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Black God, White Devil

Original title: Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol

“Here’s my gun to stop the poor from starving”

1964 · 2 h
Directed by Glauber Rocha
AdventureCrimeDrama

Cast

Geraldo Del Rey Yoná Magalhães Othon Bastos Maurício do Valle

Credits

Written by: Glauber Rocha

Plot

Manuel, a poor cowherd in the Brazilian backlands, kills his exploitative boss and flees with his wife. They fall in with a fanatical holy man, Sebastião, and later with the bandit Corisco, while a hired assassin hunts them across the dry landscape. Glauber Rocha's 1964 film is a key work of Cinema Novo, combining folk legend, politics and violence in a style that is both stylised and raw.

Sinekatalog’s take

Glauber Rocha's Cinema Novo landmark follows a cowherd through fanatic prophets and bandits in Brazil's sertão. Wild, mythic and political, with striking images and songs, it is a fierce, hallucinatory portrait of poverty and faith.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.1 / 10 (6,468 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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