The Fifth Power (Portuguese: O 5º Poder) is a 1962 Brazilian science fiction thriller film directed by Alberto Pieralisi, and written and produced by Carlos Pedregal.

It tells the story of foreign agents who wish to take control of Brazil's natural resources by transmitting subliminal messages to convince the population to overthrow its government, and it is considered one of the first serious Brazilian science fiction films.

Carlos Pedregal traveled from Spain to Argentina, his mother's birthplace, and from there received a temporary visa to work in Brazil as a journalist starting in 1947.

[2] Seeking to emulate the methods of Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz, which hired foreigners for technical roles in order to produce films of an international quality level,[3] Pedregal hired Italian director Alberto Pieralisi (who had lived in Brazil for a number of years, but had previously worked for Cines and Cinecittà in Italy[1]) and Turkish cinematographer Özen Sermet.

O Estado de S. Paulo wrote in a review that "the suspenseful, thrilling atmosphere recalls SF works by William Cameron Menzies and Edgar G. Ulmer.

In regards to the novelty of its science fiction elements, Diário de Notícias wrote that the "terrible weapon of subjugation of collective behavior, capable of directing the subconscious of people under its influence..." "has at its mercy unwitting and unconscious accomplices of a campaign without precedents or limits.

Added to the individual tragedies were explicit references to massacres, the case of the Gran Circo Norte-Americano, a riot in the Guanabara State Penitentiary and thewave of popular withdrawals that shook Duque de Caxias in 1962.