Beginning in 1942,
German and Italian submarines started sinking Brazilian merchant ships
killing a total of 1074 crew members.
That same year, Brazil declared war on the Axis powers.
In 1944, 25,334 Brazilian soldiers crossed the Atlantic
to fight in the Second World War.
Dear Dad, I'm already here in Italy.
We came all the way to the other side of the world
to give what is most dear to us, which nobody wants to lose!
I don't even know why we're a part of all this.
It was because of this pride of yours that insisted I enlist with the BEF.
Now I'm learning how to kill and die for my country!
I don't know if I'll ever be the hero you imagine I am.
I already really miss Mum and the others.
Christmas is almost here,
but they still try to make us hate an enemy we've never even seen before!
Copa quatro, do you read me?
Shit, nobody's answering.
If they don't answer, are we going down again?
Go inside and call Carioca.
That son of a bitch won't shut up!
The Germans are coming. They're going to kill us all.
I see them. I see them. It's the Germans.
Dad, death hanging over my head kills me a little at a time.
It's like my blood leaves my body, drop by drop.
Get ready cos it's going to be now!
I see the Germans coming.
The Germans are coming. They're going to kill everyone.
They're coming, they're going to kill us all.
I see them. Everyone is going to die.
And this crazy guy is mumbling all the time!
Do you think he knows what patriotism is?
If you don't shut up, I'm going to smack you.
They're coming. Everyone is going to be turned into beef jerky.
You check the equipment? You ready?
Lieutenant, they haven't answered yet.
We have to act quickly here. It's just a path we have to go up.
I'm not going.
What do you mean, you're not going, soldier?
Lieutenant, this operation is all wrong.
You sure as hell are going.
Go on back and get me Getulio. Go on, go on.
Penha...
Lieutenant, shit!
Lieutenant, we've been here all day.
Everybody is going to wind up freezing to death.
Get your equipment and let's go.
My feet are tingling all over!
Are these termites going to eat out my insides till I'm all hollow inside?
Come on, time to go.
What you think, Carioca?
- Anything? - Nothing.
Now I'm tingling all over!
But not my spirit!
Guima, Guima, come here. Where are you?
Guima!
Give me strength, Father! Help me carry on!
Guima, quick, we've got a mine here.
The son of a bitch just sits there. Move it, shit!
Look, man, it's wood. You ever disarm one of these?
Guima, Guima, where are you? Fuck.
You get stuck again, boy?
It's the Germans, the Germans.
Let me go. It's the Germans, shit!
The Germans!
- Run. - What are you doing, Piauai?
Come back, soldier!
I didn't tell anyone to leave their posts!
Get back here, shit!
I'm going to die! I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!
Just around the Bend.
There's a jasmine tree.
Near the long curve.
Hey, little doggy!
Lereré.
THE LOST PATROL
Somebody cries for me.
Little doggy!
Piauai, Piauai!
Get down.
You want to get shot?
Where are the others? Where are the others?
They're all lost somewhere around here.
All I get is American radio.
Last night I lost the chance of being the hero you want me to be, Dad.
I didn't do anything for them.
Mum!
The only thing I'm afraid of right now is forgetting the prayers you taught me.
For God's sake, where are we now?
- It's Paraaiba. - Who's with him?
Guima.
Piauai, you crazy? Stop it!
Where are the others? Where are the others?
I'm looking for them. They're around here somewhere.
Guima, Guima.
Where are the others? Where are the others?
Let's go, let's go!
Shut up.
Didn't you see that it was the Germans, huh, soldier? Huh?
Let's go get their bodies.
Whose bodies?
Carioca's and Getuio's.
You want to go back up there?
No way I'm going back up there.
There's no turning back now.
And I'm feeling everything you always taught me not to feel,
Fear.
Guilt.
Doubt.
There's an American OP around here.
I hope they went there.
Nowhere to go,
nothing makes sense.
Don't accelerate too much.
We have to save gas.
It'd be better if we pushed.
Get out of the car. We're stuck. Come on!
Bring that Italian deserter. Quick!
Quick, I said!
You, too. Now all push!
He has to push too! Take off his handcuffs.
Go on, push. You understand?
All together!
You too.
Don't shoot.
Did you understand?
I told you, you aren't going to publish anything in your fucking newspaper.
