Original subtitles

Antônio. Stay with me, Antônio!

Please, cousin, open your eyes!

Please!

- Where's the bastard that did this? - In the cell.

He should be dead!

Cousin, I need to talk to them.

- Bring them here. - Who?

Candinha, Angélica and Beja. Bring them here.

- Angélica is with aunt Genoveva. - He wants to talk to them.

- I'll go get them. Excuse me, ma'am. - Go. Go get them, Valdo.

I'm so sorry, aunt.

- But there's nothing I can do. - No. No.

Antônio, my son...

Stay with your mother.

It's not time to go, my son.

I love you so much!

I love you so much!

Mother...

- My son! - Why did you never tell me that?

I've waited so long to hear that.

Because I'm a fool, baby.

I...

I think and feel things that...

The truth is I am not worthy of the children that I've had.

And neither of my husband.

Forgive me, my son. Please, forgive me. I love you so much.

My baby boy. I love you so much.

MADAM BEJA

My Beja!

My love...

I regret it so much...

So much...

Not having been able to tell you how much I loved you.

- I've always loved you. - I know.

Always.

Always.

Forgive me.

Forgive me, my love! Forgive me!

It was me.

I was the one who hired Rômulo to give you a scare.

For the wound you've inflicted upon me, you bastard!

But I didn't ask for this! I never asked for this!

I will always love you, my love.

Always.

I forgive you.

Even if you don't believe it wasn't me

who wronged you at the ball of masks.

I didn't believe you when you said you were kidnapped, right?

Don't leave me!

Don't leave me!

The funny thing...

is that in the end, all I can think of is the beginning.

The ship.

The swaying of the seas.

Grandma Lueji being brought from her land,

to serve the whites here.

She told me.

One night, during a storm,

a wave crashed against the ship.

Grandma Lueji thought she would die.

She was so young!

How did she swim, chained still?

It wasn't her time.

So she lived.

Stuck, as a slave, on these lands, but she lived!

This is the feeling that gave her strength

to dream of breaking all chains.

And that, she did.

Her chains, and the chains of many blacks.

But I...

Grandma Lueji told me when I was a boy,

that the chains that enslave the black people,

their hands and feet...

Those chains can be broken with a fight.

But the chains...

The chains that enslave the blacks from within,

those can only be broken with much courage

to face whatever life throws at you head-on!

I had courage!

I fought.

I thought those whites wanted to help me, but no!

I was tossed around one side to another,

on this angry sea that was my life.

And unlike Grandma Lueji, I was never a good swimmer.

And I was still shackled.

Not by chains without,

but by the chains within.

It's so hard to break these chains!

A black father.

A white mother.

I've always been an outsider,

even in my own mother's arms,

who could never love a child of my skin color.

Love...

Love,

I looked for it where I was taught to look,

in the arms of a white woman.

Beja?

Beja?

I'm here, baby.

Do you see now?

This is why my heart was chained.

Tortured.

I couldn't free it, not even for you.

Forgive me.

I love you.

Candinha.

Angélica.

Forgive me.

I was not the person I wanted to be.

Not for me,

not for you.

I didn't do what was expected of me.

It was my...

mission...

No.

No!

Antônio! Come back!

Come back to me! Come back!

Come back to me, Antônio!

Don't leave me.

Don't leave me, Antônio!

Grandma.

Who cares about your mission, Toninho?

Now, I understand your words.

"Everyone deserves to be free."

You didn't mean just the captives.

You really meant everyone.

Men and women.

If only I'd understood,

I would have freed my soul.

It was your soul I spoke of, my child!

You deserve to fly, too!

Forgive me.

I failed the fight you started.

No. Don't say that.

Don't you get it, honey?

Can't you see what you call "failure" is your greatest victory?

Look how much you've learned!

Come swim with me.

Father.

Grandmother.

All of you who came before me.

Receive Antônio well.

I'll do my part.

I'll make sure justice will be done against who murdered my brother!

I promise you, Antônio!

That shall be my mission, till the end!

Don't cry, mother.

I've erred, honey, so much.

I've erred so much.

So much.

We all make mistakes.

Aren't mistakes our greatest teachers?

It was life that put us against each other.

But when we were kids, Antônio and I...

We were great friends.

I remember.

You were always together.

My family is free only because of his family.

Mine, too.

