Tired of Hollywood's wars, schizophrenic geniuses and elves fighting evil dark lords? Tired of seeing the same actors over and over again, even when you go clubbing at Avalon? Maybe Behind the Sun is the movie for you.
Behind the Sun is a Brazilian film that takes place in 1910 at the Brazilian badlands. A bloodstained shirt blows in the wind as a family's desire for vengeance rows unbearable. Tonho, the 20-year-old middle son of the Breves family, is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother, who was killed over a land dispute that has lasted generations and claimed many lives.
The other family will in turn seek revenge if the mission is successfully carried out; essentially resulting in a death sentence for Tonho. If it is not, the family will have to face shame and the loss of their honor. The young sugar cane farmer carries out the tradition of violence -and winds up with only one month to live before it claims his life as well.
The director, Walter Salles (Central Station), takes an old tradition, sets it on a collision course with new ideas, throws in an attractive gypsy girl, a love story, and a plot twist, winding up with a mellow folk story about peasant life, its hardships and its values.
As is the case with many independent films, Behind the Sun is very artistic. Salles uses camera angles and coloring to very effectively illustrate the rather confused state of mind that Tonho experiences. For example, there is a repeated sequence in which the camera is focused on Pacu, Tonho's younger brother, while he is on a swing. It shows the child's calm face while the world is spinning behind him, expressing the confusing situation in which the family finds itself immersed yet again.
To further keep within this concept, the cinematic coloring is overwhelmingly yellowish, which gives a sense of insufferable heat, synonymous with the excruciating decision that Tonho has to make in the beginning and the consequences of that decision. This heat is contrasted with the pages of a children's storybook that Pacu carries around that illustrates the story of a mermaid in the deep blue ocean. Overall, Salles does an estimable job in portraying mental conflict and the unhappiness with the tradition of violence.
The use of cycles is another striking aspect of the film. In one of the scenes, the father grinds sugar cane with a pair of oxen. The oxen simply go in circles while pulling a big gear that grinds the canes. The father lashes the animals to move them faster until one of them collapses.
In the same manner, Tonho attempts to break this vicious cycle of violence. He even tries to run away from home briefly, only to find himself back to face his destiny. This motif of running around in useless and monotonous cycles appears again and again in the film, and is shown in daily life, tradition, and even in thought processes. The movie's underlying theme is breaking away from cycles, as Tonho so desperately attempts to accomplish.
Wells could have improved a bit on the thrill factor of the film- some moments were sluggish. Compared with typical Hollywood fare, however Behind the Sun manages to deliver a rather enjoyable film at a fraction of the cost of a big blockbuster. If you are expecting explosions, big-name actors, expensive sets and props, then this is not the film for you. But it is worth spending a few dollars to listen to the enchanting Brazilian language and to see the dynamics of another culture.
THUMBNAIL: Behind the Sun, starring Jos?© Dumont, Rodrigo Santoro, Rita Assemany, Ravi Ramos Lacerda, 2.5 stars out of 5
