• Bacurau

6/14/26 (Sun)

This 2019 Brazilian film is classified offputtingly as “Weird Western”, but the generally positive reviews lured me to it. I had assumed vaguely that the title referred to salted cod (bacalhau), but it actually means either a nocturnal bird (nightjar or nighthawk) or, according to one source, “the last chance to make it home at night”. Either is pretty obscure in the context of the film. I must be missing something.

The time is the near future. Residents of a poor settlement deep in the Brazilian northeast discover oddly that they are no longer on satellite maps and cannot get a phone signal. There are also unlikely spottings of what appear to be flying saucers. When a truck comes to deliver water to the dry town, the driver emerges to find bullet holes along the side, forcing the residents to scramble to gather the precious resource pouring out. We learn that the town is in a dispute with the authorities over water rights as the slimy mayor has allowed a dam to be built upstream. He comes to the town seeking votes for the upcoming election but gets a cool reception.

Then the villagers receive a rare visit from outsiders, a young couple on motorcycles who claim to be touring in the area. Shortly thereafter, horses from a local ranch come running through town. When two men, brushing off warnings from others, go to investigate, they discover that the entire ranching family has been shot – and they meet the same fate from the motorcyclists. It turns out that the latter have been hired by a group of US mercenaries who are looking to get rid of the pesky villagers with a combination of guns and drones. They meet their match when they finally descend on the town, realizing too late that the local museum, the town’s pride, features antique weapons that prove all too effective.

This pseudo Western has a number of interesting characters in the town but no real central role, diffusing the impact. The story was more about a bad group trying to wipe out a town, the stars being the group and town. Sônia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Thomás Aquino were the most notable among the townspeople and should have been given more to do, while Udo Kier did what he could with the poorly written German role.

The German lashes out at his underling about the clichéd use of the word Nazi, explaining illogically that he’s lived in the US for 40 years, as if that settles things. But the English dialogue overall is pretty clichéd even without that. The group’s debasement of local “people of color”, the filmmaker’s attempt at social critique, is way too over the top to be taken seriously; they need either some serious rewriting or better directing. The situation is not helped by poor acting all around on the US side. And why do they need to dress up drones like flying saucers? Surely something less conspicuous would have been smarter. Those sections in general were embarrassing.

While I can’t judge the Brazilian dialogue, the subtitles at least sounded more natural, giving away just enough to sustain the tension. The hysterical ranting at the opening funeral by the dead woman’s friend came from nowhere and should have stayed there, but the story was otherwise more or less logical for a horror film. The director maintains the suspense well enough other than the US group scenes; the final showdown where the assassins seek their targets in an apparently deserted town is exceptionally well done.

The film had much gratuitous nudity throughout, both male and female, which was distracting – why is the farming couple, for one, prancing around with no clothes on anyway? The scenery was very fine, and the town was atmospheric. There was a wonderful opening song by Gal Costa and a few other attractive numbers scattered throughout.

The film would have been more effective if they had dropped the racism theme and just gone with the corrupt mayor story. As it is, it’s just harmless schlock.