The risk a period piece runs is that any immaculate reconstruction of the past, however distant, will always feel like a different reality than the present one. History is only recoverable insofar as we can learn about what happened and what life was like for people before us. To actually try and reinhabit the past is a folly of nostalgia favored by fools and fascists. Kleber Mendonça Filho is neither a fool nor a fascist.