Directed by master filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos and adapted from a novel by great writer Jorge Amado, this is a non-linear movie full of clever moments, and it is quite sensorial in its colors and sounds. Nelson Pereira dos Santos has shown very well African Brazilian religion in other films, but this one is probably where it appears more, and more beautifully, in more details. It is a film that explores all the complexity and shadows of racism in Brazil and particularly in Bahia, the "blackest" state of Brazil. Another issue that is perfectly addresses is a very up-to-date discussion about the place of knowledge: there is an arrogance of a scholar (and specifically "bacheloresque") culture that denies popular knowledge (particularly from blacks and native indegenous people), there has been always seen as more important knowledge that comes from Europe and USA, and there is also a colonization of science by capitalism and profit needs; all three problems appear very well in the story. Very well filmed and acted, the movie perhaps has as is unique flaw an irregular pace, with some loose minents between the most interesting ones. Anyway, it deffinitely worth watching.
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