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If I Were a Thief... I'd Steal

2013 · 100 min

A slow, reflective journey through memory and rural hardship, blending personal history with cinematic ghosts.

Directed by
Paulo Rocha
Genres
Drama
Overview
1920s. Vitalino, a small farmer from São Vicente sees his father die of the epidemic which decimated the country. Some years later, of all the brothers, Vitalino is the strongest and takes his father’s place in the house. But the village is too small for his aspirations and he decides to head to Brazil, leaving his sisters in charge of the household. In parallel with Vitalino’s story, If I Were a Thief… I’d Steal portrays the world of Paulo Rocha rummaging through his films and ghosts over the years.

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Directed by
Paulo Rocha
Genres
Drama
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • family
  • memory
  • isolation
  • ambition
  • grief
Places
  • countryside
  • small town
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror1
Humour2
Realism7
Romance2
Tension3
Darkness6
Complexity8
Emotional weight7

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