# The best Brazilian films of all time

A mix of the films most voted by critics (the Abraccine polls of 2015 and 2026) and the great audience and awards hits of Brazilian cinema.

- 0 votes · 25 items
- Jul 1, 2026 · episodio79
- https://even.best/en/l/46/the-best-brazilian-films-of-all-time

## Top 25

1. **City of God** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002. Drug trafficking in a Rio favela told by Rocket; four Oscar nominations.
2. **Central Station** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Walter Salles, 1998. Fernanda Montenegro and a boy searching for his father across the sertão; Golden Bear in Berlin.
3. **Limite** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Mário Peixoto, 1931. A silent experimental film voted the best Brazilian film of all time by Abraccine.
4. **Black God, White Devil** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Glauber Rocha, 1964. The cowherd Manuel between a holy man and a cangaceiro bandit; a landmark of Cinema Novo.
5. **Barren Lives** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1963. Graciliano Ramos' family of migrants fleeing the drought.
6. **I'm Still Here** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Walter Salles, 2024. Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva; Brazil's first Oscar for Best International Feature.
7. **A Dog's Will** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Guel Arraes, 2000. João Grilo and Chicó in the adaptation of Ariano Suassuna; the country's best-loved comedy.
8. **Elite Squad** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — José Padilha, 2007. Captain Nascimento and the BOPE police unit; Golden Bear in Berlin.
9. **The Given Word** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Anselmo Duarte, 1962. Zé do Burro carries a cross to Salvador; Brazil's only Palme d'Or.
10. **Entranced Earth** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Glauber Rocha, 1967. A political allegory about an imaginary country, Eldorado.
11. **Twenty Years Later** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Eduardo Coutinho, 1984. A documentary resumed 17 years after the 1964 coup cut it short.
12. **The Secret Agent** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2025. Wagner Moura in 1977 Recife; Best Director and Best Actor at Cannes.
13. **Pixote** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hector Babenco, 1980. Street kids in São Paulo, played by non-professional actors.
14. **Bacurau** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, 2019. A village in the sertão disappears from the map; Jury Prize at Cannes.
15. **The Second Mother** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Anna Muylaert, 2015. Regina Casé as a live-in maid whose daughter arrives in São Paulo.
16. **Neighboring Sounds** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2012. A middle-class street in Recife and the tension between neighbours and security guards.
17. **Macunaíma** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1969. Grande Otelo as Mário de Andrade's 'hero without any character'.
18. **The Red Light Bandit** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Rogério Sganzerla, 1968. São Paulo's 'marginal cinema' and a real burglar who became a myth.
19. **Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Bruno Barreto, 1976. Sônia Braga and Vadinho's ghost; a box-office record for decades.
20. **Carandiru** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hector Babenco, 2003. The inmates' stories leading up to the 1992 massacre, based on Drauzio Varella's book.
21. **They Don't Wear Black Tie** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Leon Hirszman, 1981. A workers' strike divides father and son; Special Jury Prize in Venice.
22. **Aquarius** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2016. Sônia Braga resists the developer that wants her Recife apartment.
23. **Bus 174** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — José Padilha, 2002. A documentary on the hijacking of a Rio bus broadcast live in 2000.
24. **To the Left of the Father** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Luiz Fernando Carvalho, 2001. Selton Mello in the adaptation of Raduan Nassar's novel.
25. **Bye Bye Brazil** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Carlos Diegues, 1979. A travelling troupe crosses a country in the middle of modernisation.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.