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Behind the Sun
Miramax Films


7.6

based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
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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.

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.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless.

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.

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.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

A powerful allegory.

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.

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.

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's all so visceral that it overwhelms the near-abstract story and smothers what passes for characters.

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.

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.

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!

Behind the Sun Miramax Films

Behind the Sun
Miramax Films