Cinema
The Guns
Os fuzis
Ruy Guerra · 1964
Synopsis
In 1963, in the drought-stricken sertão, starving peasants flock to Milagres, in the State of Bahia. A section of soldiers is sent there to stop them from looting a notable's food warehouse. While they wait, one of them, Mário, courts Luísa, who distrusts the military. A beato leads the pilgrims behind an ox that they hold to be sacred and able to bring rain. Gaúcho, a truck driver and former soldier who has to repair his truck, is outraged by the peasants' passivity.
Context
The director had conceived the story in 1958 for Greece or Spain, where the project failed, then rewrote it with Miguel Torres for Brazil; it is inspired by an incident in 1924 in which soldiers killed a sacred ox. Shot in Bahia, with cinematography by Ricardo Aronovich and music by Moacir Santos, the film received in 1964 the Silver Bear, special jury prize, at the Berlin festival. There is a release version of eighty minutes and a longer director's version.
Who it is for
A harsh film, in Northeastern Portuguese, in which the soldiers' waiting echoes that of the peasants; the running time varies depending on the versions.
Prizes and reception
Awarded at Berlin in 1964, it placed its author, it is said, at the forefront of Cinema Novo.
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