Arquivo

Carmo do Rio Verde, Goiás, Brazil, is a small town that survives only because of the sugarcane. The sugarmill owners there produce alcohol and are the owners or "tenants" of the croplands, employing 2 thousand laborers, of which 1,200 are temporary, and hired by a "cat". The action in the documentary is based on the experiences of one of these laborers who arrives filled with hope at his new job. The film follows along with his day-to-day routine on the job and growing disillusion, by means of letters he writes to his wife and family. Jeremy Hamers investigates the sensorial aspect of this routine. His camera focuses on the rigorous labor procedures and on the burning of the sugarcane, shown through a wealth of sound and vision. The film searches on with sound editing and the chromatic impact of scenes that are completely foreign to spectators from the great urban centers. The human cost of the wealth of Brazil is shown in poetry.