Once in a while, a film comes along and redefines my perception of the limitless possibilities of filmmaking. Influential Brazilian director Glauber Rocha (1939-1981) did just that with his grim 1964 masterpiece Black God, White Devil, which could not be more relevant, especially considering today’s increasingly stark and politically nightmarish climate.
Buy Black God, White Devil (The Criterion Collection) Blu-rayThe western film tells the tale of Manoel, a young ranch hand who kills his boss over money disputes. So, he and his wife Rosa flee to the desolate landscape where they not only become wrongfully hypnotized by a sinister black preacher who goes by his own bizarre rituals, but also encounter a religious cult run by a violent and self-so-called saint named Sabastião. To make matters so much worse, they are hunted by gunman Antonio Das Mortes, who will stop at nothing to find and kill them.
This is a bleakly poetic, intellectual film of twisted religion, sadistic violence, and misdirected social anxieties that feels all too real. You can’t really tell the good guys from the bad. Every character is either a corruptor or the corrupted. You’re seeing a world coming completely apart, where there’s no way out for anyone. I do respect how daring and unapologetic the film is about that. Seeing this for the first time, I totally understand why it remains one of the seminal Brazilian films of all-time.
The Criterion Collection edition is a winner. It is spread on two discs, which allows the film (disc one) to have a clean and amazing image and sound. The supplements are terrific and informative too. Disc one has a commentary by restoration producer Lino Meireles; new interview with film scholar Richard Pena; and Memória do cangaço (1964), a short documentary on the origins of cangaço. Disc two has Glauber the Movie, Labyrinth of Brazil, a 2003 documentary on director Glauber Rocha; Cinema Novo, a 2016 documentary on the Brazilian film movement; and trailer. There is also a great new essay by film scholar Fabio Andrade.
In closing, Black God, White Devil, will perhaps be a film I think about for a long time. It has so much to say about human nature and how disturbing it can really get, whether national or international.
