The film “The Little Secret,” directed by David Schurmann, is Brazil’s candidate for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Based on true events, “The Little Secret” is a film with three interconnected stories, all linked by a single secret that converges to reveal the tragic yet beautiful lives of three families and how hope, dreams, and destiny can unite people from very different parts of the world.
Adopted in childhood by a loving family after facing the loss of her parents, Kat has led a life full of adventures. Now in her teenage years, she is trying to adapt to a “normal” life while the world shows her how cruel life can be. After discovering a secret that threatens her life, she wonders if her dreams are still possible. Heloisa is a devoted mother who has been entrusted with the secret and will do anything to keep her family together; however, she knows that the future is unpredictable. Jeanne, a beautiful young woman native to the Amazon, falls in love with Robert, a New Zealander, with whom she discovers that her possibilities are endless, but she forgets that destiny has its own plans. Barbara, an older English woman who has become cold and lonely, is capable of doing anything to get what she wants. When the past knocks at her door, she embarks on a journey to rediscover love.
The critic Alcino Leite Neto, writing for Folha de S.Paulo, harshly criticized the film, calling it “one of the worst recent Brazilian films” and “an ocean of clichés and sentimentality.”
On the other hand, critic Luciano Trigo, writing for G1, praised the film saying that “The Little Secret is indeed the best Brazilian film in recent years. In style, form, and content, it is fully qualified to compete for and win the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.”