It's a rumour. Nobody came down the mountains.
People are saying that those two in the infirmary
were in shock when they came.
You said two. What two?
Those two guys who came this morning.
- Did you take pictures of them? - No.
Rumours. I've already told you, nobody panicked.
So let me go over to the OP then. Do you speak the same language as me?
You're not going. Nobody panicked? Nobody panicked?
You're not authorised!
With all due respect, Colonel, there's something I don't understand.
Why can some go and others not? Others who?
Why can some reporters go up to the front and I can't?
I'll tell you why, because there are some guys in the press like you
who like to write lies about the BEF.
I've already sent a telegram to Brazil asking for you to be sent back.
- What's that? - Have a good day.
Leave it there. That stays.
What's going to happen to us now? With this whole thing?
What thing?
This thing.
Of us running away. What are you talking about, soldier?
What's he up to?
If we don't tell the Americans we're coming, they'll shoot us!
Do you think they know that we all panicked?
Or are they going to think we're deserters?
The American observation point. Are the Americans really there?
I'll freeze here, but I won't go down there.
Somebody is going to have to go.
Let Piauai go then.
Just because you're a sergeant?
You're the only one who won't be mistaken for a German.
Have you ever seen a black Kraut?
Be quiet.
It'll have to be you, Paraaiba.
Don't touch me, Penha. Don't touch me.
You're the one who got us in this mess.
You're the one who started scaring everybody.
And who let everyone go on down, huh?
You're going down right now.
Leave him alone.
You're going down.
You all chickened out, Lieutenant.
Somebody has to go down, Piauai.
Who'll it be?
It's decided, Paraaiba will go.
Goddamn nigger.
And you, Guima?
Goddamn it, goddamn nigger. You'll all pay.
How's it going, man?
Take me to the observation point.
There's no OP, not today. They've given orders.
Yeah, I know. That's why I want go.
Up there? No way, they've just told us that you can't go, sir.
And why not?
Why? Because they don't want any civilians up there.
The road is blocked by the EP.
So, let's go up the American side.
Listen, Rui, are you crazy, Rui? Rui!
Shall we risk it?
Go on.
Why did they abandon their post?
I don't know. I think they retreated.
The Americans started tingling too.
Soldiers are all the same in any army.
Lieutenant.
It's all clear.
I'm going after Piauai.
And now we're even more alone,
more lost,
closer to being killed.
Are these Americans?
No, we don't follow them.
We're going that way. Come!
Up!
Quiet! I've got him, I've got him!
Look, Piauai.
Piauai.
Why didn't you say so before, man?
I was going to fill you full of holes, you hear me?
What's that there?
Hi.
Stay here.
Piauai.
You scared the shit out of me, man! Where were you?
We were looking all over for you, man.
Now you're sorry, huh?
Who's that there, Piauai?
Brazilian reporter.
Piauai, inside that house over there,
there are two boxes of rations. Go get them.
Shit... Always telling everybody what to do, giving orders.
Come with me, please.
A reporter. We're screwed.
Hi.
I didn't know there were any Brazilians on this side.
They asked the BEF for some engineers.
You guys disarm mines?
Listen, who gave you authorisation to come up here?
Colonel Lourenco.
Colonel Lourenco?
I find it hard to believe that Colonel Lourenco
let anyone come up here in these conditions.
It's not easy taking pictures. Let me...
Do you guys know that a couple of men from your squad
made it over to the CP?
What you talking about?
About everyone panicking.
What are you doing here, reporter?
I just want to interview somebody who was up on the mountain.
And as I know all of you were up there...
What you talking about?
Listen to me.
Nobody here was up there, no way.
You're mistaken.
Piauai, cold food.
Light the fire, heat it up. It won't go down cold.
That guy over there doesn't know anything.
Keep your mouth shut.
Oh, yeah?
Now you want me to keep my mouth shut, is that it?
When you sent me here by myself, you didn't think twice.
I should tell him about the lieutenant we have.
When other soldiers panic, it makes us feel more alike.
It even comforts us on the one hand!
But I still can't stop thinking about bad things.
About death!
About becoming an invalid!
It'd be better to not even think!
I'm not going to forget one minute of this trip
so I can tell you everything, Dad.
And this guy? What do we do with him?
