The Red Light Bandit
The Red Light Bandit () is a 1968 Brazilian crime film directed by Rogério Sganzerla, inspired by the crimes of the real-life burglar João Acácio Pereira da Costa, known as the "Red Light Bandit" ("Bandido da Luz Vermelha"). The film is a representative work of "cinema marginal", the Brazilian underground filmmaking movement of the 1960s. Sganzerla was 21 years old when he directed it. Sganzerla called the film "a Third World western". Plot. Jorge, a São Paulo house burglar, nicknamed by the press the "Red Light Bandit", baffles the police by using peculiar techniques. Always carrying  a red flashlight, he rapes his victims, has long dialogues with them and makes daring escapes. Afterwards, he spends the profits of his crimes. The bandit's exploits are shown in a fragmented manner, voiced over by two narrators in the style of a sensationalistic radio program. He has an affair with the "femme fatale" Janete Jane, meets other burglars and a corrupt politician, and gets betrayed. Pursued and cornered, he commits suicide. Reception. Film critic Ismail Xavier stated that the film treats the bandit's social millieu with irony, making use of collage, intertextuality and pastiche, in contrast with  the Cinema Novo's naturalistic filmmaking. In 2015, "The Red Light Bandit" was chosen by Abraccine as the sixth best Brazilian film of all time. Awards and nominations. 1968 Festival de Brasília (Brazil) Sequel. A sequel directed by Ícaro Martins and Helena Ignez, widow of Sganzerla, was released in 2010: "Luz nas Trevas - A Volta do Bandido da Luz Vermelha".