Father Geek here, I don't know what happened, buuuut here in the last few days we have had a ton of Latin-AICN style reports come acrosss my desk... AND I LOVE IT. The industries south of the Rio Grande are alive and well, and I am happy to report about their wonderful films, soooo with no Presuntuoso intended here a review on the latest film by one of the greatest Directors in the world... en mi juicio imparcial...
Hey there, Godfather Back again with a review of Walter Salles new film 'Behind The Sun'.
Salles' project prior to this was the critically acclaimed, (yet still not seen by me) film 'Central Station, which I'm told is very very good. 'Behind the Sun' tells the story of one family engaged in an age old blood feud in Brazil (around 1910). Tonio (Rodrigo Santoro) the eldest son, by tradition, must avenge the death of his brother Inacio when the blood on Inacio's shirt turns yellow in the sun. He does so, making him the next target for death by the opposing family. Its a vicious cycle, where each family avenges the death of the last killed, and would presumably go on forever - all encouraged by Tonio's father (Jose Dumont) whose family farm is all of dissipated, and all he believes he has left is his honour.
Realizing that he only really has until the shirt turns yellow, Tonio decides to run away with a pair of circus performers who pass by him one day - one of which is the ravishing fire-eater, Clara (Flavia Marco Antonio) - Tonio must decide between his fate or the life he wants....
Nice synopsis huh? Would make a great pitch I'm sure...
But there are a few comments I should make...
The film is stunning to look at. Salles and cinematographer Walter Carvalho use some amazingly simple images to convey the hopelessness of the entire situation - the circling oxen which grind up the sugarcane is a really beautiful allegory to the cycle of violence - similarly there's some terrific compositions and camera work throughout the entire film, really giving us the feeling that this is just going to go on forever.
The dialogue is very minimal, and the performances are great, Jose Dumont is superb as the hardened father who has already lost one son and most of his sugarcane farm, and Rodrigo Santoro is sure to be the next brooding hunk in Hollywood (he's already cast in Charlies Angels 2) - the fact is he looks great on screen - and even though his performance is minimalistic, we feel his desire to get out, coupled with the fact that he wants to honour his family. But the real star of the film for me was Ravi Ramos Lacerda, who makes his screen debut as Pacu, Tonio's younger brother. He doesn't give a showy performance, but its pitch perfect.
But this is not a perfect film - you can't help but feeling when you walk out that there was a missing ingredient. It feels like a great meal that you know could have been perfection, if it just had a little more salt. And I'm still not sure what it is - Salles really creates some stunning imagery, but he doesn't allow the film to become melodrama, or overly emotional, despite the fact that the characters are going through hell - and the effect is that as an audience, we're left on the peripheral of the film, as complete outsiders. Don't get me wrong, the film has really amazing atmosphere, and I loved just sitting and watching it all unfold, but I didn't really feel invited into the world entirely - and in the end, this makes the film slightly less than enjoyable - as a film it was so close, but just not quite there. It feels too short in the end, and I felt a little cheated as the build up of tension wasn't allowed a release.
Check it out though - it's still a haunting film, theres just something missing thats all...
Godfather out.
