing the film ''City of God (2002 film), City of God'', released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the Un ...

, through his production company O2 Filmes, to produce the film, with

distributing. Bahrani, Moratto's

film school A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are ...

mentor, presented the film to the company while directing '' The White Tiger''. Speaking about the film, Moratto said: The lead role of the film was written by Moratto specifically for

, whom he discovered during intensive auditions for ''Sócrates'' where he was ultimately cast and rose to Brazilian prominence. Moratto also cast a Brazilian immigrant who worked for six months in a

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a cramped workplace with very poor and/or illegal working conditions, including little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting and ventilation, or uncomfortably or dangerously high or low temperat ...

while he was conducting research interviews with survivors of

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

in the Horizons Extra section on September 6, 2021, which is set to be followed by its North American premiere at the

2021 Toronto International Film Festival The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.Barry Hertz"TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’ ...

in the Contemporary World Cinema section. After its festival screening, the film was released on

globally in November 2021.

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 98% of 45 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.5/10.

References

External links

* {{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding International Motion Picture 2021 drama films 2021 films Brazilian drama films Films about human trafficking Films about immigration Films about labour Films about Brazilian slavery Netflix original films 2020s Portuguese-language films 2020s Brazilian films Portuguese-language drama films