- Tell him everything? - You crazy, Piauai?
We've got to find a way to send him back to Colonel Lourenco,
that's what we have to do.
Well, I'll be! It's still alive.
American.
Can you raise the volume?
Yeah, it's the Americans talking to the partisans.
They tried to open the road, number 47, using tanks.
It's all full of mines.
They lost two tanks.
I don't think they're going to send any more people to try and clear it.
AMERICA OBSERVATION POST
ROAD 47
SAN GIUSTO
Let's see if we can find the road.
Man, didn't you hear them say they went back to the base?
That's exactly why we should. They all think we deserted.
We let everybody run off.
We have to come up with some excuse to fix this fuck-up.
You think they'll blame us?
Penha, I don't want to be court-martialled,
even though you couldn't care less.
Lieutenant, I think Laurindo is right.
We have to find that road for sure.
You think you can demine it by yourself, without Getulio or Carioca?
What's your name? Adelino Claudio Moisés da Silva.
Moisés is from my dad.
Is this all going to come out in the papers?
Yeah, if they don't send me back to Brazil first.
Let's go, Piauéi, we're getting out of here.
- Where are you guys going? - We're going to 47.
What are you going to do there? Clear the road.
You guys are going to demine the road?
Yeah, we're from the engineering squad, remember?
Yeah, right, but it's a long way off.
Not by jeep. I'm going to wait for the Americans.
This is what we'll do, we'll go by jeep to here.
We'll find the partisans here.
When we get here, we'll demine road 47 and then continue on to the village.
Shit.
Lieutenant?
Do you think it's a good idea to leave this jerk here alone?
I don't know.
He has a camera.
He can take pictures of everything that happens to us from now on.
What's up?
You have to come with us.
You can't miss this opportunity.
No reporter has ever done anything like this before.
Leave it to me! Just treat the guy decently! You see, Lieutenant? Decently!
- Come on, Laurindo! - Hey, Piauai.
Not so fast. Not so fast, man!
Take it easy man!
- Let's go, man. - Step on it!
- Take it easy man!
- Piauai! Piauai! - Out of my way!
Faster, Piauai! Faster!
Stop, shit!
You crazy, Piauai?
Crazy? No way, Lieutenant!
I've driven a lot of these things back in Piauai, man!
Enough's enough now, OK?
I am going to drive this shit!
You going to stay here?
- No way. - This ain't no donkey, man.
- I know how to drive. - Yeah, right.
Hi.
Americans, American soldiers.
- American soldiers? - Brazilian.
We are Brazilian.
You guys got any food?
Piauai, give these guys a couple cans of rations.
Where are you going?
To Sao Giusto, to wait for the Americans.
You going down road 47？ - No. We're going to take a short cut.
Thank you.
For nothing, Italian lady.
We're going to San Giusto. The Germans, the Germans kicked us out of our home!
They're burning everything in their way!
Took my son.
Ask the Almighty for protection, or luck.
Thank you.
It's to protect our body.
Call Rui. Let's go.
Rui, let's go.
Give the boy something to eat.
Guima!
I can't make any sense out of all this chaos.
I don't even know why we're a part of all this.
Helping to fuel this monster. This whirlwind that sucks up souls.
I sure hope nothing like this ever happens to our family, Dad!
Who is Carioca's mother? And Getulio's father?
Do you think he is full of stupid pride just like you, Dad?
We'll have to go by foot from here on.
You'll wind up swallowing the saint that way.
Is it the Germans?
I'm not afraid of the Germans.
Those guys that came down the mountain, did you know any of them?
- Do you know what a mine is? - No, I don't.
The worst thing that's ever been invented.
Aren't you afraid?
I have faith.
Lieutenant, let's stop, my foot is killing me.
Could that be the house of those people on the road?
All clear.
It's all clear here.
I'll take a look on the other side.
Hold it a minute, Guima. Wait up.
Is it that family we met on the road?
We're going back, aren't we?
We'll spend the night here, sergeant.
- Where's Guima? - Over there.
Lieutenant?
That bit on the mountain sure was freaky. Real freaky.
- Out! - Get out!
Get down! Get down! Get him, Negao, go on!
Go on, Piauéi! Go on! Search him.
You American? You American?
I'm Italian. Italian, friend.
