Addicted to Freedom

The main hero of the film is the grandfather of one of the filmmaker’s, the courageous, daring Brazilian lawyer, Evandro Lins e Silva. By following the stories of his battle for justice, Lius e Silva reveals the recent history of a society whose military government abolished many civil rights in 1968. Though 88 years old, the lawyer was invited to defend the leader of the Landless Workers' Movement, who was accused of murder. Lins e Silva’s return to court is the starting point for the film. The filmmakers set out their own ideas alongside his approach to justice, politics and law, in an attempt to better understand him. The story becomes universal, vividly reflecting Brazilian society in all its prismatic shades. The late nineteen-sixties, and the military’s imposed dictatorship, are counterpointed by the present, in which the filmmakers are politically active. With the intimate candid dialog and reflections on previous and current Supreme Court cases, the film creates a mosaic which is both a picture of a remarkable person, and a portrait of turbulent times.