Antonio das Mortes

If you watch Hollywood movies only, this one may be hard for you. But it will be a great experience for some lunatics (like me) who believe in the power and in the freedom of the cinematographic images.

The subject is Brazil, the conflicts of a country that crossed a violent dictatorship at the time the movie was made. All the characters are representing groups of the brazilian society. Some of them, like the cangaceiros (poor and revolted people who became outlaws in the early 20th century), and the Saint (portrait of a blended religion that exists in Brazil, with elements of catholicism and african religions) are taken in a mythological approach. The delirious Glauber Rocha takes his characters to moral edges, leads them to crazy bang-bang scenes, to samba and war. There are no linear conclusions in the end. Only some new doubts and unusual beauty.

Antonio das Mortes is a great example to understand Brazilian 'Cinema Novo', but also, to understand the complexity of social relations in the country, specifically in the northeastern region -- Brazil's poorest desertic region. Three groups of people are presented to the viewer. The 'Coronel' is the one who owns the land and controls the local authorities. The medium classes are represented by the 'Doctor', the 'Teacher' and the Catholic church -- all of them responsible for mantaining the structures of power that allow unequality to perpetuate. Lastly, the miserable people, who are led by the 'Cangaceiro' and the 'Santa' and are represented mostly by women of color, who lean on faith and popular culture to unite against poverty and starvation. The language, as in most of 'Cinema Novo' films, is overly artistic, caricatured and very little realistic at times. Theatrical acting and visual poetry are resources to tell the narrative of the film, and they do well, but sometimes the scenes are very disconnected from human logicality -- at times, the characters are simply unreasonable. Nonetheless, that is exactly how it is supposed to be. This movie is art by art, with a social narrative that fits perfectly in the times where unequality grew the most in Brazilian history. At the end of the day, the killers and the martyrs were all the same -- people.

I was amazed to see that others have given this movie an average rating of 8.5 out of 10. It's extremely dated, confusing, and quite silly. Some people walked out of it when it showed at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, Calif., USA, recently. And that audience represents the acme of film buffs and connoisseurs --people who can tolerate almost anything.

Went into this one not really knowing what to expect. I'm no student of Brazilian history, and am sure this meant many allusions and much else that was interesting about the film passed me by. There were stretches where I felt my eyelids drooping (this was after a couple of beers, admittedly). However, some of the imagery is breathtaking, and the final ten minutes are just astonishing. I would watch it again for the end alone. Music too is great, particularly the final snatch of song/narration. Audience (half Brazilian, half staid English types like myself) was fairly bopping in the aisles...

this is one of the most beautiful films that i have come across. The beautifully changing styles of narration to get to a complete absurd or a rather dream like experience at the end of the film makes it one of the most beautiful essay on form. a must watch for anyone who is interested in understanding how a narrative style can change in the process of a film.

glauber rocha is like a magician who brings out the pigeon from nowhere and turns into a rabbit and makes it into a formation of a cloud. it is pure poetry.

The characters for Rocha are pure ideas, the movements and kinesics , takes them out of the fences of realism to the level of an oral narrative or a mythical one for that matter. As the movie progresses it turns, it can be best said, to take up the form of a folk dance.

it is a normal phenomena to notice the drop outs in the first quarter of the film,before the turn over starts. the wrong perception created by the experiences of the various films that had ruled our viewings.

at the end i will like to say it is a sure treat for anyone interested in the grammar and language of cinema.