The film stars Murilo Caliari in the lead role alongside Aristides de Sousa, Renata Cabral, and Renan Rovida.

[1] Sent on an errand by his aunt, Andre (Murilo Caliari) finds a notebook of a factory worker, Cristiano (Aristides de Sousa), who has been seriously injured.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Araby peers unflinchingly into the gloom of its characters' lives to tell an undeniably grim story that builds to a poignantly affecting conclusion.

[4] Robert Abele of Los Angeles Times wrote "It’s become a hallmark of the documentary/fiction hybrid that the realism on display feels both lived-in and poetic, and that’s in De Sousa’s face as well, which — like the obliquely titled “Araby” as it shuffles along to its unexpected, reflective conclusion — always registers a powerful synthesis of sensitivity and weariness.

"[5]Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, " ...thanks to Mr. de Sousa’s superb performance, the movie often convincingly portrays not just the exploited condition of laborers such as Cristiano, but the nagging sadness of life itself.