With three episodes, the work is an expanded adaptation of the successful podcast signed by the journalist in 2022 and arrives at Prime Video on Friday (15)
“The woman of the abandoned house” was an event of 2022. Under the attentive and investigative gaze of the journalist, the story of a rich woman, resident of Higienópolis, who had been accused of keeping a worker in slavery -like conditions for years, won the country. Now, 3 years later, the story reverberates in another form of documentary series in Prime Video. With testimony of Hilda Rosa dos Santos, who was the victim of this crime, agents of the FBI who worked in the case, and neighbors who closely followed the story, the production arrives on August 15 to reveal the unlocked side.
In an interview, Chico spoke about the importance of bringing this new strand of the case and the severity of the crime committed by Margarida Bonetti, who is still considered sought by police in the United States, as the crime does not prescribe in American lands. “It’s a very complex issue, I never imagined that the case was to have so many unfolding. I thought that in the podcast it was already clear that that person had been accused of crimes and had fled from the country, but had a matter of mystery, her figure who made people read the daisy as a character, not a human being,” he said.
“I think the series, as it brings images, testimonials from Hilda, the FBI staff, the people who were involved in the American justice process, I think it puts to sleep the possibility that she was someone who was being wronged, a gossip of the neighborhood. It is clear that, in fact, there was a crime by which Daisy’s husband was convicted, and that she was not convicted because she fled the country,” he said. “I think this is the importance of the series, bringing this other perspective, much stronger the American side than in podcast, and with unavoidable evidence. Hilda’s testimony, the evidence that the American Federal Police, the testimonials of neighboring, make us understand the severity of the thing.”
Kátia Lund, who directs the production, also told how was the process of electing new characters that further thickened the narrative. “All the time we wanted to talk to characters who had directly involved in the story. We started with some hooks Chico gave, people who called him after the podcast, who were new revelations, like another neighbor in the United States, who said a community was involved to help Hilda. One wire is pulling another. Interested. We went to the groups of retired agents, journalists and, in the end, what convinced him was a letter from Hilda, saying she wanted to tell her story, ”he recalled.
The most striking testimonial of the series is undoubtedly Hilda’s own, which stands in front of the cameras to tell her story. Mariana Paiva, screenwriter of the documentary, recalled this special exchange with Hilda. “The perspective of how the series would be with her presence. For me, it created much more form with her presence, it is the other side that we did not hear in the podcast. She has a very strong personality, she had the courage to tell everything that happened in court and, because she is 90 years old, she decided to count now in the series. Her confidence, she trusted that we were going to tell a good story, Katia went to the United States, knocked on her door and that was fundamental, ”he said.
“The woman in the abandoned house” is an expanded adaptation of the podcast signed by Chico Felitti in 2022, is directed by Katia Lund and arrives at Prime Video on Friday (15). The case, which at the time had great legal repercussions in the United States, generated intense debates and led to the creation of a law that protects victims of forced labor, allowing workers who report abuse to remain legally in that country.
