Property follows Tereza (Malu Galli), a fashion designer who becomes a hyper-anxious recluse after being held at gunpoint in a busy city. Her wealthy husband, Roberto (Tavinho Teixeira), finances her recovery with security measures, therapy, and an armored car, but neglects her emotional needs.
Tereza locks herself in the car when laborers incapacitate Roberto and storm their landlord’s house. The film builds tension around Tereza and Roberto’s home before switching to the farmers’ perspective. The workers, who have lost their jobs and are heavily indebted, revolt after learning the property is being converted into a hotel. The mute and unstable Zildo (Anderson Cleber) initiates violence, prompting the farmers to raid the house, steal back their papers, and loot luxuries.
Returning to the farm after years of seclusion, Tereza is shocked by the uprising. Confined to her armored car, she witnesses the chaos through its windows. Though unable to help the workers, some of whom threaten her life, Tereza's seclusion becomes a claustrophobic ordeal. The film's tension escalates as her armored car becomes a fragile barrier between her and the enraged laborers. Directed by Daniel Bandeira, Property is a thriller about a woman confronting her deepest fears and the violent collision of two disparate worlds.
Property suffers from identity issues. Billed as a thriller, shot like a horror movie, and using the overly-simplistic logic of a tired 80s slasher movie, the film trips over its own feet in the messaging department. While it’s fine for a film to disconnect from reality in order to explore the human condition, Property seems to have a very low view of the working-class characters many other reviews say it ‘gives agency:’ None of their actions make much sense. Why is the disabled man criminally insane? Why does everyone just fall in line behind the killer instead of calling the police after the first murder?
This all came as a disappointment to me, as I really enjoyed the cinematography. Sadly, Property fails to deliver in terms of story and themes and will leave many viewers confused as to what the film is actually trying to say. Its ideals are often billed as fresh and contemporary, but they play out like the tired old criminal super-predator flicks of the late 80s. Optional purchase for international horror collections on public library shelves.