Turistas (2006)

Director: John Stockwell

Cast: Josh Duhamel as Alex, Melissa George as Pru, Olivia Wilde as Bea, Desmond Askew as Finn, Beau Garrett as Amy, Max Brown as Liam, Agles Steib as Kiko, Miguel Lunardi as Zamora, Jorge Só as Bus Driver, Cristiani Aparecida as Native Beauty, Lucy Ramos as Arolea, Andréa Leal as Camila, Diego Santiago as Jacaré, Marcão as Ranan, Miguelito Acosta as Jamoru

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")