One of the strangest films I've seen, in any language, but it must have been good because I'm still processing it a day or two later. The underlying meaning and the intent are not too far off the mark - we're all targeted, hunted and sacrificed by factions that seek to profit from our misfortune, lack of opportunity, demographic, vulnerability and fear; especially when amplified by poverty - if we don't look after ourselves, nobody will. One for all and all for one!
153 Reviews
Wow
fhenrike4 September 2019
Bacurau embraces so many strong topics: the endemic violence in Brazil, the gun culture and god complex of the US, social gap, political corruption, historical resistance of Nordeste (Brazil's Northeast region) and the "complexo de vira-lata" (inferiority complex) of the people by their own country. These are all packed in a mystery/thriller/western entertaining film set in the Sertão. It's already a classic and an important addition to Brazilian contemporary cinema.
A wild ride
mbrcf7 July 2020
Perhaps the most recent entry of weird western genre, this is a wild ride form start to finish. imagine mixing Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns with science fiction, horror and disturbing scenes, psychedelic drugs, Udo kier as a former nazi with his squad of savage american-eoropean villains and cultural themes of a local brazillian village and the result is Bacurau.
Written and directed by Kleber Mendonca, an acclaimed brazillian filmmaker, Bacurau is a roller-coaster of a film. It manages somehow to be both 1. reminiscent of Jodorowsky's surrealists westerns and 2. a very modern social commentary film about foreign invasion and colonialism. You may or may not like this film, but you will surely appreciate it's accomplishments.
Written and directed by Kleber Mendonca, an acclaimed brazillian filmmaker, Bacurau is a roller-coaster of a film. It manages somehow to be both 1. reminiscent of Jodorowsky's surrealists westerns and 2. a very modern social commentary film about foreign invasion and colonialism. You may or may not like this film, but you will surely appreciate it's accomplishments.
A surrealistic n hypnotic western with amazing sun soaked cinematography and a noteworthy showdown.
Fella_shibby28 September 2020
I was in a mood to see a western aft watching too many horror movies.
This movie's name cropped up. I saw this without checking the trailer and without reading any thing bah it. What a pleasant surprise i got.
I am generous with a 9 cos i enjoyed this. Simple, aint no wannabe critic.
The film moves at a slow pace without getting bore. It has lots of twists n turns n some wierd stuff. People roaming naked, people taking bath openly, etc.
The showdown in the end is amazingly done n Western fans will definitely enjoy it. The cinematography is awesome.
The plot without any spoilers - A village consisting of very few close knitted people and suffering from severe water shortage experiences a series of unusual events after the arrival of two tourist bikers. The entire village's mobile signal goes down, the village's name n location suddenly disappears from online maps, a flying drone is seen hovering above n horses from nearby farm are set loose.
The plot without any spoilers - A village consisting of very few close knitted people and suffering from severe water shortage experiences a series of unusual events after the arrival of two tourist bikers. The entire village's mobile signal goes down, the village's name n location suddenly disappears from online maps, a flying drone is seen hovering above n horses from nearby farm are set loose.
Good from beginning to end
tchelo9816 May 2019
This movie gets you going in a way that maybe you weren't expecting from an action thriller and shows genuine characters that you come to care about really early. It also introduces you to a place that's rough and angry and you realize that there's a perfect symbiosis with this rugged land and with its people. The problems they suffer on a daily basis ( lack of water, food, unwilling and corrupted government officials ), make them to the eye of certain people and corporations as second class citizens and maybe PREY!!!
A Viciously Incisive Slice Of Brazil's Sociopolitical Concerns
CinemaClown11 June 2020
An ingeniously veiled & viciously incisive slice of Brazil's sociopolitical affairs that refuses to be confined by genre definitions, Bacurau is a blazingly original, deftly layered & thoroughly engaging delight that takes its inspirations from the works of both Sergio Leone & John Carpenter but creates something that's truly unique & relevant to the nation's endemic concerns.
Written & directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles, the film is not only strange & mysterious at first but also dreamlike & unpredictable but as plot progresses and dots connect and stakes become clearer, it gives way to a vivid & violent showdown that's gleefully barbaric & extremely cathartic. Taking its time to cement the foundations, this is smart, subversive storytelling.
The story digs into Brazil's violence-fuelled history, political corruption, structural injustice & social gap through the small-town community, investing in its bustling life before acquainting us with the sinister threat that's lurking in the vicinity. The performances are solid throughout, the collective whole turning out to be greater than the sum of its parts. And the background score adds its own synth-flavoured bits to the final print.
Overall, Bacurau is a cleverly scripted, intelligently directed, finely photographed, expertly edited, steadily paced & strongly acted cinema that's thrilling, riveting & entertaining from the first frame to the last. A potent & powerful combination of sharp commentary & tangy extravaganza that's exquisitely balanced on all fronts, Bacurau is one of the best films of last year and is accomplished enough to find a spot amongst Brazil cinema's finest. Highly recommended.
Written & directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles, the film is not only strange & mysterious at first but also dreamlike & unpredictable but as plot progresses and dots connect and stakes become clearer, it gives way to a vivid & violent showdown that's gleefully barbaric & extremely cathartic. Taking its time to cement the foundations, this is smart, subversive storytelling.