Thanks to Grandma Lueji.

It's alright, you can cry. It's fine.

It's alright.

You've lost your best friend.

I accepted being prosecutor just to punish him for hurting Beja.

- You did nothing wrong. - I know,

but why do I feel so much guilt now?

Because that's life, João.

Always complicated.

We're all capable of things we can't imagine.

I will get his murderer in jail for the rest of his life!

You're very loyal, João.

I find it beautiful.

Did you love him?

I thought I loved him, yes.

For a time.

But then I understood that what I felt

was just a need to be loved.

Do you realize how serious this accusation is, madam?

What she did was serious.

She paid someone to kill my brother.

She deserves to rot in jail!

And do you have any proof of this?

Or is it just conviction?

I hired Rômulo...

I heard it.

I heard her beg forgiveness for hiring a killer to take him out.

So, it's just your word, then?

It's your job to gather proof, Inspector.

Or are you also loyal to "Madam Beja"?

No, no.

The duty of justice is not to "gather proof."

It's either there, or it's not.

My brother died here, in a cell, under your watch!

The least you can do is gather proof to catch that murderous whore!

Otherwise, shall my family accuse you of negligence?

Did you really think so?

That you could kill him and escape?

I told you, I didn't kill anyone.

I was asleep, then I heard him moaning.

When I opened my eyes, he was bloody.

He killed himself.

And that black eye?

It was like this before I arrived.

He was not the kind to kill himself.

But he was the kind to strike women.

He was a coward.

What's bravery, in your eyes?

Stabbing an unarmed man who could not defend himself?

You, sir,

are a coward.

If I were a coward,

Beja would have hired someone else.

Thank you.

You've just turned a criminal over to justice.

You wanted to see me?

I imagine you know why.

I don't know what you mean.

Mrs. Jacinta, you're under arrest for the murder of Antônio Sampaio.

Januário.

Please.

- Come with us. - No! Mother!

No, tell them it's not true!

- Tell them it's not true. - Baby.

We'll just talk. Go to your grandmother.

- No! You can't do this to her! - Come, Joana.

Let go of her! Let go of my mother!

- I love you. I love you. - Please.

- Come with us. - Mom, I love you!

- Come. - Let her go! Right now!

Let her go! She's innocent!

How sad.

Look at that!

What goes around, comes around!

Yes.

It's a shame it's always us, women, who pay up.

- You bitch! - Please.

- Murderer! - Stop it!

- Stop that! - Please!

- You whore! - Please, ma'am! Stop!

- You whore! - Murderous bitch!

I hope the judge is merciless!

Remove the cuffs, I won't run.

I won't run.

Let me do that.

Go get the other inmate.

Curious.

You offered no resistance.

- Why? - Interrogate my client without me?

Josefa.

Inspector! Come with me, it's urgent!

Some things of this profession, I never get used to.

He left a note.

Joana!

- This is no place for a girl! - I must talk to you!

- What happened? - Mother's been arrested!

- Beja? In jail? - They said she had Antônio killed!

We've removed Rômulo's body,

so, we can now finally interrogate you.

Poor Rômulo.

I never thought he could do that.

His demise is your luck, Beja.

- I don't understand. - Inspector,

mind your language with my client.

But it's true.

Rômulo was the main witness against her.

"Boss,

please forgive the unexpected result. It got out of hand.

The payment should make its way, but my life has lost all meaning,

without love,

and without freedom.

So, I decided to go and meet with my Olívia."

It doesn't get clearer than that.

- Don't you think? - My client will speak only on trial.

I'd like to have a moment alone with her.

- What's our strategy? - Did you hire someone to kill him?

I need you to trust me.

I told Rômulo to rough him up a bit,

because he attacked me!

I never thought that he would die.

The best course now

is to confess.

- Will I be convicted? - There are some nuances.

I'll fight for a minimal sentence.

Trust me.

Speak the truth in court.

My condolences.

Sit.

I always knew the whore would be my son's undoing.

Beja was attacked, too.

Angélica, what?

You're defending the whore that widowed you?

I'm trying to see the other side.

There's no other side.

There's a killer, and a victim: My son.

João, you and Antônio were always best friends.

Now you're the prosecutor.

In his honor,

you must demand that she's punished and made an example of.

Justice will be done.

I promise.

"Madam Beja is under arrest!

