Black God, White Devil

Black God, White Devil
Directed by	Glauber Rocha
Produced by	Luiz Augusto Mendes Luiz Paulino Dos Santos
Written by	Glauber Rocha Walter Lima Jr. Paulo Gil Soares
Starring	Geraldo Del Rey Yoná Magalhães Othon Bastos
Music by	Sérgio Ricardo Heitor Villa-Lobos
Cinematography	Waldemar Lima
Editing by	Rafael Justo Valverde
Distributed by	Koch-Lorber Films (North America)
Release date(s)	10 July 1964 (1964-07-10)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese

Black God, White Devil (Portuguese: Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, literally, "God and the Devil in the Land of Sun") is a 1964 Brazilian film directed and written by Glauber Rocha. The film stars Othon Bastos, Maurício do Valle, Yoná Magalhães, and Geraldo Del Rey. It belongs to the Cinema Novo movement, addressing the socio-political problems of 1960s Brazil. The film is being released on DVD in North America for the first time by Koch-Lorber Films.

Plot

The film starts in the 1940s, during another drought in the sertão, when ranch hand Manuel (Geraldo Del Rey) is fed up with his situation. His boss tries to cheat him of his earnings and Manuel kills him, fleeing with his wife, Rosa (Yoná Magalhães). Now an outlaw, Manuel joins up with a self-proclaimed saint who condones violence (at one point slaughtering a baby) and preaches disturbing doctrines. It is now Rosa who turns to killing and the two are on the move once again. And so it goes, the two running from one allegiance to another, following the words of others as they attempt to find a place in their ruthless land. Blending mysticism, religion, and popular culture in this symbolic and realistic drama, Rocha insists that rather than follow the external and obscure dogmas of culture and religion, man must determine his path by his own voice.

Cast

• Geraldo Del Rey as Manuel
• Yoná Magalhães as Rosa
• Othon Bastos as Corisco
• Maurício do Valle as Antônio das Mortes
• Lidio Silva as Sebastião
• Sonia Dos Humildes as Dadá
• João Gama as Priest
• Antônio Pinto as Colonel
• Milton Rosa as Moraes (as Milton Roda)
• Roque Santos as (as Roque)

Production

Glauber Rocha was 25 years old when he wrote and began to direct the film.

In the scene where we see Manuel (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.

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.

Awards

The film was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, but failed to win.^[1] 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.^[2]

See also

• List of submissions to the 37th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

1. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Black God, White Devil". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2928/year/1964.html. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 
2. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

External links

• Black God, White Devil at the Internet Movie Database
• Black God, White Devil at AllRovi
• Movie