The story digs into Brazil's violence-fuelled history, political corruption, structural injustice & social gap through the small-town community, investing in its bustling life before acquainting us with the sinister threat that's lurking in the vicinity. The performances are solid throughout, the collective whole turning out to be greater than the sum of its parts. And the background score adds its own synth-flavoured bits to the final print.
Overall, Bacurau is a cleverly scripted, intelligently directed, finely photographed, expertly edited, steadily paced & strongly acted cinema that's thrilling, riveting & entertaining from the first frame to the last. A potent & powerful combination of sharp commentary & tangy extravaganza that's exquisitely balanced on all fronts, Bacurau is one of the best films of last year and is accomplished enough to find a spot amongst Brazil cinema's finest. Highly recommended.
Strangest film of 2020
Stay_away_from_the_Metropol17 December 2020
Easily the strangest film I saw in 2020. The Brazilian actors feel so genuine and legit, and all the American actors are the polar opposite: Cinemax caliber acting. The juxtaposition between the two is really off-putting, but it's one of the things that gives this strange movie it's own identity. Somehow it feels like there is some sort of symbolic parallel with the weird drone UFO that you see very early in the film. At first when you see it, you think "they can't really expect us to accept how cheap looking this thing is, can they?", but it turns out it was a conscious decision and served a purpose. I have to wonder if the production team purposefully did the same thing when they cast the American actors - I wouldn't doubt it, but I can't determine why they would metaphorically.
Bacurau is not exactly a super enjoyable film to watch, but it's a very intriguing experience with a unique tone of it's own. It's rather grim overall - almost completely humorless, but there's accomplishment in that. There is plentiful violence, as it is one of the main themes of the film. I enjoyed the music throughout the film, as disjointed as it felt - the John Carpenter song felt totally out of place, but as a big fan of it, I enjoyed it anyhow. The Geraldo Vandre song is the one that stands out the most - sounds like a Spanish King Crimson - it's great! Udo Kier was also a nice addition to an otherwise unknown cast - total legend - always equally creepy and enjoyable.
I wouldn't recommend this to the average person, but if someone asked me about it and they were curious, I would definitely tell them it's good. I'd be curious to see what this director would choose to do with a higher budget. Time for me to read up on them a bit...
Bacurau is not exactly a super enjoyable film to watch, but it's a very intriguing experience with a unique tone of it's own. It's rather grim overall - almost completely humorless, but there's accomplishment in that. There is plentiful violence, as it is one of the main themes of the film. I enjoyed the music throughout the film, as disjointed as it felt - the John Carpenter song felt totally out of place, but as a big fan of it, I enjoyed it anyhow. The Geraldo Vandre song is the one that stands out the most - sounds like a Spanish King Crimson - it's great! Udo Kier was also a nice addition to an otherwise unknown cast - total legend - always equally creepy and enjoyable.
I wouldn't recommend this to the average person, but if someone asked me about it and they were curious, I would definitely tell them it's good. I'd be curious to see what this director would choose to do with a higher budget. Time for me to read up on them a bit...
A Superb masterpiece
schuck-800981 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Just came back from the cinema caught with so many thoughts on the various ideas that this film brings as its messages, or its core, but packaged with the estethics of a Quentin Tarantino like movie, in a very original art.
The film begins showing a passenger and the water supply truck driver driving through an arid and almost desert land somewhere in countryside of Pernambuco to a funeral in the small town Bacurau.
So, right from the beggining the viewer might think that this movie is some sort of surreal and senseless movie and it can seem even lame at first.
As the movie develops, it is visible that this movie is a fable -with elements pointing to the past - and dystopia- aspects that point towards a frightening future.
Why? Foreigners doing whatever they want disregarding anything but their own pleasure. Local politicians who put their own people in danger in exchange of bribes from foreigners. The ridiculous role of south and south eastern brazilians with some far away european descent perceiving themselves as closer to europeans and thus better than the average brazilian - the 'cowboys' identified later as a justice staff... Anything familiar? Well, and of course, the museum (Brazils national museum burned to the ground in 2018). Neglected by the southeastern and later shown in the story, it has the marks of culture and guards peoples identity (in the case, foreigners were ignorant to local resistance culture). So when you hit people you cant turn back to their history. The museum represents a large symbolic element in this movie. masterpiece!
The film begins showing a passenger and the water supply truck driver driving through an arid and almost desert land somewhere in countryside of Pernambuco to a funeral in the small town Bacurau.
So, right from the beggining the viewer might think that this movie is some sort of surreal and senseless movie and it can seem even lame at first.
As the movie develops, it is visible that this movie is a fable -with elements pointing to the past - and dystopia- aspects that point towards a frightening future.
Why? Foreigners doing whatever they want disregarding anything but their own pleasure. Local politicians who put their own people in danger in exchange of bribes from foreigners. The ridiculous role of south and south eastern brazilians with some far away european descent perceiving themselves as closer to europeans and thus better than the average brazilian - the 'cowboys' identified later as a justice staff... Anything familiar? Well, and of course, the museum (Brazils national museum burned to the ground in 2018). Neglected by the southeastern and later shown in the story, it has the marks of culture and guards peoples identity (in the case, foreigners were ignorant to local resistance culture). So when you hit people you cant turn back to their history. The museum represents a large symbolic element in this movie. masterpiece!
