Synopsis
Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.
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Cast
- Rodrigo SantoroTonho
- José DumontPai
- Rita AssemanyMãe
- Luiz Carlos VasconcelosSalustiano
- Ravi Ramos LacerdaPacu
- Flavia Marco AntonioClara
- Everaldo PontesVelho Cego
- Caio JunqueiraInácio
- Wagner MouraMatheus
- Othon BastosMr. Lourenço
Recommendations
- 100
L.A. Weekly
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. - 90
Los Angeles Times
Carvalho's superb cinematography, Antonio Pinto's score and a dedicated cast and crew admirably sustain this poetic and uncompromising film. - 90
New Times (L.A.)
Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name. - 88
Philadelphia Inquirer
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. - 88
Chicago Tribune
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. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
A powerful allegory. - 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
New York Post
A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable.
