Dragao da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro aka Antonio das mortes Glauber Rocha 1969

MOVIE INFORMATION





Producers: Glauber Rocha and Claude-Antoine

Writer: Glauber Rocha

Film Editing: Eduardo Escorel

Original Music: Marlos Nobre

Keyworkds: Magic Realism, Mysticism, Surreal, Cangaço, Allegory, Social Issues etc.

Cinematography: Affonso Beato

Filming Location: Milagres, Bahia, Brazil

Running Time: 100 min

Film negative format: 35 mm

Printed film format: 35 mm

Country: Brazil

Genre: Western, Cult, Drama





AWARDS



1969 - Won: Best Director (tied with Vojtech Jasny), Cannes Film Festival, 1969.

1969 - Nominated: Golden Palm, Cannes Film Festival





PLOT SYNOPSIS



Period piece about a Brazil that is no more. This movie is the sequel to "God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun" (Deus e o diabo na terra do sol), and takes place 29 years after Antonio das Mortes killed Corisco (the "Blond Devil"), last of the Cangaceiros. In "the old days", Antonio's function in life was exterminate these bandits, on account of his personal grudges against them. His life had been meaningless for the last 29 years, but now, a new challenge awaits him. When a Cangaceiro appears in Jardim Das Piranhas, the local Land Baron (Jofre Soares), an old man, does what seems obvious to him: he calls Antonio das Mortes, killer of Cangaceiros. At first, Antonio is ecstatic. His life has gained new meaning. But soon it becomes obvious that this new Cangaceiro (named Coirana) is no Corisco, but an idealist. An idealist of the sixties in the garb of the forties. A leader to the hopeless and the hungry. Antonio das Mortes begins to reconsider his feelings towards Coirana and his followers... Written by Cristian Redferne {Harlock@prodigy.com}





MOVIEW REVIEW



From Allmovie.com



Antonio Das Mortes could be considered a political allegory about post-colonial exploitation; a folk tale based on native lore and mystical religion that features rhymed verse, traditional songs and dance, and a larger-than-life mythical protagonist; and a formally experimental western featuring deliberately over-the-top (although not extraordinarily graphic) violence and affected performances. Viewers can note the similiarities between Antonio Das Mortes and Che Guevara, Ogum, and St. George while examining the symbolism in the film. Indeed, it may be more fun to analyze the movie than to actually watch it. While Antonio Das Mortes offers the audience a chance to listen to traditional cordel music and see the Brazilian countryside, some viewers may find it lacking in entertainment value. Some may consider the film's carefuly controlled sense of time too slow, its sense of movement too theatrical, the politics too didactic, the folkloric characters not fleshed out enough as "real" people, the formal experiments too distracting, the storyline too vague, and the narrative lacking sufficient forward momentum. In other words, some will find the movie boring and uninvolving. So while the Antonio Das Mortes stands as a landmark in the Brazilian Cinema Novo movement, it is not guaranteed to delight everyone who watches it.



From Filmreference.com



In his lyric-mythic epic, Antônio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha creatively integrates elements of Brazilian popular religious culture, politics, folklore, social history, music, literature, and dance. Because of this thoroughly Brazilian context, the film is difficult for foreign viewers. Furthermore, the emblematic characters are not simple allegories but rather complex, synthetic creations representing real or fictional persons, social types, mystical or mythic motifs, social movements, or ideas.



The complexity of these unusual characterizations is exemplified by the protagonist, Antônio das Mortes. This figure had appeared in Rocha's earlier film Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol. According to Rocha, Antônio das Mortes is based on a historical figure, the bounty-hunter who in 1939 succeeded in killing Corisco, a famous cangaceiro (bandit) of the Northeastern backlands. In the film Antônio first appears as a jagunco (hired gunman) contracted to kill cangaceiros and protect a powerful landowner. After mortally wounding the cangaceiro Coirana, Antônio undergoes a political conversion and becomes a revolutionary who uses his rifle against the forces of oppression represented by the landowner and his hired gunslingers. The ending of the film is ambiguous in terms of the possible future role of the lone revolutionary. Antônio is last seen as a solitary figure walking—rifle in hand—down a backlands highway past a Shell Oil sign; the suggestion may be that a lone gunman can provoke a revolutionary situation in an underdeveloped regional setting, but he will be unable to halt massive exploitation in the new era of the multinationals.



In Antônio das Mortes, Rocha reworks the Christian myth of St. George versus the dragon in terms of Brazil's mythical consciousness. The St. George and the dragon myth is announced in the film's opening triptych and alluded to in a closing sequence: in three rapid montage shots. Antão lances the landowner from horseback. Antônio das Mortes is not the only warrior saint, or St. George figure, in the film. Antão, whose name is similar to Antônio's, is a black associated with Afro-Brazilian religions. Antão's conversion from passive religious follower to armed warrior continues the tradition of black revolt in Brazil.



In order to ritually reenact the St. George and the dragon myth, Rocha theatricalizes the continuity of his film and its mise-en-scène. Many of the scenes take place in stage-like settings such as the cavern-amphitheater or the village square. The costuming, choreography, and the use of color, poetry, and music recall theater and opera. Rocha's method of shooting imitates theatrical time and space. He prefers either lengthy sequences with a few cuts or long sequence shots. Conventional shot-reverse shot or cross-cutting are generally rejected in favor of capturing the scene's significant elements within the shot and the frame.



Rocha has argued that Brazilian filmmakers should not use European and American cinematic strategies and techniques to depict Latin America's unique social problems. In Antônio das Mortes, Rocha seeks to contribute to the decolonization of Brazilian cinema by meshing new cinematic strategies with Brazilian reality. One such strategy is Rocha's use of a Brazilian color code: the bright colors of buildings and costumes are natural and authentic colors that convey cultural significance for Brazilian audiences. During the location filming, Rocha drew directly on the knowledge and experience of the backlanders. The music and the dancing of the Antônio-Coirana duel scene are largely a creation of the local people.



Antônio das Mortes was well received by the Brazilian film-going public. In Europe and the United States, the film was widely acclaimed by critics, and a debate erupted concerning the film's revolutionary qualities (or lack thereof). Today most critics regard the film as one of the greatest achievements—both aesthetically and culturally—of the Brazilian Cinema Novo.