Please don't spend money on this.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The first must-see film of the year.

When I first watched this movie I was a bit skeptic about it. Here in Brazil the media tends to be very biased.The movie is very entertaining and shows a good view of the actual situation during the military governments. They try to actually be honest about it but not with the depth it requires. The characters are interesting and the acting is good.Nevertheless the focus tends to be on the supposed "heroes" and not reality itself. The director even addresses the real issues behind the guerrilla/terrorists groups but not with very depth.It is a very well known fact nowadays that those groups were not fighting for democracy but were actually fighting to instate a communist dictatorship. Some old guerrilla members/terrorists even came out on youtube claiming this was really the truth behind their intentions.The supposed heroes are also not so noble as the film portrays them. One of them became senator and somehow avoided being charged with international drug dealing. He got caught with over a kilo of marijuana seeds. He probably bought his way out based on corruption, an unfortunately common issue in Brazil. Another one of our heroes became State Minister but was involved in nepotism. Apparently the guy pretty much hired his entire family for important jobs in the government favouring his family against the law. He pretty much fell in discredit after that.So my point is, much of the actual facts are portrayed by the intelligence officer. His claim was actually true. They were torturing people and using questionable methods to avoid an even worse communist government. And these communist groups, most of them affiliated with the Cuban dictatorship based their actions on using young, naive Brazilians as cannon fodder. The bad thing is that even though this is mentioned it is not explored in depth.All in all the movie is really enjoyable and worth watching.

One more time I turn off my DVD player, satisfied, with a very good production, I've never been left disappointed when I pick a Brazilian film to watch, I'm also an enthusiastic of Brazilian soap-opera, I'm telling you that is the best of the world, may look the traditional American soap opera like trash, not to mention that the soap-opera from Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, etc is in my opinion pure garbage. So getting' back to this movie, I don't know what to tell you, I'm not very good describing movies, I left that for Ebert and Roeper, just trust me and watch the movie, it worth it. Great acting, great photography, besides, all the beautiful landscape from Brazil, do your self a favor and don't miss it, I recommend as well, Central Do Brazil, and Tieta Do Agreste

I didn't learn any Portuguese, but from this movie I learned a bit about Brazil, though "Four Days" is mostly in Portuguese. (I have a hard enough time with Spanish, thanks.) This film offers insight into a part of South American politics that I frankly have little knowledge of and I didn't follow at the time (I mean, the parts in the movie's epilogue during which I was alive and aware), and for that alone it is worth watching. Even if you don't care, the movie will bring it to light so you can imagine the Brazil of the 1960s and you just might care that you learned something about it."Four Days" manages to carry the viewer through to the 1989 end of the military regime in its epilogue. The Soviet Bloc was falling apart at about the same time, the Berlin Wall, if I recall, came down that year, so I suppose many would have missed this interesting ploy for attention by revolutionaries for that reason (which I certainly admit to, having following the Soviet departure steadily and having no idea about this Brazilian event).The movie is a telling of when eager Brazilian Communist-leftist revolutionaries, both innocent and veteran, take the U.S. Ambassador hostage to draw the attention of the world toward Brazil, and to challenge the Brazilian powers they hope to overthrow ultimately, with demands for releasing their compatriots. I thought it was a convincing movie, though coming up short on making the characters particularly compelling. But then, the event was the focus, not the characters. Alan Arkin was terrific. So was the actor who played the central character, the young, not too tough, glasses-wearing Fernando. The show didn't hide behind the revolutionaries, either. We saw things from the other side, too. It was believable, and I really enjoyed the handling of both sides of the coin in this real-life drama. There was a smoothly presented bit with a regime torturer and his girlfriend (wife?), where he suddenly admits to her what he does for the government. He'd claimed he was doing something much milder for some time, and finally outs himself as a member of the secret service. He rationalizes his torturing college kids to prevent a breakdown of Brazilian society, almost convincingly, but his lady doesn't buy it, and neither should the audience. The scene was meant to put a human face on the bad guy, and did it reasonably, but we also get that hisrationalizing leaves even him a bit flat, as he tries to embrace his woman when she turns away from him in distaste. Most of the film is spoken in Portuguese, and I didn't mind reading this movie a bit. (It's when a movie that wouldn't be enjoyable in any language that I mind reading my way through it.) This is a movie worth seeing for its attention to a daring moment in Brazil's move toward democracy. And even if you don't care about that, it is a terrific suspense film.

The movie, based on the Fernando Gabeira's novel, is intense, full of action, motion and meaning. How a few young rebels planned and executed the kidnap of the US Ambassador in Rio - on that time, the Embassy was still there. Very well produced and edited, special comments about the sound, with some moments of silence and other with a disturbing noise. An expert crew. Take a look in Pedro Cardoso, who represents Fernando Gabeira. OK, some scenes of the movie are different from the original written version, but I should say it looks really good. But I would never suggest somebody else to try repeating their adventure and kidnap the US Ambassador...