Black God, White Devil
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGlauber Rocha
Written byGlauber Rocha
Produced byLuiz Augusto Mendes
StarringYoná Magalhães
Geraldo Del Rey
Othon Bastos
Maurício do Valle
CinematographyWaldemar Lima
Edited byGlauber Rocha
Rafael Justo Valverde
Music bySérgio Ricardo
Production
company
Copacabana Filmes
Distributed byHerbert Richers
Copacabana Filmes
Release date
  • June 1, 1964 (1964-06-01)[1]
Running time
120 minutes
CountryBrazil
LanguagePortuguese
Box office$7,826[2][3]

Black God, White Devil (Portuguese: Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol; literally, "God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun") is a 1964 Brazilian Western adventure film directed and written by Glauber Rocha, and starring Othon Bastos, Maurício do Valle, Yoná Magalhães, and Geraldo Del Rey.

Shot in Monte Santo, Bahia, [1] it belongs to the Cinema Novo movement, addressing the sociopolitical problems of 1960s Brazil.[4] The film was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[5]

Plot

In the 1940s, during another drought in the sertão, ranch hand Manoel is fed up with his situation and hopes to buy his own plot of land. His boss tries to cheat him of his earnings and Manoel kills him, fleeing with his wife, Rosa.

Now an outlaw, Manoel travels to the holy site of Monte Santo to join up with a religious cult headed by the self-proclaimed saint Sebastião who condones violence and preaches disturbing doctrines against the wealthy landowners. All the while, the church and local elites hire a bounty hunter by the name of Antônio das Mortes to take out the group. Before Antônio is able to assassinate Sebastião, Rosa stabs Sebastião, leaving him dead, and the two are on the move once again. At this point, the couple end up with a band of cangaceiros also working to take down the government and bosses of the sertão. Antônio is now tasked with assassinating these bandits. He finds head cangaceiros Corisco and Dadá and murders them, leaving Manoel and Rosa alone all again.

And so it goes, both running from one allegiance to another, following the words of others as they attempt to find a place in their ruthless land.

Cast

Production

Glauber Rocha was 25 years old when he wrote and began to direct the film. Its filming took place on Monte Santo and Canudos, Bahia lasting from June 18, 1963, to September 2, 1963.[1][4]

In the scene where we see "Manoel" (Geraldo Del Rey) carrying a huge stone over his head while climbing Monte Santo on his knees, Del Rey insisted on carrying a real stone that weighted over 20 kilos - something that worried Rocha. After the shooting, Del Rey had to take 2 days off, due to fatigue.[4]

During the dubbing of the sound, Othon Bastos performed three voices. Besides dubbing himself as "Corisco", he performed the voice for "Lampião" (whom "Corisco" had "incorporated") and also dubbed "Sebastião", the black God, even though Lídio Silva played the character on screen.[4]

Release

The film was released on DVD in North America for the first time by Koch-Lorber Films.

A 4K restoration had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, at the "Cannes Classics Restorations" section.[6]

Reception

Critical reception

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100%, based on 15 reviews, with a rating average of 8.3/10.[7]

A. H. Weiler from The New York Times praised the film, calling it "Simple, black-and-white, more arresting as a shocking polemic than as memorable drama."[8] Ted Shen from The Chicago Reader wrote, "The fusion of European and Afro-Brazilian elements--dialogue, exquisite black-and-white images, and music by Villa-Lobos--is startlingly original and poetical in conveying the hope and despair of the oppressed."[9] Time Out Magazine praised the film's style as being "somewhere between folk ballad and contemporary myth, since the references to Brazilian history and culture are pervasive and fairly opaque to the uninitiated".[10]

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the main competition of the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.[11] It was also selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 37th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[5]

In 2015 it was voted number 2 on the Abraccine Top 100 Brazilian films list.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol" (in Portuguese). Cinemateca Brasileira. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  2. ^ "Black God, White Devil". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 1, 2023.Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ "Black God, White Devil". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Ramos, Fernão; Miranda, Luiz Felipe (2000). Enciclopédia do cinema brasileiro. Senac. p. 351. ISBN 9788573590937.
  5. ^ a b Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  6. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (2022-05-02). "Cannes Classics Lineup Includes Ethan Hawke's 'The Last Movie Stars', Restorations Of 'Singin' In The Rain', 'The Mother And The Whore' & More". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  7. ^ "Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) (1964) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  8. ^ Weiler, A. (25 September 1971). "Black God, White Devil,' From Brazil - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  9. ^ Shen, Ted (9 September 1999). "Black God, White Devil". Chicago Reader.com. Ted Shen. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Black God, White Devil, directed by Glauber Rocha". Time Out.com. TR. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Black God, White Devil". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  12. ^ "Abraccine organiza ranking dos 100 melhores filmes brasileiros". Abraccine - Associação Brasileira de Críticos de Cinema (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2023-08-12.

External links

Films directed by Glauber Rocha
Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
Categories