Behind the Sun(Abril Despedaçado)

Name: Behind the Sun
Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Thriller

Brazil, France, Switzerland · 2001
Rated PG-13 · 1h 45m
Director Walter Salles
Starring Rodrigo Santoro, José Dumont, Rita Assemany, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos
Genre Crime, Drama, Family, Thriller

A young man is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother, but he knows that if he does, the other family will want to avenge their son's death. He must choose whether to accept his duty or reject it, and to deal with whatever risks comes with the decision he makes.

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What are critics saying?

Chicago Reader by

The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here.

USA Today by Claudia Puig

This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.

San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann

A powerful allegory.

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L.A. Weekly by Ernest Hardy

That tragedy looms heavily in Behind the Sun only makes its life-affirming moments -- resonate more deeply and powerfully in a film that is one of the year's best.

New York Post by Jonathan Foreman

A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

Carvalho's superb cinematography, Antonio Pinto's score and a dedicated cast and crew admirably sustain this poetic and uncompromising film.

New Times (L.A.) by Luke Y. Thompson

Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name.

Chicago Tribune by Mark Caro

When a culture offers little more than death upon death, appreciating life's everyday beauty is as good an answer as these characters -- and this filmmaker -- can provide.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

A compelling existential tableau: sweating bodies, creaking mills turned by numbed oxen, people facing the daily and seasonal cycles of life with little hope of breaking free. Behind the Sun is forceful stuff.