Friend talking German?
I no fascist. I no Mussolini.
I deserter. Deserter.
Listen, he said he's a deserter.
Where are you from?
- No American? - Brazilian.
- Allies? - Yes, Allies.
I friend.
Friend...
- Where are the others? Huh? - No understand.
Where are the others?
There are no others. Just me.
You understand. Alone.
Leave me alone. Shit. Let me be.
- Who is he? - My cousin.
Help me.
We saw your family on the road.
You see my family?
Where? Where they walking?
Going to San Giusto.
San Giusto?
Hey, Italian. Hey.
Italian, I'm talking to you.
Giovanni, the Lieutenant wants to talk to you.
You come with us to 47.
Then you can go to the village.
What'd he say?
He said that you should come with us to road 47.
Why should I go with you?
Who can guarantee this jerk won't turn us over to the Germans?
Why should I go to 47 with you?
Because we're going to clear 47.
You should wait for the American reinforcements, no?
No reinforcements.
Just us.
OK then.
I'll go.
But I need a weapon.
It's dangerous.
Lieutenant.
He's agreed, but he says he needs a gun.
- This won't be easy, Lieutenant. - Alright.
The Americans lost two tanks there.
After the minefield, it's two kilometres by foot to San Giusto.
Guima, call Piauéi and booby-trap the place with flares.
Hey, Italian.
It's yours.
Where are they hiding after they invented this fucking mess for us?
Who can put a stop to it now?
You scared?
Get going.
Shit! Flares!
Take cover! Go, go, go!
Shoot!
Shoot, Negao!
Hey, Lieutenant.
Don't stop, Laurindo!
Keep on shooting, Laurindo!
Guima!
Piauai! Throw a grenade!
Throw one here!
Reload, Piauai.
Die, you son-of-a-bitch German!
Lieutenant, he's alive.
Stop it! Don't do that, Piauai!
- How is he, Guima? - He's bleeding a lot.
Sergeant, find something to stop the bleeding.
What you doing? You going to save the bastard?
He's got to die.
Hey, hey, Giovanni!
- You crazy? - You can't stop me.
You crazy?
Give me that. Give it to me.
Listen, nobody is going to kill anybody here. Capisce?
Capisce?
He's not a prisoner, he's a German.
I know what to do make a German...
Listen, he's our prisoner now.
We can't take him with us, right?
We'll lose too much time. What are you doing?
We can't take him with us, no way.
The guy's right, Lieutenant
I didn't ask you, Piauai, nobody asked for your opinion.
He's trying to say something.
What did he say? What's he saying?
You recognise?
Of course... From the front?
The front?
Captain Jurgen Mayer, 142th Division.
I don't talk German.
- You speak Italian? - Yes.
- Italian? - A little, yes.
What are you doing here?
We ran away.
We are deserters.
Deserter.
What is BEF?
Who are you?
What is BEF?
An Allied force, engineers.
I'm with engineering too.
Laurindo!
Go after the Italian.
Hey, what you doing?
More guns and ammunition.
Give me a hand.
Go on, Piauai.
The German isn't the problem.
It's the Lieutenant who doesn't know what to do.
Piauai.
What we going to do with him?
- With the German or the Italian? - With both.
Aren't there any more pheasants
between here and road 47?
Ask the German if there's still anybody there.
47?
The location of highway 47?
Yes.
I know where it is.
We have to find the field and demine it.
I know where the mines on the road are.
He doesn't have a map.
We'll lose too much time with him.
How far away is the minefield?
It's not far...
You and me together.
One hour, two at the most.
You understand? You believe the German?
Look here, if you're lying, you die. You die.
I knew you'd be here.
They destroyed so many, huh? So many what?
Churches.
It seems like life isn't worth anything at times, huh?
I didn't betray anybody.
The Germans forced us to keep Mussolini.
To fight the partisans.
It turned into a war between Italians.
It was Mussolini who betrayed us.
It's your turn.
I'm not going to take him.
Shit, carry him.
You are all completely crazy.
- You carry him. - Hey!
I'm leaving. You guys keep your German friend.
I want to see you all finding your way without a map.
Fucking Brazilians.
Too stupid for this war.
Fucking lousy soldiers!
Already fucking things up, huh, German?
I gotta stop.
