Roque Santeiro (1985)

In the tiny, poor town of Asa Branca in the middle of Brazilian Northeast, Roque Santeiro is worshipped as a saint. He was supposedly killed by a bandit 18 years ago while he was trying to save the local church. After his disappearance, local leaders such as landowner Sinhozinho Malta and mayor Florindo profited from that to control the humble population. They even make up a widow, Porcina, who was about to marry Roque before his death. What they don't expect is that Roque is alive and back to "save his people". Now Malta, Florindo, Porcina, and others must hold him down and explain the "truth" to their commoners, in a desperate attempt to save their own bottoms. Meanwhile, mysterious facts surround Asa Branca, such as a Werewolf, a film crew who are trying to shoot a movie about Roque's story, and violent murderers. Dias Gomes writes about small towns in marvelous satires of local authorities and their hypocrisy.