The film, created in exile from 1971 to 1973 between Cuba and Rome, is considered a "semi-finished" work by Glauber Rocha. It has a certain pedagogical character and seeks, through dialectical editing, to conduct a critical review of colonization, class struggle, messianism, and the establishment of populist governments in the Third World. There is a chronology in the events presented, which, supported by extensive iconography (films, engravings, photos, etc.), create "free" associations that allow the viewer a "polyphonic" view of the "History of Brazil."

Made shortly after the death of Brazilian revolutionary Carlos Marighella, this documentary reconstructs his life and political struggle through interviews with friends and comrades. It examines his role in the resistance against Brazil’s military dictatorship and his death in a 1969 police ambush.