And what if this German is fooling us? Leading us to his guys?
We're all being real stupid.
And we're even taking him along, real nice like. Cured and all.
What's going on here, guys?
We keep walking, walking, and still no minefield, Lieutenant.
And what if it's an ambush?
Where's the minefield?
The road isn't far.
You have ten minutes to find the minefield.
If not, Piauai is going to kill you. You understand?
I know where the minefield is.
Fucking lousy Lieutenant.
If it wasn't for you...
Getulio and Carioca would still be alive,
and we wouldn't have come down the mountain.
Jurgen!
Jurgen! Come out, German!
He's got a German machine gun.
Where'd you get that? From an Allied patrol.
Stop it!
Are the Americans near?
No! They're still far away.
This was some lost Brazilians.
They're further up the road.
We're taking the bastard in.
Why don't you believe me?
- I'm not a fascist. - Go on, walk. Go on.
Jurgen!
- Where are you? - I found it! I found it!
Road 47.
Lieutenant, Lieutenant.
The map.
It's important you know that it is not a normal minefield.
Just anti tank mines.
- Fifteen. - Fifteen.
They are not antipersonnel mines.
Yes, yes.
Thank you. 47...
Stay here!
Three can fit in here! We'll spend the night here.
Hold it, Guima.
Up to the tank, OK?
But be careful, Rui.
Sit down. Sit here. Sit here.
Do you think I'll wind up with only one leg?
Doesn't look too good, huh?
Huh?
Here.
Shit.
That should make you feel better.
Is it better?
Good idea, huh, Mr Jerky?
Hey, you think he's named after beef jerky?
Good idea.
You better, Piauai?
There's something beautiful in a dead soldier,
not like a live one.
If I don't make it out of here, I did it for you, Dad.
Don't you guys in Germany have anything else to do?
Just war, war?
Don't you have women? Soccer?
Hey, Paraaiba, you're not making any sense at all.
Let me be, Negao.
He doesn't understand anything! Go to sleep.
No have, German...
Goal. Football?
Football?
American?
No. No.
America, no.
Brazil.
We are Brazilian.
- Brazilian. - Yeah.
It is absurd Brazil is in this war.
Leonidas.
The black diamond.
Negao, that guy knows his stuff. Germans know about soccer.
That's all I needed.
My team is Wolfsburg.
What's that?
My football team.
And you've got a girlfriend?
Three kids.
My wife and kids.
My wife is school teacher.
This here is mine, my daughter.
- You father? - I'm a father.
We're Portela. We composed a samba.
Music?
Music, samba, nice song, my daughter, me and my buddy Beto Correia.
Dry your tears, stop crying.
I'm going to leave,
And I'll miss you all, sure to come back one day.
Dry.
Dry your tears, I'm leaving.
What's going on here? Huh? What the fuck you doing, man?
Take it easy, Penha.
Lieutenant, Penha.
Dry your tears, stop crying.
I'm going to leave.
And I'll miss you all, sure to come back one day.
Guima? Guima?
- Huh? - Time to get to work.
- Here! - Here?
Here.
Brush away the snow, slowly.
Good, Sergeant. Take it out.
- There's nothing here. - Let's go.
- Is it coming? - Yeah.
Yeah.
Set it there.
The German wasn't lying.
One is missing!
We cleared the road.
Even a convoy could get through here now.
Let it go.
But if anybody drives over it, bye-bye.
Let's do this.
Sergeant, go over to the tank and get me a telephone wire.
I'll do the back way.
- No, you can't do that alone. - Hey, Sergeant.
I'm the engineer around here, aren't I? So?
Where's Guima?
Piauai, the telephone cable.
Where is it?
I asked you a question, Sergeant.
Where's Guima, shit?
Huh?
Did you leave him by himself?
Stay here, shit! Stay here!
- Laurindo! - Lieutenant!
Laurindo!
Where's Guima?
I don't know.
Guima!
Lieutenant. I had to detonate it.
It was too deep, lots of ice. I had to detonate it.
Lieutenant, trust me, we'll detonate the others now.
Get down.
We came from the old medieval bridge with this deserter.
- Deserter? - Yeah.
Said there are five Brazilians demining 47.
Brazilians?
Yeah, they've got this German with them.