The witch will not burn in a fire,

but she shall enjoy long, agonizing years in jail!

Araxá has woken up.

It won't allow Madam Beja to go unpunished for this heinous crime."

Are you sure, Beja?

- You want to wear that dress to court? - Absolutely.

"Under the spell of that outlaw,

Araxá made concessions no other woman would dare want for.

By calling herself Madam without a Sir as husband,

the cruel vixen challenged the institutions,

and offended God himself,

in a manner that no one in this entire village ever did."

Go on ahead, Valdo.

The trial is now.

I need a word with the priest, I'll catch up with you.

Priest? What priest?

That brat needs to go back to the seminary!

Father.

Father?

Good. You ought to repent for your sins.

Or the fires of hell ought to consume you!

You filth!

"But the day of final judgement is here!

The courtesan,

whose body has belonged to every single man in Minas Gerais,

will now finally pay her dues.

God will corroborate the justice of men

so that the life of this sinner becomes true hell on Earth."

Silence!

We are now beginning the trial

pertaining to Ana Jacinta de São José.

She stands accused of moral authorship

for the crime of homicide against Antônio Sampaio.

He and I lived together.

Recent times had been hard.

Beja held the house together.

Antônio couldn't live with that.

They always argued.

He raised his hand at me once.

I did the only thing that I could have done.

- I got away from him. - He lived at the tavern for a while.

All he did was drink.

He was quite lost.

Severina set up a masked ball to commemorate my birthday.

Antônio was not invited, but went anyway.

He came dressed as a "veiled nun."

He behaved so poorly.

Beja had to ask him to leave.

Antônio came after me.

He attacked me. Wounded me for life.

He's a coward!

Yes, I tended to her wounds.

But her soul shall never heal.

No one can take another person's body without their consent.

The fact that I'm a courtesan

gives no man any right to treat me like a piece of meat!

You should all understand that!

I am no one's property!

No woman is.

I believe you're mistaken, ma'am.

The body of any woman belongs to her husband.

In your case, in which we shall say

business is involved,

your body becomes the property of any man that pays you.

Gentlemen,

let's have a brief recess.

Men treat women like merchandise.

Even their wives.

And all of society just accepts it.

Because it is, and always has been, business.

Life in marriage is quite similar to life in the brothel.

I mean,

whores have more freedom than wives do.

So long as she isn't forced to lay with an aggressive man.

Being a woman is dangerous, Beja.

When I carried Teresa inside me,

I confess that I felt so, so much anguish.

We know that girls have been taught to please.

To be abused within their own family!

And then...

Then, when Joana was born,

I changed.

I cheered,

because it was a girl.

If it had been a boy,

I wouldn't have known how to raise him.

Not like other men.

What if you had a daughter like me?

Can you imagine that?

I would love you.

People like you

are living proof that society has all but rotten.

It's gotten rusty, forgotten in the dust of time.

It's that same rusty way of thinking

that wants you condemned behind these bars for life.

It's hard to argue, Beja.

You're right, Severina.

I have to speak in the language of men.

It's the only language they understand.

Court is now back in session.

And, now, Prosecutor João Mendonça.

The inquiry states that you reported Ana Jacinta

as the perpetrator of Antônio Sampaio's death.

Can you tell us what you based that on?

I heard that harlo-...

I heard Ana Jacinta asking him for forgiveness

for having sent a man out to punish my brother for having hurt her.

To "punish" is not necessarily to kill.

- She ordered his death! - Did you hear the word "kill"?

I remind you it's a crime to lie in court.

No.

I did not hear "kill."

No further questions, Your Honor.

But it was her!

She killed Antônio! I know it!

Your Honor, you may dismiss the witness.

You're dismissed.

João will destroy Beja. He promised me.

I hope he's not a pushover like his father.

It's absurd we're forced to tolerate people like Avelino and Josefa.

Mrs. Ana Jacinta,

did you hire Rômulo Batista?

I did.

You sent a man after Antônio Sampaio, even knowing he was in jail?

Then, would you say, ma'am,

that Rômulo stole fruit just so that he would be incarcerated?

Only Rômulo could answer that.

Could you tell me what Rômulo planned to do once he was jailed with Antônio?

Mr. Prosecutor,

have you ever been to the Estate of Jatobá?

Yes. Why?

