Storyline
Carlos ditches his wife Luciana and kid, drifting through the chaotic streets of São Paulo on the hunt for some kind of fresh start. His mind keeps boomeranging back to the late '50s and early '60s—back when he was just 25, working at Volkswagen during Brazil’s car industry explosion. Quality control, yeah, but not exactly Mr. Ethics—he starts taking kickbacks from Arturo, this Italian auto parts guy, for turning a blind eye to shoddy gears. Meanwhile, his love life’s a mess: he’s got Ana on the side, then falls for Hilda, this dreamy, rebellious intellectual. Later, he runs into the “other” Ana during English class (like, how many Anas does one guy need?), ends up marrying her, trying to go respectable. Years roll by, Carlos loses his Volkswagen job, winds up managing Arturo’s factory. But instead of finding himself, he just gets swallowed up by the grind, losing any sense of who he really is. Just another cog in São Paulo’s industrial machine, you know?
