Bacurau

Summary

“I heard there’s no signal here.”

I am not by any means an authority on international cinema, but I try my best to watch international films that hit a critical mass of acclaim or notoriety. One such film that caught my interest is the Brazilian picture Bacurau. The film has received its fair share of admirers and fair share of online critics that disdained the film. I had purchased the Blu-ray that was released by Kino Lorber and once I saw that the film was also being featured on The Criterion Channel my interest was sufficiently piqued. I sat down to watch the film the other night.

Western Pernambuco – a few years from now, in a small Brazilian Village named Bacurau- Teresa and Elvirado ride towards the village in an Aqua Potavel truck. There is some sort of political issue cutting off that part of Brazil from other parts. They can not receive water from the river because it is guarded closely. The authorities are looking for a man named Lunga that attempted to attack the river guards. Teresa and Elvirado arrive in Bacurau and she puts on her labcoat. She carries medical supplies with her in a suitcase. She arrives at the funeral of her grandmother who was one of the local leaders. Her name was Carmelita. Teresa delivers the medicine and then helps to walk the casket in the funeral procession as a song plays over loud speaker. When a teacher in the village tries to show some children where Bacurau is located on a map online, it seems to have disappeared from the map. The corrupt mayor Tony Junior enters the town. He drops off books and some outdated supplies and tells the people he hopes to fix the water situation soon. He also takes a prostitute from the town named Sandra against her will. Outside the town a UFO shaped drone is spotted following a villager on his motorcycle. That night horses from a nearby farm enter the town and they can’t reach Manelito who owned them. The water truck comes in with bullet holes in its side. Two people from outside the village arrive on motorcycles claiming to be trail riders. Purchasing a soda they leave some form of transmitter in the shop. The town has no cellular reception afterward. Outside the town, at a ranch everyone has been killed. The film uses this as the starting point as the entire town is threatened from outside forces including a villainous Udo Kier.

There is a lot to enjoy about Bacurau and I few things that could have been improved. First off – the pacing of Bacurau is decidedly odd. Because of the action sequences and their intensity, I could see art house fans being turned off. But for action fans, even once the film gets going and the action has begun, the film has a leisurely pace that is definitely more in tune with art house films like La Cienaga. (This film reminded me of that film due to some of the shot compositions, and I was pleased to see that La Cienaga ranked as a favorite of one of the directors.) What this means is that the film struggles to forge its own type of pace that is somewhere between a thriller and an art house film. I think this is the reason that the film has drawn so many admirers and detractors. Pacing is a matter of preference and I personally would have preferred to shorten the film by about fifteen minutes or so, but I understood exactly where those influences were coming from. 

Bacurau is definitely made for mature audiences. The film is casual in its depictions of sexuality and violence and both feature prominently in the film. The sexuality feels like a natural outgrowth of Brazilian cinema and is not something that should raise too many eyebrows. The violence is more akin to what one would see in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 or a Peckinpah film. Carpenter was such a large influence on the directors that they licensed his song “Night,” for the film. The violence in the film is necessary for the story, but it is also pretty harsh.

Bacurau mixes elements of The Most Dangerous Game, 2018 politics, Westerns, and slight dystopia elements for the film. It has a great performance from Udo Kier, and the cast of Brazilian actors and actresses, including Sonia Braga, are all capable and believable. The film is certainly unsentimental and hard to watch at times. It is rare that I watch a film that fills me with as much dread as Bacurau, but maybe that is the point? Maybe the movie just strikes a chord that is so ugly that it hits close to home. Either way, I’m glad that I watched the movie, but I am not sure that I will revisit it any time soon.

Video

Bacurau is presented on Blu-ray with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded 1080p transfer in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The film is shot in widescreen and benefits from a strong Blu-ray presentation. Fine detail is excellent and the film has a lot to enjoy visually. I did not notice any noticeable compression issues. Overall, it looks great. Until they release an UHD copy of the film, this is about as nice as a Blu-ray presentation can achieve of a digital film.

Audio

The audio treatment of Bacurau is similarly well done. The songs by John Carpenter and Gal Costa are both used well in the film. The film has some action that benefits from the surround channels. More impressive are the quieter scenes that immerse the viewer in the noises of the Pernambuco.

Supplements:

• Audio commentary by co-director Kleber Mendonça Filho
• Bacurau on the Map – an in depth hour long feature on the making of the film.
• Deleted scene
• Mendonça Filho, Sônia Braga, and Juliano Dornelles in conversation
• New interview with Mendonça Filho and Dornelles 
• Mens sana in corpore sano (2011, a short film by Juliano Dornelles) 
• Booklet essay by film critic Fabio Andrade

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5 

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4/5

Bacurau is a difficult film that seems to fit the times and politics of today. The film is a cross pollination between John Carpenter, The Most Dangerous Game, Westerns, and the politics of 2018. It is definitely for mature audiences. The film is capably shot and the actors are all up for the challenge. The Blu-ray from Kino Lorber presents the film beautifully and includes some worthwhile supplemental materials. For myself, I don’t plan to revisit Bacurau any time soon, but I respect what the film makers were able to accomplish in terms of setting. Fans of the film will certainly be happy with the Blu-ray and newcomers may want to rent the film prior to purchasing.