Bacurau: metaphor in different languages
- JORGE MARIN
- Aug 24, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 6, 2022
Bacurau is an extraordinary Brazilian movie directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. Named for a bird, "not a birdie," which is angry and goes out at night, Bacurau is a forgotten city in the backwoods of the state of Pernambuco.
So forgotten that there is no drinking water, no vaccines, no books in schools. So forgotten that coffins have become food parcel items, and news comes via WhatsApp or through a strategically parked DJ at the entrance to the city.
The story begins with the return of Teresa (Barbara Colen), hitchhiking a water tanker truck, to the funeral of her grandmother Carmelita (Lia de Itamaracá), the village matriarch and religious leader. A tension between religion and science is presumed to be during the wake, in the explosive reaction of Dona Domingas, the head of the health clinic, masterfully portrayed by Sônia Braga.
After the interment, strange facts start to happen: a flying saucer chased a tricycle ridden by an indigenous healer, the tanker truck was shot at, the city disappeared from Google Maps, and several bodies, including children, began to appear nearby.
A couple of Brazilians (Karine Teles and Antonio Saboia) who declared themselves "from the south, from that richest part of Brazil where there are European colonies" arrived in the city trailing and installs an artifact that silenced all cell phones.
We find that they are in the service of a group of Americans, set up on a nearby farm that, under the leadership of German Michael (Udo Kier) and, with vintage weapons, are willing to decimate the entire village population.
One of the residents, Pacote (Thomas Aquino), seeks help from the nearby Lunga (Silvero Pereira) gang to defend the city.
When the carnage takes place, the German puts himself on the outskirts of the city with a precision rifle aimed at the streets. By coincidence, this year 2019, after the film's premiere, five children from poor communities in Rio de Janeiro were murdered by police officers.

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