The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
A powerful allegory.
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.
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.