O Candidato Honesto -

Yet the film’s punchline is cynical: When João finally wins a second term by accident—not because of his honesty, but because of the pity vote after he is nearly killed—the curse breaks. He can lie again. And the final shot suggests he is relieved.

Politics, the film argues, is a theater of plausible deniability. The congressman’s old self was a master of the non-answer: "I will look into it," "We are committed to the people," "My budget is under review." These are not lies, but protocols . When João is forced to bypass protocols, he destroys the social contract between voter and representative. The voter wants the feeling of honesty, not its brutal application. Released a year after the 2013 protests (the Jornadas de Junho ), the film tapped into a national exhaustion with the status quo . Brazilians had just taken to the streets chanting, "Não é por vinte centavos" (It’s not about twenty cents), demanding an end to corruption, privilege, and the toma lá, dá cá (you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours) system. O candidato honesto

A- (for daring to blame the voter) Grade for the solution: F (because it admits there is none) Yet the film’s punchline is cynical: When João