Bacurau
RaulFerreiraZem16 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Okay film. The Lunga character is pretty cool so i'll give the film that but it is kind of lackluster.
It had more to do with my expectations than with the actual film i guess but the film surrounds itself with this political film aura and does not live up to it. I mean it has some nods to brazilian politics like the whole "south Brazil" (referencing the small but still frightening contingent of south separatists) or the fact that the film takes place in Pernambuco and the whole context of exploration that the northeast of Brazil has faced for since the country was first colonized by Portugal. But that is it. I thought the film would develop even just a little bit the social economic situation of this dystopian Brazil but no they do not. It just kind of goes into this Hostel situation where rich american people kill the citizens of Bacurau for fun. I mean, the film is good for what it is, but the political aspect of it is really underdeveloped.
Also, the film builds this theme of neo colonization and the oppression of Brazil by Europe and North America but ultimately ditches all of that by making the villains not act in bigotry but in complete insanity.
Anyway, that's just me. The film is good if you don't really mind the politics. My only complaint is that in its politics the film COULD'VE AND SHOULD'VE gone even further.
Also, the film builds this theme of neo colonization and the oppression of Brazil by Europe and North America but ultimately ditches all of that by making the villains not act in bigotry but in complete insanity.
Anyway, that's just me. The film is good if you don't really mind the politics. My only complaint is that in its politics the film COULD'VE AND SHOULD'VE gone even further.
Really Goes for It
evanston_dad13 December 2021
Man this movie really goes for it.
A wild, wild movie that feels like both a nod to Sergio Leone by way of Quentin Tarantino (though that's basically just saying this is like a Tarantino movie) and something wholly its own, "Bacurau" is a fiercely original howl of rage at white oppression and exploitation. The inhabitants of Bacurau, a small village in rural South America, are in a literal fight for survival against a band of gun-crazed killers, most of them American, who don't seem to have a motive for wiping them out beyond the exhilaration of killing people. They decide to fight back. That plot summary seems simple and linear. But as it plays out in the movie, it's instead a tangled knot of teased plot strands, information strategically withheld, and a gradual spiral from straightforward storytelling to almost surreal narrative.
I would normally complain about a movie like this that wants us to cheer on brutality just because those committing it have themselves been brutalized. But despite, or maybe because, this movie is so unapologetic in its violence and rage, it's utterly captivating and exhilarating. Disturbing to be sure, but also tremendously exciting.
Grade: A.
A wild, wild movie that feels like both a nod to Sergio Leone by way of Quentin Tarantino (though that's basically just saying this is like a Tarantino movie) and something wholly its own, "Bacurau" is a fiercely original howl of rage at white oppression and exploitation. The inhabitants of Bacurau, a small village in rural South America, are in a literal fight for survival against a band of gun-crazed killers, most of them American, who don't seem to have a motive for wiping them out beyond the exhilaration of killing people. They decide to fight back. That plot summary seems simple and linear. But as it plays out in the movie, it's instead a tangled knot of teased plot strands, information strategically withheld, and a gradual spiral from straightforward storytelling to almost surreal narrative.
I would normally complain about a movie like this that wants us to cheer on brutality just because those committing it have themselves been brutalized. But despite, or maybe because, this movie is so unapologetic in its violence and rage, it's utterly captivating and exhilarating. Disturbing to be sure, but also tremendously exciting.
Grade: A.
Don't mess with the village people.
Pjtaylor-96-13804428 April 2022
'Bacurau (2019)' is many things, but unoriginal isn't one of them. The film begins with a young woman returning to her remote home village with supplies such as vaccines, but it eventually morphs into something rather unexpected. I won't spoil anything specific here, but it's safe to say that the flick doesn't conform to any one genre. It doesn't even flip fully between its varying tones; it consistently carves out its own versions of them. It's difficult to describe, in a way. Essentially, it's never quite what you expect it to be, even when it seems to be heading in a specific direction. In many ways, it's all the better for it. It truly feels like its own thing, an amalgamation of influences that emerges as a distinct experience in its own right. There's nothing especially groundbreaking about any of its individual elements, but it finds freshness in the way in which it puts them all together. It's fairly long and it drags a little in places, but it's typically an enigmatic and entertaining affair that does a good job pulling you into its idiosyncratic world. It's at its best when focusing on the inhabitants of its eponymous village. Whenever it cuts to its other major set of characters, it loses quite a bit of steam and feels a bit tonally incongruent. There's a lot going on here, both in terms of plot and theme. Though it isn't fully cohesive, it's impressive that it manages to come together as nicely as it does. Apparently a lot of it plays out as satire of Brazil's current political landscape, but I don't know anything about Brazil's current political landscape; I'm unashamed to admit that most of the political satire went over my head. Ultimately, the picture is an enjoyable and well-written genre mash-up that's impressive in its ability to avoid labels and still deliver a compelling narrative.
why you should see this amazing piece of psychedelic realism
trpuk196822 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
It's rare for me to see films which impress me to the point of spending time writing reviews. Without blowing my own trumpet, I studied film to Masters level, I think I have some idea what I'm talking about, I'm a busy person, time for me is a precious resource and I don't waste it.
