The Fifth Power

The Fifth Power (1962)

O 5º Poder

Foreign agents from an unidentified nation clandestinely install radio and TV antennas in Rio de Janeiro devices that emit subliminal waves that alter the perception of the population. They aim to transform the people into an aggressive and imbecile mass, leading the country to chaos, allowing the government to be taken to usurp Brazil's natural wealth. A journalist, Carlos, accompanied by chemist Laura Leal, begins to investigate a series of facts and discovers those responsible for the disturbances.

Date of release
1962-01-01
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 39m
Genres
Crime, Science Fiction, Thriller
Director
Alberto Pieralisi

Casting

Interesting facts

The Fifth Power is a 1962 Brazilian science fiction thriller film directed by Alberto Pieralisi, and written and produced by Carlos Pedregal. It tells the story of foreign agents who wish to take control of Brazil's natural resources by transmitting subliminal messages to convince the population to overthrow its government, and it is considered one of the first serious Brazilian science fiction films. The film is notable for coming two years before a military coup.

Production

Carlos Pedregal traveled from Spain to Argentina, his mother's birthplace, and from there received a temporary visa to work in Brazil as a journalist starting in 1947. He then introduced the concept of subliminal advertising in Brazil, and began hosting a program called Revelations of the Subconscious for Rádio Globo in 1951.

The film, which was set in Rio de Janeiro and featured scenes set on the Sugarloaf Cable Car and at the Christ the Redeemer statue, was at the time the most expensive film made in Brazil. Along with Garrincha: Hero of the Jungle, the film was selected to represent Brazil at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival.

Around the time of the film's release, its negatives and most copies were destroyed in a fire. It was considered lost for decades, until one copy of the negatives was discovered in Berlin. The film was screened at the Festival de Brasília in 2006, with Pedregal in attendance to introduce it.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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