Golden Globe Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Behind The Sun is a critically acclaimed story about love, loyalty and the choice a son must make between honoring his family and following his heart. In th ebrutal Brazilian badlands of 1910, two families are locked in a bloody, generations-old feud. In one family, the oldest remaining son- distressed by the prospect of death and encouraged by his younger brother- begins to question the cycle of violence. Then, a beautiful young woman crosses his path and opens his eyes to life outside his culture's rigid code of honor. Stunningly photographed and exquisitely told, this outstanding motion picture masterpiece will transport you to a vastly different place and time... a place somewhere beind the sun!

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The story unfolds through the point of view of a 10-year old boy. He is the youngest of three sons. His oldest brother has been killed a month before and his bloodstained shirt is drying in the sun. Now that the blood has turned yellow, it is time to revenge his death. This task falls to his beloved 20-year old brother Tonio, who, after a heartbreaking chase, murders a son of the rival family.

Now, we all know that Tonio will be murdered just as his rival was murdered. And we know he, too, has a month to live while the bloody shirt of his opponent dries in the sun. A lot happens though during this month though. A traveling circus passes by and Tonio falls in love with a young fire-eating performer and wants to stop the cycle of violence.

The film was beautiful inasmuch as it captured a time and a place and a code of honor that seems cruel and barbaric. It also captured the human spirit of the people involved in this tragedy.

18 of 19 found the following review helpful:

A bleak story told in an austere placeJan 10, 2002
By Joseph Haschka
BEHIND THE SUN, with English subtitles for Portuguese dialogue, is a Brazilian version of the Hatfield-McCoy feud and set in 1910. The Breves family - husband, wife, and two sons - are hardscrabble sugar cane farmers. We don't really know what the Ferreira family does - perhaps they're ranchers. Both clans have waged a blood feud for generations over a wretched piece of land better bulldozed flat for a shopping mall. Considering the endless cycle of an eye for an eye, will Tonio, the oldest Breves son, live long enough to venture beyond his family's land and experience love before the bloodstains on that Ferreira shirt turn from red to yellow in the wind and sun?

BEHIND THE SUN showcases actors that Americans have likely never seen before (and may never see again), but they're all excellent: José Dumont as Tonio's father, Rita Assemany as his mother, Ravi Lacerda as his young brother ("The Kid"), Flavia Antonio as bewitching Clara of the traveling carnival, and Rodrigo Santoro as Tonio himself. Filmed in color, the movie depicts a physical landscape of magnificent austerity. Had it been in black and white, it would have been almost brutal.

The film's thematic message, I think, is that embedded tribal conflicts based on ethnicity or religion or, in this case, some overblown concept of "honor", are almost impossible to resolve rationally and peacefully. And the film goes on to ask - and answer, in this particular storyline - the question of what must happen before the killing is to stop. My mild disenchantment with the theme of BEHIND THE SUN is the suspicion that it's been done previously many more times than I realize, most recently to my knowledge in the excellent film NO MAN'S LAND, which deals with a more contemporary antagonism. Moreover, the script reduces the problem of tribal conflict to the simplest scenario possible and thus oversimplifies the issue beyond everyday realities. However, in that it strips the issue down to the bone, so to speak, it does manage to admirably clarify the stupidity and tragedy of such discord. BEHIND THE SUN is a film to be admired, but not one to be seen for light entertainment.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Feuding Families, Brazil, 1910. Strong, Not a False NoteFeb 16, 2005
By Tsuyoshi
Striking images all around, 'Behind the Sun' shows how a good picture can let you smell the air of the place, the breath of the people. Walter Salles ('Central Station' 'The Motorcycle Diaries') tells a story that resembles Greek dramas, with its simplicity and strength, but it is the picture's sheer beautiful visuals that makes 'Behind the Sun' a boon to every filmgoer. In short, watch this.

It's in 1910, in Brazil, in the middle of nowhere. Two families are feuding with each other, according to their peculiar rules. If one goes down, another member of the family revenges his death by killing the killer only. Thus the life goes on.

Among one of the family, we see the brothers -- younger Paku and elder Tonio. They work hard to make sugar, using the old machine and two cows, with their silent sad-eyed mother and very strict father. And the day finally comes when Tonio is ordered to kill: the spilled blood has turned yellow.

The bloody cycle of death is briefly disturbed when a beautiful circus girl comes to the near town. Or is it to be disturbed? Will Tonio choose another way of life? And what does Paku do?

You may say the plot is melodramatic. It is, sure, but the power of the story cannot be dismissed so easily. Walter Salles succeeds in creating the atmosphere of the place, and despair and hope of the characters as well, all of which are so compelling.

Also helped by the good acting from Rodrigo Santoro (in 'Love Actually' as Laura Linney's love), the film is about those characters and images. like 'Central Station.' For all its slightly conventional storytelling (and very powerful one), 'Behind the Sun' remains a gripping experience all throughout.

The story is inspired by a novel 'Broken April' written by Ismail Kadare. The film changed the original's location (in Alvania) to Brazil, and was shot in the really desert places where the sun scorches from the deep blue sky onto the red rocks. (It is said that the cast and crew had to travel from the nearest hotel to the location more than 200 km. everyday.) And see Vinicius de Oliveira, as the family member rivalling Tonio's, who was the little boy in 'Central Station'

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Words cannot do this film justice!Feb 07, 2006
By Brian Kerecz
Set in Brazil in 1910, Behind the sun is the tale of two families who are caught up in a deadly feud over land, which each family says they own. It is a mythical tale of the eldest son fighting until his death, so that the family can retain possession of disputed territory, with the eldest brother forced to play the part of murdering his brother's murderer, time after time. Set in the remotest part of Brazil, Tonio (played by Rodrigo Santoro) is forced to carry out a bloody ritual, killing the son of a neighbor for land in a feud which claimed the lives of many young men. After Tonio does the job required by his family, he seeks a truce with the opposing family, wanting to end this pointless tradition, one which is causing only pain and acrimony among the families. The other family does not wish to put an end to this tradition, and gives Tonio a certain amount of time before his own life is on the line once more. After this, Tonio falls in love with a girl from a traveling circus, and must make a decision of whether to continue his family's bloody tradition, or follow his heart and find the redemptive power of love. I cannot say too much else for fear of giving away some of the story and plot lines, but it is a wonderfully crafted movie and story.

The metaphors in this film are many and are stark, and get the point across very simply, but also very effectively. From the oxen turning going in circles churning out the sugarcane, to the path taken by Tonio throughout the movie (and different at the end), Walter Salles gets his point across very well, and on a dramatic scale as well, as the scenery is breathtaking beyond measure. It is quite simply, an amazing movie.

Highly recommended.

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