Besouro

Can it really have been more than two decades since ONLY THE STRONG was released? Since then, capoeira has firmly cemented itself into the martial arts scene, especially in film, but while there has been no shortage of kickboxing and MMA flicks since then, I don't believe that any movie between 1993 and 2009's BESOURO has exclusively highlighted the art. Disappointingly, we may need to wait even longer for a genuinely good capoeira vehicle, because while this Brazilian-made film is about as legitimate as it can be, it falls victim to some crazy creative decisions and damaging false advertising.

The story: Following the murder of a capoeira master and community leader in a 1920s Bahia town, his best student (Ailton Carmo) receives a revelation to fight against the oppressors of the Afro-Brazilian community.

All covers to the film that I have seen seem to indicate that this is a martial arts action movie, but it's best to know beforehand that this is not really the case. First and foremost, this is a historical drama that examines the racial injustices of post-slavery Brazilian society, with some fantasy on the side and a dessert-sized helping of action. This isn't not 12 YEARS A SLAVE but there's enough violence, cruelty, and racial slurs to make for some uncomfortable scenes. In the middle of things, the story takes a PAN'S LABYRINTH-esque detour into absurdity, with spirits that only certain characters can see and the lead character turning into a frog and communing with ghosts. It's jarring and inharmonious to say the least, and not written well enough to make any sense at all.

Among the abilities of these spirits is apparent weightlessness, and this demonstrates another quirk among the filmmakers' decisions. The action is choreographed by Hong Kong stunt lord Huan-Chiu Ku, and his involvement is either the best or worst thing about the film, depending on your preferences. Instead of keeping the already fantastical displays of capoeira grounded, Ku brings in the wires to let the characters makes superhuman bounds and fly – literally fly. This is not to say that there are no fights more realistic than that – half of the four exchanges tend to remain on the ground – but nevertheless, it seems like a waste to dilute the potential of such a singular fighting style with wirework.

Despite these criticisms, the acting is fairly strong, some of the locations are beautiful, and even though the screenplay could be a lot tighter, the film is never boring. These positives help earn the film a positive rating, although it's far from the most enthusiastic one I could give. BESOURO is a singular movie, though not for reasons that I would have wanted. I hope that Ailton Carmo sees more work as an action actor, but if I never saw this film again, I would not be heartbroken. Take it or leave it.

The film is based on the true story of a capoeirista nicknamed Besouro. The action scenes and the story are very much based on old Chinese movies and the movie has that feel to it.

It is a great film, with many African religious elements and shows a racism that unfortunately still exists in Brazil.

Amazing movie about a Brazilian legend: Besouro. All the actions scenes are very realistic and also have a Brazilian swing on this unique Brazilian martial art, the capoeira. Invented by Afro-Brazilians slaves to protect themselves against slavery. Photography is also a high level on the movie, vivid colors and very well done compositions. Based in a true Story, we can see lots of Brazilian culture hardly seen before, the relations between the slaves and the plantations owner are also told in the movie. The acting has a special taste, the actors are very genuine, the director chose a kind of non mainstream actors to keep the realistic feeling in the story. Totally recommended! Go for it!

Let's make no mistake here; this is not a Capoeira film. It's more of a film about people that do Capoeira. The story of Besouro is one of responsibility, pendants, spiritualism, rebellion, and the understanding that ideals don't die they live on in the minds of others who take them to heart. The Film Besouro follows the main character Besouro Mangangá a legendary capoeirista from Santo Amaro, Bahia Brazil. The film is set in the jungles of Bahia in the 1920s; the story is firmly grounded in its historical time and place, when rich white landowners oppressed black workers like slaves, even after the abolishment of slavery in Brazil. The story begins when Master Alipio, who has taught the art of Capoeira to Besouro, Dinora and Quero-Quero since they were children, is brutally murdered under Besouro's watch. Besouro's guilt over how his negligence led to his Master's death sends him deep into the jungles of Bahia where Master Alipio tells his young student from beyond the grave to fight for his people. Besouro is not alone on his mission however; he is aided by the Orisha, Deity like spirits, notably Eshu (a trickster God). They give him magical powers that make his body virtually impenetrable. The story is engaging and it has a social point to make, all of it brought together with a martial arts nougat center. The action is nice, not only do you see Capoeira as it's seen normally on the street (which to the uninitiated is cool enough) but you also see it in its combative form. But sadly to some, wire fighting is sprinkled throughout the action scenes, thankfully their appearance are few and far between.

For all that the film tries to do sadly it feels a bit empty in the end. For a movie that has action, drama, mysticism, revenge, and romance it seemingly forgot to pick up character development from Soccer practice. Characters move from one emotional plot point to another with little explanation of the reasoning behind the character change. With that being said, Besouro is still an entertaining and interesting film. For those who are looking for a nonstop balls to the wall Capoeira action film I'm afraid the search will have to continue. But for those looking for a intriguing film which features an equally unique fighting style or if you simply like the style of Capoeira and wish to see a film where it's shown positively, then I feel Besouro is worth a viewing. So on a scale of "Lord of the Rings" to "Twilight" this film gets a Watchmen.

5 stars, Lord of the Rings. 4 stars, the fifth element. 3 stars, Watchmen. 2 stars, The Company of Wolves. 1 star, Twilight.

Although filmed with a sort of contemporary touch in aesthetics and camera works this film is a let down. The character never seem to capture the viewer who is simply rambling through the cliché far-fetched kind of plans. It seems to try to compensate in aesthetic exacerbation what it lacks in simplicity and dramatic quality. It comes out as a hard to develop kind of thing and it simply doesn't take advantage of so many possibilities left to explore, from the actual roots of capoeira, to the potential in most of the characters. The characters are also a bunch of stereotypical sketch and never leave that numb state to let out some actual personality. Everyone just goes where they're expected to go and do what they are supposed to do. That's nothing else than lack of inventiveness and failure to capture the essence of smaller and less obvious connections. Not totally a waste of time, but almost. Not recommended.