Black God, White Devil

Wanted for killing his boss, Manuel and his wife flee to a primordial violent region in Glauber Rocha's masterpiece and banner film of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement.

Wanted for killing his boss, Manuel (Geraldo del Rey) flees with his wife Rosa (Yoná Magalhães) to the sertão, a barren landscape of Northern Brazil. Thrust into a primordial violent region, Manuel and Rosa come under the influence of a series of frightening figures. Sebastiao, a fanatic preacher who promises utopia but practices massacre, and a band of bandits called Cangaceiros led by Corisco. Shuttled between the “Black God” and “White Devil”, Manuel and Rosa’s struggle for survival escalates when Church authorities hire a hitman named Antonio das Mortes to hunt down every combatant in the region.

In addition to writing and directing the film, Rocha wrote the folk songs scored by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Sergio Ricardo. Black God White Devil became the banner film of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement. Its artistic achievement, acknowledged by Luis Buñuel and Bernardo Bertolucci, has made it a seminal classic of film history.