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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
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Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
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Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
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Lemon Tree
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Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
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Little Ashes
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Lymelife
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Management
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Merry Gentleman, The
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Moon
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New York
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Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
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Pressure Cooker
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Quiet Chaos
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Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
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Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
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Surveillance
42
Tennessee
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Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
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Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Behind the Sun
Miramax Films
FILM:
MPAA 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)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Karim Ainouz
Ismaïl Kadaré (novel Broken April)
Sérgio Machado
Walter Salles
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Walter Salles
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: June 11, 2002
Video: June 11, 2002
Theatrical: December 12, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Brazil / France / Switzerland |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Portuguese (with English subtitles) |
Original Portugese title "Abril Despedaçado," which translates as "Broken April"

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...
100
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.

90
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.

90
New Times (L.A.)
Luke Y. Thompson
Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name.

88
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.

88
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.

80
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.

80
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.

80
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless.

80
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.

75
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.

75
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
A powerful allegory.

70
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.

63
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.

60
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.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
It's all so visceral that it overwhelms the near-abstract story and smothers what passes for characters.

50
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.

40
Chicago Reader
Hank Sartin
The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here.


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.
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