Throughout the year, few films manage to portray the despair of our human condition in such a profound and intimate way. Affonso Uchoa’s new film (A Vizinhança do Tigre; Arábia) introduces us to Rafael, a young man who was hounded by the police seven years ago and whose life has been changed ever since. Every word that comes out of his mouth forms a political anthem without equal. “Is your story any different?” he asks his interlocutor when he has finished speaking. “It’s the same; all stories are alike,” comes the reply. With moments that rival the best of Pedro Costa, Seven Years in May is not a film about what is happening in Brazil today (though it is that too, and in what a way!); it is, above all, a film about what has been happening for years, for centuries, all over the world. FERNANDO VÍLCHEZ