Wagner Moura participated in “Closet Pick’s”, a video series by Criterion Group, an American company responsible for distributing films on physical media. For the videos, many artists from the world of cinema are filmed in the Criterion Closet, a locker that has become globally known on social media, where guests select a series of DVDs and talk about some of their favorite films.
In the video in question, the actor from “Secret Agent”, a film by director Kleber Mendonça Filho that has been chosen to represent Brazil at the 2026 Academy Awards, comments on “God and Satan in the Land of the Sun”, a classic film by Glauber Rocha that perpetuated the New Cinema movement, which challenged the military dictatorship by breaking the cultural norms of the time.
The artist said: “It is a film full of social commentary and a very beautiful film. It is the film with the most beautiful poster ever, in my opinion.” He also praised Othon Bastos, an actor from Bahia like himself, who plays the lead role in the film.
Moura also cited “Limite”, an experimental feature film released by Mario Peixoto in 1931. The film became one of the most influential titles in Brazilian production because of the way it subverts the idea of traditional narrative. “I’ve never seen anything like this movie,” the actor said.
In the closet, he found “Limite” in a DVD collection selected by Martin Scorsese, who praised it for its careful selection of patriotic films. Among the titles in the collection, he also talked about “Pixote, the Law of the Weaker,” a film directed by Hector Babenco that follows a boy shortly after he escapes from his youth boarding school.
Moura and Babenko worked together on the film “Carandero”, a 2003 work that depicts the lives of prisoners in prison, their conditions, codes, and the events that led to the massacre that occurred in 1992.
Among the titles chosen by Mora, he also talked about “O Emprego,” a 1961 Italian comedy about the working class, the Cuban film “Memories of Underdevelopment,” which depicts the atmosphere of a Cuba in crisis, and “Rosetta,” a 1999 film directed by brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne.
“They are my favorite directors of all time. They can talk about youth in a way that no one else can. It’s shot in a realistic way that speaks to the way Brazilians shot their films in New Cinema.”