Preceded by short:Man's Best Friend (Tânia Savietto, Brazil, 1982). (O mehor amigo do homem). Although apparently dealing frivolously with a volatile subject, this documentary is a forceful indictment of racial relations in Brazil. (10 mins, In Portuguese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)(O amuleto de Ogum). Dos Santos moved away from the increasing avant-gardism of Cinema Nôvo with this film made "for the people." It is a magical thriller-both a gangster film and a celebration of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé as a key element in popular culture. A young man from the impoverished Northeast, Gabriel (played by dos Santos's son, Ney Sant'ana, an actor in the Pasolini mode), becomes a denizen of Rio's violent outskirts. Protected from harm by a ritual amulet given him by a Candomblé priest, this bulletproof boy catches the attention of the local crime boss. Gabriel's odyssey from innocence to underworld, death, and resurrection is told in the form of a popular ballad whose singer announces the film's magical-realist premise: "I'm going to tell you a story that really happened and which I just invented." Dos Santos: "The camera is a believer."