Hunger for Love (1968) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1968 · 73 mins · Portuguese

Directed by

Nelson Pereira dos Santos

Starring

Neville D’Almeida, Arduíno Colassanti, Paulo Porto, Manfredo Colassanti, Irene Stefânia, Leila Diniz

After a study tour of U.S. film schools, dos Santos draws on avant‑garde mentors like Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage to fashion a radical adaptation of Guilherme de Figueiredo’s allegorical tale of adultery and colonialism. Shot in Manhattan and Brazil during Vietnam‑war protests, the film uses an abstract soundtrack and fragmented narrative to evoke the paranoia preceding Brazil’s December 1968 coup, delivering a sharp critique of Sixties countercultural excess and marking a key ideological moment in Cinema Novo.