Our Brazilian friends are much better qualified then I am to write about the ways this film is an analogy about Brazilian history and society so I'm going there in this review.
This really had me thinking and disturbed to the point that I couldn't sleep properly afterwards.
With all due respect I think those comparing it to Quentin Tarantino films would benefit from watching a more diverse range of movies. The treatment of violence here is nothing like Tarantino and serves a very different purpose. There's none of the extended dialogue of a Tarantino entertainment product, none of the endless pop culture references neither is there the constant expression of the N word.
Films which sit more comfortably alongside this would be Werner Herzog's 'Aguirre Wrath of God' another film (from the seventies) dealing with colonialism. Perhaps also Jodorowsky as well as some of Bunuel's output. There's a similar surrealism and sense of the uncanny of things just that little bit out of kilter.
I'd also put this film alongside the recent 'Midsommar' which while not dealing with colonialism nonetheless shares some similarities.
Colonialism isn't a strong enough word to describe what the Europeans did to the indigenous peoples of the Latin American continent. This film goes beyond being an obvious analogy of Brazil - I read it as a commentary upon the depravity of civilisation itself, exemplified in the scene when the naked shaman character, busy tending to his plants, is 'ambushed' by the two Americans who're part of some reality game consisting of people hunting down unarmed victims.
The merging of a dystopian science fiction film with a frankly unclassifiable genre - I'm going to invent the term psychedelic realism for want of a better word works really well. The film wrongfooted me at one point towards the end as I was thinking 'here's the twist' and it just wasn't.
Human beings are savage, depraved animals who enjoy killing and inflicting pain and suffering upon one another.
I certainly want to see this again because there's lots of symbolism and images pointing out clues which will reward a second and third viewing.
Some hope is offered in the way the film implies that sticking together might be one way to overcome our vilest impulses.
We're in a heavily mediated, technologically dependent society in which the line between reality and fantasy has all but disappeared for many people. Far from being rational, scientific, controlled by reason, it's contemporary civilisation which is savage and untamed and it's through the illogical, the psychedelic, the opening oneself up to nature which defies control and order, that our true spirit can emerge.
Or something. This film certainly got me thinking...........if you want an immersive, baffling, thought provoking experience this is the one.
Our Brazilian friends are much better qualified then I am to write about the ways this film is an analogy about Brazilian history and society so I'm going there in this review.
This really had me thinking and disturbed to the point that I couldn't sleep properly afterwards.
With all due respect I think those comparing it to Quentin Tarantino films would benefit from watching a more diverse range of movies. The treatment of violence here is nothing like Tarantino and serves a very different purpose. There's none of the extended dialogue of a Tarantino entertainment product, none of the endless pop culture references neither is there the constant expression of the N word.
Films which sit more comfortably alongside this would be Werner Herzog's 'Aguirre Wrath of God' another film (from the seventies) dealing with colonialism. Perhaps also Jodorowsky as well as some of Bunuel's output. There's a similar surrealism and sense of the uncanny of things just that little bit out of kilter.
I'd also put this film alongside the recent 'Midsommar' which while not dealing with colonialism nonetheless shares some similarities.
Colonialism isn't a strong enough word to describe what the Europeans did to the indigenous peoples of the Latin American continent. This film goes beyond being an obvious analogy of Brazil - I read it as a commentary upon the depravity of civilisation itself, exemplified in the scene when the naked shaman character, busy tending to his plants, is 'ambushed' by the two Americans who're part of some reality game consisting of people hunting down unarmed victims.
The merging of a dystopian science fiction film with a frankly unclassifiable genre - I'm going to invent the term psychedelic realism for want of a better word works really well. The film wrongfooted me at one point towards the end as I was thinking 'here's the twist' and it just wasn't.
Human beings are savage, depraved animals who enjoy killing and inflicting pain and suffering upon one another.
I certainly want to see this again because there's lots of symbolism and images pointing out clues which will reward a second and third viewing.
Some hope is offered in the way the film implies that sticking together might be one way to overcome our vilest impulses.
We're in a heavily mediated, technologically dependent society in which the line between reality and fantasy has all but disappeared for many people. Far from being rational, scientific, controlled by reason, it's contemporary civilisation which is savage and untamed and it's through the illogical, the psychedelic, the opening oneself up to nature which defies control and order, that our true spirit can emerge.
Or something. This film certainly got me thinking...........if you want an immersive, baffling, thought provoking experience this is the one.
