While its common to see apocalypse/living dead/dystopian stories twist themselves into political allegory, Brazilian writer/directors Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filhopics reverse the equation, twisting political allegory into dystopian apocalypse. Set in a near future where coffins are the only growth industry, a small town in relatively peaceful isolation amid a desolate landscape, comes under attack by inexplicable mercenary thrill killers from the U.S. Already desperate from a declining stock of water & food, the town turns to rebel forces for help, their savior a self-described ‘gay’ Che Guevara with a taste for bloody vengeance and a disinclination toward wearing shirts. Cleverly visualized, if relentlessly vague (and running a self-indulgent 131 minutes), the acting ranges from some believably strong stoics among the heroic locals (in Portuguese) to community-theater stiffs among the mercenaries (in English). With more realistic gore in the shootouts than you expect (nicely done, too), but no surprises when the people of the earth pick up arms to fight Personified Capitalist Threat. For better or worse, a Film Fest award magnet; and you’ll see why.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: George A. Romero got these points across without condescending we’re-the-people uplift, in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD/’68.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If only the film were as wittily conceived as its fake-out Action Movie Poster.
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