Bacurau (2019)
Weird Brazilian genre freakout to pair w/ "We are the People of the Mountain"
Bacurau (2019) stuck with me, so I thought I would write about it briefly to both work through those ideas and give it some shine - it also matches up with the story I posted the other day, “We are the People of the Mountain.”
It’s a weird movie and a hard one to distill into an easy summary. It’s also easy to spoil, so I don’t want to say too much. I walked into it with zero foreknowledge other than it was about a small village in Brazil that disappears. And yes, I suppose that’s what it is, or that’s what it intends, perhaps. (The preview above gives away a little more than I knew going in, but not too much.)
It starts off almost like a sociology documentary, showing the funeral of the town’s matriarch and introduces us to her family and friends, including a hammered, resentful Sonia Braga. Actually come to think, that’s not where it starts, but in space, with freaky music and a Google Maps satellite orbiting the earth. Then we go to a dead body on the road, an overturned coffin truck, and then the funeral! Very subtle imagery. There is also an underlying bit about land and water rights, hallucinogenic drugs (which leaves one to question everything that happens, unfortunately), a UFO!, a shady politician, some absolutely loathsome Americans, and a very weird eco-terrorist with hair extensions.
After I watched it, I looked it up and saw it described as a “Weird Western” which I get, but don’t think that’s quite right as it has so many more pieces and I think “Western” is almost the least of them compared to psychedelic, sci-fi, action, etc. Overall though, the most startling thing about the film is it’s clear political consciousness. In some ways it’s quite similar to The Hunt, another genre B-movie with some politics, just Bacurau has much more to say and does it with better execution and style. That’s not to say the film is not uneven, because it is, but it would almost have to be with the blend of influences it has going on.
Also, can’t go wrong with Udo Kier and John Carpenter.