100
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.
Behind the Sun (Abril Despedaçado)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Brazil,
- France,
- Switzerland
- 2001
- · 105m
Director
Walter Salles
Cast
Rodrigo Santoro,
José Dumont,
Rita Assemany,
Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos,
Ravi Ramos Lacerda,
Flavia Marco Antonio
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?
90
New Times (L.A.) by Luke Y. Thompson
Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name.
90
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.
88
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.
88
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.
80
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
The movie's subject is brotherly love in all its extremes; the trajectory is grimly inevitable, and yet its final descent still manages to startle.
80
Variety by David Rooney
Consummately crafted and stunningly shot in magnificent locations deep in Brazil's remote northeastern badlands, the film unapologetically courts the commercial curve of the international arthouse arena with its rustic exotica and sensory overload of poetic imagery, giving it something of a grandiose air.
80
TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox
Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless.
80
Time by Richard Schickel
This movie is more emotionally remote than Salles' fine "Central Station." But it is starkly beautiful and says something potent to a world in which nations, like these families, engage in mindless blood feuds.
75
Boston Globe
This is a deeper film, delving into the twisted motives that rule lives, the lethal cycles that shackle progress, and, ultimately, the courage it takes to choose life.
75
USA Today by Claudia Puig
This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.
75
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
A powerful allegory.
40
Chicago Reader
The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here.
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