Amaldiçoada

"Brimstone" is one film that arises emotion and stays in the viewer. The long and realistic story is one of the gloomiest, most depressing, cruel and unfair without redemption ever written. However, let me make clear that the film is excellent and the viewer shall not give up watching in the beginning. The screenplay divided in four parts - Revelation, Exodus, Genesis and Retribution - is perfect, disclosing the non-chronological saga of the protagonist Liz / Joanna. The cast is magnificent, with Guy Pearce representing the personification of evil and Dakota Fanning difficult to be recognized in the role of a "cursed" woman, supported by Carice van Houten and Kit Harington. The locations, costumes and cinematography are top notch and the haunting music score is also magnificent. The only question that remains is how might be the heart of someone that writes such a story? My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Amaldiçoada" ("Cursed")

This movie was a good movie in my opinion. The story was well- constructed, the themes were relevant and compelling and the acting was extraordinary, especially the reverent and Dakota Fanning (saw her in American pastoral too the other day, she is a force to be reckoned with in the acting world). So yes, this is a good movie.

But would I recommend watching it to any of my friends or family? No, probably not, because although it was a good movie it made me feel horrible afterwards (as in crying in the bathroom horrible), and this is coming from someone who has seen her fair share of horrors and thrillers throughout the years. I don't know why, but there was something so incredibly heart-wrenching about this movie for me that i have barely slept last night. It was not because of the graphic violence per se, although it didn't help of course, but just because of the atmosphere created throughout the movie.

So if you are planning on watching keep in mind that it is not for the faint-hearted (I feel like Albus Dumbledore warning about the Triwizard tournament lol)

Not an easy film to watch, but well worth the effort if you can stomach all the hardships our infinitely sympathetic lead has to endure.

One catastrophe after another befalls poor Dakota Fanning, mainly thanks to ONE OF THE WORST HUMAN BEINGS EVER TO WALK THE FACE OF THE PLANET (Guy Pierce doing a top notch job) and the inherit sexism of the 19th century.

Yep, this is the kind of downright despicable depravity you won't see on those Sunday afternoon Westerns your grandpappy falls asleep to. If you like the typically sanitised Cowboys vs Indians in a romanticised setting, this ain't for you.

On the other hand, if you fancy being dragged through seven shades of hell before emerging to blink on the other side feeling every emotion possible... then saddle up, pardner. Have I got the movie for you.

Brutal. Harrowing. Unforgiving. Just a few words that come to mind that succinctly describe the experience of watching BRIMSTONE. If you like/don't mind the unsavory and uncompromising in your entertainment you'll probably enjoy this. If you like languidly paced art films, then you'll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, you might lose your patience. The narrative unfolds slowly and methodically, but the payoff is mostly worth the time taken to get there. Aiming to keep this spoiler-free, a brief synopsis is that a new minister (Guy Pearce) comes to a small Western town, and this puts a mute woman (Dakota Fanning) on edge, especially after a miscarriage puts her at odds with her fellow townsfolk. One further important detail is that the film is divided into four chapters, and the first three of these unfold in reverse chronological order. The movie centers around Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce's characters, and the narrative structure allowed the director to withhold key information until the right time. Of course, like many other films with unique narrative devices, remove it and the film wouldn't be nearly as effective. That being said, there's plenty of stuff that goes on in nearly two and a half hours. A little indulgent? Sure, but all of the narrative elements are good enough to not make this much of a deal-breaker. I will say that the pacing, though slow, was steady and I never got bored. Thematically, Martin Koolhoven (the director) was able to use the period setting effectively to portray a world of religious coercion and the lengths men will go to justify oppressing women. Guy Pearce's character was basically evil incarnate, and it was a scarily brilliant performance. Dakota Fanning also did well, certainly better than I've seen out of her before. Kit Harrington also had a small role as a man that Dakota Fanning's character secretly nurses back to health, and who also teaches her a valuable lesson. From the more technical side, I greatly enjoyed the beautiful cinematography, and the haunting score by Tom Holkenborg (aka, JunkieXL). All things considered, this is one of the best films I've seen in a while, Western or not. For some reason, Europeans seem to do a better job nowadays tackling this genre, and BRIMSTONE is no exception. As long as you're a somewhat patient viewer, and not easily offended, I can highly recommend this.

It is interesting to see the shear amount of negative reviews here, while I think this movie portrays a very realistic scenario in a lawless US at that time. It still portrays a realistic scenario in some parts of the world today. Its unrelenting violence and utter hopelessness reminds me a lot of a famous novel by Kosinski: the painted bird.

If you came here to see your typical 100 in a dozen Hollywood happy ending movies, better move on to something different. Seriously. This movie will make you sad, hopeless and angry at the same time.

If you want to descent into the dark part of human-kind, here on full display in all its naked ugliness, go see it. It's masterful in my opinion.