As long as we're not sure if it's been demined,
we won't do anything.
Believe me, Captain, I'm sure!
Put him with the others. Captain! Believe me, Captain.
Captain! Believe me!
Get up, get up. Come on, get up. There.
You were great, very good.
Guima.
I had never done that before.
Without Carioca and Getulio...
It's the first time.
What is it, German?
Lieutenant, this guy is alright.
I'm going to take him back to Piauai with me.
Join the rest of the wifes in here.
Not bad, huh?
Be careful with that bastard.
Leave me here.
Not in San Giusto! Partisans. Partisans!
Destiny didn't pick the best men to change things around here.
He just used the first he found.
But in a ruthless way.
Relentless.
I don't think he'll last very long.
If the German guy doesn't die here with us, the partisans will kill him.
And what are we supposed to do?
I don't know.
Stand up, Lieutenant.
Let's go, Guima, get up.
Let's go, everyone, get up!
I don't know, too many partisans there.
We won't be able to do anything for him, huh, Lieutenant?
Didn't you say he was the BEF's prisoner?
Nobody gives a shit about a BEF prisoner, or any kind of prisoner.
Tell me, Negao, and you, Laurindo, I'm right, aren't I?
They won't be able to do anything to Jerky, will they?
Tell me! Tell me!
What can we do, Piauai? Huh?
Tell me.
Piauai!
What are you doing, Piauai?
He's my prisoner.
Soldier Adelino Claudio Moisés da Silva's prisoner.
- Piauéi! - Let him be.
He's my prisoner now.
Soldier Adelino... Claudio...
Moisés... da Silva's prisoner.
Isn't there anyone in charge around here?
Must be Christmas now,
and neither Carioca's nor Getulio's families know that they are dead.
You shouldn't have let him go.
When this is all over,
I want to see this place covered in gigantic gardens.
Where the sunflowers can finally bloom.
American! American!
Penha, what is this?
We must be the first guys to make it here.
- You understand? - Yes.
- Where are you from? - Brazil.
Oh, you're Brazilians.
And the Americans, where are they?
We're out of ammunition and food.
So are we.
The road is cleared.
- The road is cleared? - Cleared.
We need a radio.
Call the deserter. You, come with me.
How can I be sure you're telling the truth?
Hey, Rui, what's he saying?
What should I do to know if you are telling the truth?
We cleared the goddamn road.
And you, sir, please, call the Americans.
They are telling the truth, Captain.
Did you hear the explosion?
- I need a radio. - A radio, Captain.
You two, stay here.
Rui, come with me.
What division are you in? What's our division again?
7 th Engineering Squad, First Division.
7 th Engineering Squad, First Brazilian Division.
Tell them that the Brazilians demined road 47.
Tell them to send a squad.
Take it easy, buddy, we'll make it.
The Germans are near.
If the Allies don't come, we'll have to abandon the town.
I can't believe this.
Now I understand why you sent me here!
These poor people need all of us more than ever.
I can't believe this, but I'm beginning to feel a bit of pride!
Thinking about you, Dad!
It's Piauai!
What a stupid disguise!
We'll make it, buddy. We'll make it.
Piauai! Piauai!
Let him be, let him be.
- Brazilians. - Water, water.
Water, water.
Laurindo.
A doctor, a doctor...
We need a doctor.
A doctor, shit!
Let's get him to the infirmary. Martin.
Rui!
They're Brazilian.
The Americans are coming!
- What's the matter? - We need a doctor.
- Who is hurt? - A doctor. A doctor.
Where are the others?
A Brazilian died.
Piauai!
Piauai.
Take this man to the cemetery.
You are not shitty soldiers.
Rui, Rui, get out of there! Look at the tank!
Come, come.
I'll be ending this letter around here, Dad.
I won't be sending any pictures this time.
And to tell you the truth,
I don't even know if this letter will ever make it to Brazil.
But I sure will!
And then, I'll begin a new story,
in which each one of us will try to rebuild their past.
Try to find the peace we had before.
The peace that brought harmony to our lives and universe.
But don't worry.
I'll always remember everything that happened here.
When I get home, I'll tell you all about it,
day after day, until you can't stand hearing about it any more.
And then,
I guess there'll come a day when all of this will be forgotten.
I'm counting on a good long hug when I get home.