Everyone thinks they own Madam Beja,

but that's not quite how things go.

You all come seeking merchandise, and that's me.

Isn't that so, Judge?

"Any man that pays."

But you all know that there are rules.

I'm the one who chooses who to lay with.

And you pay handsomely for it.

Silence!

Antônio went to the ball uninvited.

He attacked me.

He forced me

to give him pleasure.

I didn't choose him, I didn't want him.

Meaning,

he disobeyed every rule of the house.

What did you expect Rômulo to do?

Settle the score,

and bring me the money he owed for pleasing himself with me by force.

Silence!

That's why they found, in that cell,

a pouch of coins and a note.

Mr. Prosecutor,

could you please read it aloud?

"Boss, forgive the unexpected result.

It got out of hand.

The payment should make its way,

but my life has lost all meaning,

without love, and without freedom.

So, I decided to go and meet with my Olívia."

You see?

An apology.

Probably because he overdid it.

I asked him to collect the debt Antônio owed me.

That was the job, not killing him!

Antônio must have fought back, and this happened.

That explains this bit.

"The payment should make its way."

Exactly.

The money was coming to me.

Ma'am, did you...

find it good sense to settle a score inside a jail cell?

Prosecutor.

A woman will go all the way into hell itself

- to collect what is owed. - How were you sure?

That Antônio had money with him in that cell?

I saw it.

He wasn't searched.

After all,

who would frisk the son of a colonel?

So, ma'am, do you think

that this Rômulo Batista fellow

took his own life just to meet his lover, as said on the note?

Rômulo was in love with Olívia.

He'd do anything for her.

And you?

Would you do anything for Antônio?

Those mourning clothes. You wear them

over the death of a man who attacked you?

Over the death of love.

My love for him. And for me.

They say those who love don't kill.

That's a lie.

Society kills us every day, as we live.

How can we live without being our true selves?

Without loving with freedom?

In that way, we're all partially dead in life.

Stiffened. Numbed.

Do you intend to get somewhere, ma'am?

With all that talking?

Men, Judge Costa Pinto,

were all taught not to deal with their passions.

To swallow their sorrows.

They weren't taught to deal with what is sensitive.

Only just with pleasure.

Power, above all else.

But us, women,

even as children,

we deal with pain.

From their first time with a man, to giving birth.

All of it is bloody.

Impure.

Because, if we love,

we have to do it in shame,

secretly.

Otherwise, we are punished for the sins of flesh.

But you men, who create the laws of humanity,

have forgotten something fundamental.

Without us, women,

there would be no humanity.

And I don't mean this humanity that crowds our world, no.

Not men and women, I mean nature itself.

I mean what distinguishes men and women.

Do you see?

Generosity, compassion.

Love for loving.

Life taught me to be rude, to impose myself by force.

To mimic the strength of men.

Today, I discovered my own strength.

The strength of a woman,

who just needs to be accepted.

And why can't us women be naturally strong?

And men sensitive? Why not?

I had Rômulo collect Antônio's debt.

Not because he was more than me.

Now, we're both dead.

Him, beneath the earth.

And I, dead, up here.

Living dead, waiting

for you to decide my fate.

No further questions.

Court is adjourned.

We'll return in a few hours to declare the verdict.

Beja, you were great with your words!

I played their game.

- I played it my way. - You'll be absolved.

I'm sure of it.

We can expect anything from these vultures.

Look after Joana.

Of course.

And show the money to "its way."

Rômulo's family will get it all.

Every penny.

You startled me, João!

- I thought someone was attacking. - I understand now, mother.

Understand what, my son?

I understand why you chose another life.

A life without my father.

Beside the person who you love.

Could you forgive me some day, mother?

For all the weight I've put on your shoulders?

For the horrible words? Everything? Please forgive me!

- Forgive me, mother! - Oh, honey!

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Dear son.

I only ask you, my friend,

to make my mother happy.

Very happy!

There is no pardon for Beja.

She can fool them with her honeyed words, not me!

Beja spoke some truths, Maria.

- What did you say? - How can you defend that woman?

She ordered my son to be killed!

She had the nerve to expose him as a man that owed money for a service!

And we know what service that was.

The harlot's audacity will do her no favors.

I have faith.

My faith guarantees the court will do justice for Antônio!

The court has decided.

We can now deliver the verdict.

The defendant may rise.