Bacurau
jboothmillard5 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I recorded this Portuguese language film from television, I read more about it before watching it, it was described as something like a "multi-genre allegory", I didn't know what to expect, but I was prepared to give it a chance. Basically, in the near future, the people of Bacurau, a settlement in Serra Verde, in western Pernambuco, witness a series of unusual events, including telephone signals going down, the settlement unexplainably disappearing from online maps, flying saucer-shaped drones chasing travellers and a couple of motor bikers from Rio de Janeiro passing by. These strange occurrences happen following the death of Carmelita (Lia de Itamaracá), a matriarch of the village, The villagers and other relatives, including her granddaughter Teresa (Bárbara Colen), have gathered for her funeral. During this time, there is a dispute over water rights from the local river, with water being dammed upstream in a collusion of which the mayor Tony Junior (Thardelly Lima) is a part. He visits Bacurau in his re-election campaign and is clearly hated by the people of the village. Meanwhile, the villagers are forced to have water delivered by truck from elsewhere. Another strange incident occurs when the truck is shot at, resulting in multiple leaks. When dozens of horses appear in town, two men go to investigate the nearby farm from where they presumably escaped and find the whole family murdered. As the two men leave the property, they are executed by the motor bikers. This couple rendezvous with a group of foreigners led by Michael (Udo Kier) and are apprehended for killing the two men. After receiving unheard instructions through earpieces, the foreigners execute the motor bikers and argue over who did the killing. As the death toll rises and a nine-year-old boy is slaughtered in cold blood, Pacote (Thomas Aquino) deduces the town will be attacked and the people prepare to defend themselves. When the foreigners arrive, the locals kill them, except for Michael, who is captured. Following the battle, Tony Junior (Thardelly Lima) comes to Bacurau and Michael calls his name; Tony denies knowing him. The mayor is sent away half-naked and tied up to a donkey. It ends with Michael being buried alive in an underground cell while shouting that "this is only the beginning". Also starring Silvero Pereira as Lunga, Rubens Santos as Erivaldo, Wilson Rabelo as Plinio, Carlos Francisco as Damiano, and Sônia Braga as Domingas. The film is part spaghetti western, horror, thriller, action, science-fiction and political, I can agree with at least half of those genres being included. I'm not going to pretend I understood anything going on, apart from the main plot that weird things are happening in a small, secluded Brazilian town with mysterious characters, but there were enough moments, some brutal and bloody, that caught my attention, and it was oddness that kept me watching, so it is a watchable drama (that's the simple genre to define it as). Good!
Bad, bad & bad. Did I mentioned how bad it is ?
vasilissotiropoulos6 September 2021
I don't know if I saw the same movie as the rest of the people describing it as a master piece but I personally tried as hard as I could not to sleep. The movie can be divided into to parts . The first part can be thought as a documentary (and a low budget one) whereas the second one as an extremely bad sci-fi. Nothing made sense in the movie overall, so many messages that we were supposed to receive but i feel like most of the good reviewers are trying to extract so many things that are completely incoherent and do not come naturally from the film. My advise to you: if you have other options to spend your time rather than watch this movie, seriously go ahead with those ones.
Bacurau - The power of a community and its people
criti-cally11 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
What is a film? For some it is entertainment, for some it is window to escape their lives and an exploration of lives other than theirs, and for some it is a source for thinking points and deeper self examination. Bacurau, is one of those movies that checks all three categories with double ticks.
I realized while watching the movie, that what I had set as the expectation for this film was not even close to what this film actually is. It is a genre blurring drama which plays like a western, flirts with dystopian sci-fi with a sprinkle of pure pulp mixed with some unclassifiable genre which someone has aptly termed as "Psychedelic Realism". The movie is laden with so symbolism and metaphors and there's no clever detective to put together the pieces for you; you have to that yourself. There's no oblivious narrative blueprint to follow and no precious little exposition to uncover. Instead there are beauties, mysteries and multiple characters with their own backstories from the community of Bacurau. This is one of those movies giving whom a second or a third watch will reward with the hidden images and clues to decipher its actual meaning.
Like 'Parasite', 'Bacurau' is the second marvelous non-English film this year picking up similar issues of 'social-inequality'. However, while Parasite focused more on the capitalist and income inequality aspects, Bacurau does this in the form of politics, colonialism and corruption. Both movies having a different style, narrative and themes but bringing up such powerful references about the different inequalities that exist in our world through metaphors.
Overall, Bacurau's narrative can be said to be divided into 3 main parts, all with a different genre and theme. But the transition between these parts is so smooth that you don't really notice that you've crossed them, making the film a seamless Psychedelic experience.
The movie has an enigmatic opener, a variant on those puzzles that begin with a body sprawled on the floor. Teresa (Bárbara Colen) is returning back to her village, Bacurau, for the funeral of her grandmother and the town's matriarch, the 94 year old Carmelita. As she participates in the funeral procession with her father and almost the entire town, we are immediately shown introduced to the main character of the film. It's not any one person. It's all of them. It's the community of Bacurau, and they are the people who's home is this quaint little town in the middle of Brazil's North-East region. From the song they sing at the funeral to the waving of their handkerchiefs, the main character is introduced rather pompously with music and life and death and energy. People live here, people face their challenges, and people die, but they do it all peacefully. As is communicated clearly in the beginning by the sign board welcoming visitors to the town, 'Bacurau - If you go, go in peace'.
Never have I seen such a peaceful demonstration of death and funeral captured on film the way it is done in the beginning of this movie. There is a death, but there's neither sadness nor mourning; only peaceful acceptance. Evident from the fact that the next day when Teressa meets and suggests of sleeping together to her romantic partner Pacote (Thomas Aquino) who might have been a reformed insurgent, Pacote makes sure by asking her, "Aren't you in mourning?", to which she replies, "I'm not religious". Teresa doesn't really need to mourn, because she is at home, amongst her people. Even with her grandmother gone, there is still peace.
