While traveling on vacation through the country of Northeastern of Brazil by bus, the American Alex Trubituan (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea Tribituan (Olivia Wilde) and their friend Amy Harrington (Beau Garrett) meet the also foreigners Pru Stagler (Melissa George), Finn Davies (Desmond Askew) and Liam Kuller (Max Brown) after an accident with their bus. They follow a track through the woods and find a hidden paradisiacal beach. They decide to stay in the place drinking beer and dancing funk and parting with the locals and they meet the amicable Brazilian teenager Kiko (Agles Steib). They are drugged with "Bom Dia, Cinderela" (translation: Good Morning, Cinderella - a trick used by smalltime crooks to steal naive people) and when they wake up, they are practically naked, with all their belongings, clothes, money, jewels, passports, backpacks etc. stolen. They walk to a small village trying to find a police station, they get into trouble with the dwellers and they are helped by their acquaintance Kiko, who leads them to his uncle's isolated well-equipped cabin in the woods to wait for the next bus two days later. Along the night, Kiko's "uncle" arrives with his friends and the group discloses the sinister intentions of the newcomers.
When "Turistas" was released, there was a huge campaign in Brazil to boycott this movie because it showed a bad, distorted and stereotyped image of Brazil. I have just seen this film on DVD, I am Brazilian, and I totally disagree with this position. First of all, "Turistas" is fictional, based on the urban legend or reality of traffic of human organs, and the story takes place in Brazil the same way this theme is approached in London in Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things" or the violent "Hostel" is in Slovakia. Second, director John Stockwell seems to be absolutely familiarized with the usual behavior of simple people from the Northeastern of Brazil and the way of thinking of average tourists. They give hospitality to tourists, they are friendly, they like to party and dance, the prices of food and lodging are very low, the bus drivers do not respect the traffic laws, even the use of drug to rob incautious tourists, therefore he discloses the reality in a magnificent landscape. Further, there are many funny lines in Portuguese. The sinister theme has a good and logical approach and the performances are great and realistic, only the conclusion is weak in the plot. Of course the fate of the backpackers is fictional and the possibility of an incident like this happen is practically null. Welcome to Brazil, actually a nice place to be visited. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Turistas" ("Tourists")
When "Turistas" was released, there was a huge campaign in Brazil to boycott this movie because it showed a bad, distorted and stereotyped image of Brazil. I have just seen this film on DVD, I am Brazilian, and I totally disagree with this position. First of all, "Turistas" is fictional, based on the urban legend or reality of traffic of human organs, and the story takes place in Brazil the same way this theme is approached in London in Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things" or the violent "Hostel" is in Slovakia. Second, director John Stockwell seems to be absolutely familiarized with the usual behavior of simple people from the Northeastern of Brazil and the way of thinking of average tourists. They give hospitality to tourists, they are friendly, they like to party and dance, the prices of food and lodging are very low, the bus drivers do not respect the traffic laws, even the use of drug to rob incautious tourists, therefore he discloses the reality in a magnificent landscape. Further, there are many funny lines in Portuguese. The sinister theme has a good and logical approach and the performances are great and realistic, only the conclusion is weak in the plot. Of course the fate of the backpackers is fictional and the possibility of an incident like this happen is practically null. Welcome to Brazil, actually a nice place to be visited. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Turistas" ("Tourists")