Tieta of Agreste

Adapted from a popular Brazilian novel, Homônimo by Jorge Amado, that also spawned a TV soap opera, this shambolic, incident-packed melodrama, from the veteran director Diegues, is held together by a powerhouse performance from Braga. Her earthy, big-hearted and filthy rich Tieta returns in triumph from São Paolo to the village from which she was banished as a teenager. Although the source of her fortune's a mystery, she makes peace with her greedy family, wins the people's hearts, and stirs the loins of every man in town. But the spectre of pollution from a planned titanium processing plant threatens her idyllic homecoming. Unforgivably baggy, but so full of life it almost succeeds despite itself.