Bacurau, as suggested by the name, is the main character in this movie. Based on some of Brazil's back country regions called sertao and more specifically, a quilombo, one of the may settlements originally founded by escaped enslaved people. The directors created a new version of this settlement, which we can call a 'remixed quilombo' - a black community in historical place of resistance with white, trans, indigenous and other inhabitants. The first part of the movie is just that, introducing this community to the audience and building its character through stunning, short visuals of the daily life of its people.
Right from the beginning, the film picks you up from the comfort of your homes and makes you travel through the arid green landscapes of North-East Brazil, and drops you in the middle of the town of Bacurau without any evident story. It then, starts nosing around its streets and secrets, jumping from one character to another, giving us some background about the entire community and the town. The directors show the town filtered with faces that have life in them. Even though they don't speak much, but even a distant voyeuristic journey into their lives gives us a deep character study of the town and their community that deepens the realism of the story. Right from the beginning it makes us feel at home, like we're a part of this community of Bacurau and helps us relate with them.
One of my favorite scenes conveying this is the water scene where a (presumed to be) pimp brings a lorry full of water, connects it to their house's plumbing, and three people use the water together, one for bathing, one washing clothes, and one cleaning dishes, as a more affluent lady observes them. Not a single word is said. This is a routine that shouldn't be a routine for anyone, making you instantly feel the shortage of water. The movie sets some facts straight in the beginning forts half, that this movie is about the town, and that there is a water shortage in the town due to a dam being built by the government, which has cut off this town's regular water supply and that the town is set in a dystopian futuristic world that looks a lot like our own present one.
The second part is where things start taking a mysterious, psychedelic, sci-fi turn. It feels like the first pill Teresa was shown taking when she entered the village, as fed to her by one of the older people from the town, has finally hit us, and now trippy weird things are beginning to show up as its effects. The town is no longer visible on the satellite maps, there are horses running through the town, a flying saucer is spotted following some people, mysterious deaths happening and many more weird things. Something has started to meddle with the town, and its troubling the people, the community. They can't interconnect these small things without realizing something big is coming.
We are also introduced to some kind of group of foreigners that get pleasure out of hunting people. For them it's a game, constituting of white Americans and Europeans who are there to get the highest score, a point for each kill, led by a "German living in America since the last 40 years" named Michael (Udo Kier). He seems harsh and ruthless and more of a crazy psychotic killer. I saw this as a reference to how America affects the world, and even a commentary on colonialism. Colonialism isn't a strong enough word to describe what the Europeans did to Latin America, and even rest of the world. I also saw it as a metaphor to how big American companies are entering Brazil and use the help of the local city dwelling, more Americanized and fairer-skinned Brazilians, only to trick them and kill them off, ultimately affecting the life of the peaceful rural communities of Brazil.
Such is the dystopian sci-fi-ness in this part that we are even introduced to a character named Lunga (Silvero Pereira), who dresses in Mad Max style clothes with a leopard-print cut-sleeves and a mullet, who helps uniting the town to fight against its oppressors. This is where the rage among the community of Bacurau begins to grow and show. We see the rage that was already there, from the lack of water and proper living qualities and from the corruption and oppression by the government. This rage is now increasing a thousand fold as it turns into madness. Mad from loss, mad at the failed government, mad at the brutality brought by the well-healed outsiders. This rage and madness in them can only be quenched by blood and revenge.
In one of the most thrilling, heart chilling scenes, we see the a group of children playing together and one of them shot by one of the heart. It is a heart wrenching, depressive scene, shot so well with such mystery and suspense, that its easy for anyone to lose in humanity. Human beings are savage, depraved animals who enjoy killing and inflicting pain and suffering upon one another. This powerful scene, in a way expresses how we as humans, know of all the injustices happening to fellow people around us, know of their sufferings but still choose to put a blind eye to them, just so we can live our happy lives. There are places around the world where we know young kids are being killed or tortured and dragged to wars, and even though we hear about it and sympathize for them, there nothing we or anyone else can do but to ignore it and live our own lives. This scene particularly shows this brutality and the suffering visually, making us re-think the entire existence of humanity and our purpose. The people of Bacurau are deeply disturbed and they will take their revenge, but not everyone is able to, and that it is the hardest part to digest.
And this is where the final part of the films comes where the narrative makes another sharp turn and becomes pure pulp. The action sequences are something a Tarantino living in Brazil would shoot. Not wanting to give out too many spoilers, but one of the main scenes of the movie involving a naked old black man in a greenhouse and two white hunters coming to kill him reminded me so much of a Quentin Tarantino movie. There is a slow build up, a suspense, an brutal and surprise attack and revenge for blood with all the blood, gore and nudity...
I realized while watching the movie, that what I had set as the expectation for this film was not even close to what this film actually is. It is a genre blurring drama which plays like a western, flirts with dystopian sci-fi with a sprinkle of pure pulp mixed with some unclassifiable genre which someone has aptly termed as "Psychedelic Realism". The movie is laden with so symbolism and metaphors and there's no clever detective to put together the pieces for you; you have to that yourself. There's no oblivious narrative blueprint to follow and no precious little exposition to uncover. Instead there are beauties, mysteries and multiple characters with their own backstories from the community of Bacurau. This is one of those movies giving whom a second or a third watch will reward with the hidden images and clues to decipher its actual meaning.
