★★★½☆
5 March 2020
A movie review of BACURAU. |
Ds: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho (AQUARIUS, NEIGHBOURING SOUNDS).
S: Bárbara Colen, Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, Thardelly Lima.
“She’s a sweetie when she’s sober,” Teresa (Bárbara Colen)
BACURAU elevates genre cinema from potentially bubblegum exploitation to the thought-provoking and almost visceral. BACURAU eschews the clichés of a town being rescued by strangers (contrast SEVEN SAMURAI [1954], THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN [1960], A BUG’S LIFE [1998], etc.).
S: Bárbara Colen, Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, Thardelly Lima.
“She’s a sweetie when she’s sober,” Teresa (Bárbara Colen)
BACURAU elevates genre cinema from potentially bubblegum exploitation to the thought-provoking and almost visceral. BACURAU eschews the clichés of a town being rescued by strangers (contrast SEVEN SAMURAI [1954], THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN [1960], A BUG’S LIFE [1998], etc.).
Opening on space. Earth. Closing in on Latin America. There’s an overturned truck, with its cargo of coffins spilled into the road. An image that is both ominous and harks back to spaghetti western DJANGO [1966], where the lead drags around his casket. Teresa is returning to her home town, the titular Bacurau. She wears a lab coat. For protection. Is she the lead?
Does the film have a lead? There is a rare sensation while getting to grips with BACURAU. Holding off what the story is about, and who is the focus, brings it on. We are forced to engage. We are usually aware at least of what genre we are sitting through. When was the last time you were tested in such respects? If you don’t even want to be informed of the category, stop reading here.
Brazil. A few years from now. BACURAU is a sci-fi western. Not STAR WARS [1977] or SERENITY [2005]. This is basically now, with a few tech upgrades. BACURAU is unpredictable and socio-political. By being an ensemble, without movie stars, the audience is less likely to foretell who will cross the finish line.
Baurau suddenly disappears from online maps. Water is cut off. Telecommunications go down. Townsfolk start to disappear. Apocalypse movie. War movie. Siege movie. When the odds are overwhelmingly against you, do you lie down or steel yourself for resistance? When your own government is against you. When your own people take the side of strangers over you. The mayor of the region, Tony Jr. (Thardelly Lima), is a scumbag politician. He has determined which of his constituents are expendable. BACURAU is about injustice, and its rampart: Solidarity. We wait and hope for the tables to be turned.
Commentary on colonialism, greed, corruption, etc., BACURAU has biting allegory. What stops the film from reaching greatness is the resolution. It needed the frenzy of THE WILD BUNCH [1969], or KILL BILL: VOL 1. [2003], or a JOHN WICK [2014-2019] instalment. BACURAU would have benefitted from the climax taken off the leash.