Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
55
Christmas Carol, A
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
33
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
xx
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
43
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
xx
WolfMan, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
46
44 Inch Chest
83
Ajami![]()
73
Amreeka
xx
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
84
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
48
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
68
Departures
62
District 13: Ultimatum
85
Education, An![]()
71
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
68
Girl on the Train, The
52
Killing Kasztner
74
Last Station, The
43
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
73
Me and Orson Welles
76
Messenger, The
57
Missing Person, The
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
xx
My Name is Khan
49
Nine
63
North Face
59
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
69
Red Riding Trilogy, The
29
Saint John of Las Vegas
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
77
Single Man, A
xx
Still Bill
76
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
19
To Save a Life
68
Town Called Panic, A
59
Until the Light Takes Us
57
Videocracy
65
Waiting for Armageddon
82
White Ribbon![]()
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Behind the Sun

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Karim Ainouz
Ismaïl Kadaré (novel Broken April)
Sérgio Machado
Walter Salles
Directed by: Walter Salles
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 12, 2001
DVD: June 11, 2002
Running Time: 105 minutes, Color
Origin: Brazil / France / Switzerland
Language(s): Portuguese (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sexuality
Starring José Dumont, Rodrigo Santoro, Rita Assemany, Luís Carlos Vasconcelos, Ravi Ramos Lacerda, Flavia Marco Antonio, and Othon Bastos
Set in the Brazilian badlands in 1910, Behind the Sun tells the story of two families locked in a generations-old deadly feud. It started out as a battle over land, but now it's escalated into a series of reprisals that is claiming the lives of the young men on both sides. (Miramax Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Central Station Dark Water The Motorcycle Diaries
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Production Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Carvalho's superb cinematography, Antonio Pinto's score and a dedicated cast and crew admirably sustain this poetic and uncompromising film.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
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.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
The movie's subject is brotherly love in all its extremes; the trajectory is grimly inevitable, and yet its final descent still manages to startle.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Consummately crafted and stunningly shot in magnificent locations deep in Brazil's remote northeastern badlands, the film unapologetically courts the commercial curve of the international arthouse arena with its rustic exotica and sensory overload of poetic imagery, giving it something of a grandiose air.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
This movie is more emotionally remote than Salles' fine "Central Station." But it is starkly beautiful and says something potent to a world in which nations, like these families, engage in mindless blood feuds.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Renee Graham
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.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
The blend of grim violence with romantic whimsy tilts toward sentimentality. Mr. Salles has the confidence of a storyteller too entranced by his tale to worry about the resistance of his audience, which he thus effortlessly overcomes.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The story, which was inspired by an Albanian novel and the Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, ends with a literary patness. But it's still a potent tale of fraternal love and the loss of innocence.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Chris Barsanti
A film with a bare-bones story told with such potency that its occasional flights of heavy-handed symbolism are easily excused.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's all so visceral that it overwhelms the near-abstract story and smothers what passes for characters.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It has some of the simplicity and starkness of classical tragedy, but what made me impatient was its fascination with the macho bloodlust of the two families.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Diana gave it a9:
Impressive images and well-told story.
Imran gave it a9:
Unbelievably wel knitted film... extraordinary scoring... marvellous acting & a wonderful grip on direction & story.... haven't seen a movie like this in years !
Vincent D. gave it a 9:
This movie makes you think and ponder on things and how life can be complicated depending on the culture, traditions, and family ties. but most of all, the film showed us the realization of the costs of pride and how can one simple decision make a difference in breaking the entire cycle.
Clovis S. gave it a 10:
This is a great movie, i just wanna say that everybory need to see this, because is just beautiful!!
Corine G. gave it a 10:
I love this movie! I've watched it five times already and I just can't get enough!
Pepe B. gave it a 10:
I loved the deep love between the two brothers and the sacrifice one another makes to spend as much time as posslbe- It it a symbol a vicious cycle until until some gutsy person decides to break free- like the kid that dies at the end and the older boy that breaks away from their family...they both reach a type of freedom...
Andre R. gave it a 10:
Walter Salles is a GENIOUS!