Like 'Parasite', 'Bacurau' is the second marvelous non-English film this year picking up similar issues of 'social-inequality'. However, while Parasite focused more on the capitalist and income inequality aspects, Bacurau does this in the form of politics, colonialism and corruption. Both movies having a different style, narrative and themes but bringing up such powerful references about the different inequalities that exist in our world through metaphors.
Overall, Bacurau's narrative can be said to be divided into 3 main parts, all with a different genre and theme. But the transition between these parts is so smooth that you don't really notice that you've crossed them, making the film a seamless Psychedelic experience.
The movie has an enigmatic opener, a variant on those puzzles that begin with a body sprawled on the floor. Teresa (Bárbara Colen) is returning back to her village, Bacurau, for the funeral of her grandmother and the town's matriarch, the 94 year old Carmelita. As she participates in the funeral procession with her father and almost the entire town, we are immediately shown introduced to the main character of the film. It's not any one person. It's all of them. It's the community of Bacurau, and they are the people who's home is this quaint little town in the middle of Brazil's North-East region. From the song they sing at the funeral to the waving of their handkerchiefs, the main character is introduced rather pompously with music and life and death and energy. People live here, people face their challenges, and people die, but they do it all peacefully. As is communicated clearly in the beginning by the sign board welcoming visitors to the town, 'Bacurau - If you go, go in peace'.
Never have I seen such a peaceful demonstration of death and funeral captured on film the way it is done in the beginning of this movie. There is a death, but there's neither sadness nor mourning; only peaceful acceptance. Evident from the fact that the next day when Teressa meets and suggests of sleeping together to her romantic partner Pacote (Thomas Aquino) who might have been a reformed insurgent, Pacote makes sure by asking her, "Aren't you in mourning?", to which she replies, "I'm not religious". Teresa doesn't really need to mourn, because she is at home, amongst her people. Even with her grandmother gone, there is still peace.
Bacurau, as suggested by the name, is the main character in this movie. Based on some of Brazil's back country regions called sertao and more specifically, a quilombo, one of the may settlements originally founded by escaped enslaved people. The directors created a new version of this settlement, which we can call a 'remixed quilombo' - a black community in historical place of resistance with white, trans, indigenous and other inhabitants. The first part of the movie is just that, introducing this community to the audience and building its character through stunning, short visuals of the daily life of its people.
Right from the beginning, the film picks you up from the comfort of your homes and makes you travel through the arid green landscapes of North-East Brazil, and drops you in the middle of the town of Bacurau without any evident story. It then, starts nosing around its streets and secrets, jumping from one character to another, giving us some background about the entire community and the town. The directors show the town filtered with faces that have life in them. Even though they don't speak much, but even a distant voyeuristic journey into their lives gives us a deep character study of the town and their community that deepens the realism of the story. Right from the beginning it makes us feel at home, like we're a part of this community of Bacurau and helps us relate with them.
One of my favorite scenes conveying this is the water scene where a (presumed to be) pimp brings a lorry full of water, connects it to their house's plumbing, and three people use the water together, one for bathing, one washing clothes, and one cleaning dishes, as a more affluent lady observes them. Not a single word is said. This is a routine that shouldn't be a routine for anyone, making you instantly feel the shortage of water. The movie sets some facts straight in the beginning forts half, that this movie is about the town, and that there is a water shortage in the town due to a dam being built by the government, which has cut off this town's regular water supply and that the town is set in a dystopian futuristic world that looks a lot like our own present one.
The second part is where things start taking a mysterious, psychedelic, sci-fi turn. It feels like the first pill Teresa was shown taking when she entered the village, as fed to her by one of the older people from the town, has finally hit us, and now trippy weird things are beginning to show up as its effects. The town is no longer visible on the satellite maps, there are horses running through the town, a flying saucer is spotted following some people, mysterious deaths happening and many more weird things. Something has started to meddle with the town, and its troubling the people, the community. They can't interconnect these small things without realizing something big is coming.
We are also introduced to some kind of group of foreigners that get pleasure out of hunting people. For them it's a game, constituting of white Americans and Europeans who are there to get the highest score, a point for each kill, led by a "German living in America since the last 40 years" named Michael (Udo Kier). He seems harsh and ruthless and more of a crazy psychotic killer. I saw this as a reference to how America affects the world, and even a commentary on colonialism. Colonialism isn't a strong enough word to describe what the Europeans did to Latin America, and even rest of the world. I also saw it as a metaphor to how big American companies are entering Brazil and use the help of the local city dwelling, more Americanized and fairer-skinned Brazilians, only to trick them and kill them off, ultimately affecting the life of the peaceful rural communities of Brazil.
Such is the dystopian sci-fi-ness in this part that we are even introduced to a character named Lunga (Silvero Pereira), who dresses in Mad Max style clothes with a leopard-print cut-sleeves and a mullet, who helps uniting the town to fight against its oppressors. This is where the rage among the community of Bacurau begins to grow and show. We see the rage that was already there, from the lack of water and proper living qualities and from the corruption and oppression by the government. This rage is now increasing a thousand fold as it turns into madness. Mad from loss, mad at the failed government, mad at the brutality brought by the well-healed outsiders. This rage and madness in them can only be quenched by blood and revenge.
