Filmography
Black God White Devil

Original Title: Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol. Fiction, long-length, 35mm, black and white. Rio de Janeiro, 1964, 3.400 meters,125 minutes; Production: Copacabana Filmes; Distribution: Copacabana Filmes; Release: 10 July 1964, Rio de Janeiro; Producer: Luiz Augusto Mendes; Associate Producers: Jarbas Barbosa, Glauber Rocha; Production Director: Agnaldo Azevedo; Director: Glauber Rocha; Assistant Directors: Paulo Gil Soares, Walter Lima.Jr.; Argument: Glauber Rocha; Screenplay: Glauber Rocha, Walter Lima Jr.; Dialogues: Glauber Rocha, Paulo Gil Soares; Cinematographer: Waldemar Lima; Scenographer and Costumes Designer: Paulo Gil Soares; Titles: Lygia Pape; Poster: Rogério Duarte; Music: Villa-Lobos; Songs: Sérgio Ricardo, Glauber Rocha (lyrics); Guitar and voice: Sergio Ricardo; Locations: Monte Santo, Feira de Santana, Salvador, Canché (Cocorobó), Canudos (all locations in the state of Bahia); Awards: Critic's Award - Internacional Festival of Acapulco, Mexico, 1964; Great Prize - Free Cinema Festival, Italy, 1964; Golden Naiade - International Festival of Porreta Terme, Italy, 1964; Saci Trophy/ Best Suppoting Actor: Maurício do Valle, 1965; Latin American Great Prize - International Festival of Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1966;Cast: Geraldo Del Rey - Manuel; Yona Magalhães - Rosa; Maurício do Valle - Antonio das Mortes; Othon Bastos - Corisco, Lídio Silva - Sebastião; Sônia dos Humildes - Dadá; Marrom - Julio, the blind; Antônio Pinto - Colonel; João Gama - Priest; Milton Roda - Colonel Moraes; Inhabitants of de Monte Santo;

"I started from the poetic text. The origin of Black God White Devil is a metaphorical language, the literatura de cordel. In the Northeast of Brazil, the blind men in the circus, in the fairs, in the popular theatres start a story by singing: I am going to tell you a story which is truth and imagination, or else, which is true imagination. All my upbringing took place in this context. The idea for the film came spontaneously."

REVIEW

"What does Black God White Devil tell?
In the beginning, it tells the story, so frequent in the veristic literature of the 19th century, of the peasant that, at a moment of desperation, kills the slaving landlord. But, from the moment Manoel goes into the caatinga and joins the fanatic followers of Santo Sebastião - a black profet who affirms that one day the sea will become sertão and the sertão will become sea and that the sun will rain down gold and, therefore, to bring about this miracle, it is necessary to kill everyone who does evil, that is, mainly the priests and the prostitutes -, from this moment on, the film tells something very modern: the alucinations, the visions, the practices and the aberrant behaviour patterns that starvation, misery and ignorance can inspire in a desperate people.

Starvation, ignorance and misery make Sebastião and his followers burn into a madness that impels them to sacrifice even human beings. And in Corisco, the cangaceiro whose band Manoel joins after the destruction of Sebastião and his followers, starvation, ignorance and misery foment an insane, sistematic, demoniac ferocity.
In this manner, Santo Sebastião and Corisco represent God and the devil. Both are deformed and disturbed by the wilderness of the sertão. In a characteristic way, the solution of the social problem represented by characters like Santo Sebastião and Corisco is trusted to Antonio das Mortes' never failing gun. Antonio das Mortes is a professional killer, a sinister, melancolic character, a visionary assassin guided by logic who believes that only after he kills the devil (Corisco) and God (Santo Sebastião) will the liberation war take place, which means the revolution that will redeem the sertão. That is why he fulminates both the prophet and the bandit. Manuel, symbolizing the Brazilian people, scapes, thus remaining as witness of the truthfulness of the film's thesis. " Alberto Moravia, L'Espresso, 16/08/64, Rome