In one of the most thrilling, heart chilling scenes, we see the a group of children playing together and one of them shot by one of the heart. It is a heart wrenching, depressive scene, shot so well with such mystery and suspense, that its easy for anyone to lose in humanity. Human beings are savage, depraved animals who enjoy killing and inflicting pain and suffering upon one another. This powerful scene, in a way expresses how we as humans, know of all the injustices happening to fellow people around us, know of their sufferings but still choose to put a blind eye to them, just so we can live our happy lives. There are places around the world where we know young kids are being killed or tortured and dragged to wars, and even though we hear about it and sympathize for them, there nothing we or anyone else can do but to ignore it and live our own lives. This scene particularly shows this brutality and the suffering visually, making us re-think the entire existence of humanity and our purpose. The people of Bacurau are deeply disturbed and they will take their revenge, but not everyone is able to, and that it is the hardest part to digest.
And this is where the final part of the films comes where the narrative makes another sharp turn and becomes pure pulp. The action sequences are something a Tarantino living in Brazil would shoot. Not wanting to give out too many spoilers, but one of the main scenes of the movie involving a naked old black man in a greenhouse and two white hunters coming to kill him reminded me so much of a Quentin Tarantino movie. There is a slow build up, a suspense, an brutal and surprise attack and revenge for blood with all the blood, gore and nudity...
Overlong
billcr1230 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This film is way too long at two hours and eleven minutes. Some severe editing was needed. It begins with a man driving a truck filled with water to a remote village called Bacurau. Some kind of unexplained evil government has taken over and the remote town needs water delivered by tanker to survive. Half way through a group of bad American fascists, led by a German, played well by Udo Kier, begin killing people and the people of Bacurau must defend themselves, much like The Magnificent Seven, a much better movie. Lots of violence and some nudity thrown in, including old and obese individuals. The cast is fine overall, but again, it is a bit of a marathon.
Excelente!
jhcereja20 August 2019
Too many unanswered questions
sjh-1616 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This film was clearly very well made and kept my interest and attention throughout. But I couldn't rate it higher than a six because I found all the gruesome violence too much to handle and because I left with far too many unanswered questions. Exactly who was the group of foreigners and were they just killing for sport? Who were their Brazilian accomplices and how was the mayor involved? What exactly was the problem with the water? What had Lunga done to make him go into hiding? How can such a small village support full-time prostitutes? What was the director trying to say? Like an abstract painting in a gallery which requires you to read 5 paragraphs of text to fully understand and appreciate it, there was just too much about this film that I didn't 'get'. For me, it's OK to generate an air of mystery so long as most of the audience's questions are answered by the end of the film. Not so in this case.
Hard to define, surprising in many ways
praescaio5 September 2019
I don't like movies that are too formulaic, and I hit a jackpot with this one. I simply cannot ascribe it to genre. If I had to, the closest would be social satire. The movie to which it is most comparable is Relatos Salvages, and it is equally good. It is witty, violent and touching.
That's exactly the style of movies there should be more of.
deloudelouvain6 January 2020
After watchin Bacurau the first thing that came to my mind was that only Quentin Tarantino could have shot this movie better. He would for sure like this script. And now after reading some reviews I see I'm not the only that thought like that, must be some truth in it then. That aside Bacurau is fun to watch, an entertaining movie that starts slow but that get your immediate attention as you wonder what the hell is happening. Good performances from the whole cast, nice and violent action scenes, it's just a good movie that deserves a bigger audience.
Important movie, important message!
barbarella_pua11 September 2019
Not what i had in mind
Marwan-Bob10 December 2019
A mess of a movie with some nice local touches
evanwijk15 December 2022
Those who compare this to a Tarantino movie don't really appreciate the crafty dialogues and the great scenarios with interwoven stories that Tarantino's movie have: all of those things are missing here.
The movie lures you in with mysteries, disappointingly most of those are unsolved by the end of it. The story is paper thin, and the ending is bad because it's so predictable.
I'm giving 4/10 because of the exotics on display that make it different from an American movie: some beautiful shots of Brazilian outlands, the nice Brazilian music, and because of some nice atmospheric village characters such as the DJ, the musician and the old naked couple. But none of this is good enough to save the movie.
The movie lures you in with mysteries, disappointingly most of those are unsolved by the end of it. The story is paper thin, and the ending is bad because it's so predictable.
I'm giving 4/10 because of the exotics on display that make it different from an American movie: some beautiful shots of Brazilian outlands, the nice Brazilian music, and because of some nice atmospheric village characters such as the DJ, the musician and the old naked couple. But none of this is good enough to save the movie.
Weird
westsideschl17 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A bit like "Surviving the Game" and other people hunting people for sport (or other reasons) films except we have some nefarious characters going after a whole Brazilian back country town. Besides the novelty of this story is that the supporting background acting is by actual Brazilian townsfolk. Good prosthetic effects, and interesting twists. All add up to to some unique panache.
Such A Great Movie
mulhollanddriveway21 March 2021
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