Bacurau

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Bacurau

Released Mar 6, 2020

2h 11m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

Fantasy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

170 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A few years from now... Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants (among them Sônia Braga) notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one. A fierce confrontation takes place when the townspeople turn the tables on the villainous outsiders, banding together by any means necessary to protect and maintain their remote community. The mercenaries just may have met their match in the fed-up, resourceful denizens of little Bacurau.

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Critics Consensus

Formally thrilling and narratively daring, Bacurau draws on modern Brazilian sociopolitical concerns to deliver a hard-hitting, genre-blurring drama.

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Kambole Campbell

NME (New Musical Express)

It's a curious film that defies categorisation, opening quietly before descending into a cacophony of cathartic bloodletting by the chaotic finale.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 10, 2021

Full Review

David Sims

The Atlantic

I don't want to spoil a second of Bacurau, but it's one of the best filmic distillations of that impending 21st-century sense of doom, a concentrated vision of the apocalypse that somehow manages to strike a hopeful note.

Jan 27, 2021

Full Review

Ela Bittencourt

Harper's Magazine

Mendonça and Dornelles's film is... an attempt to grapple with unspeakable, horrifying evil -- but an evil that must be understood in social and historical rather than biblical terms.

May 2, 2020

Full Review

Sukanya Verma

Rediff.com

The lesser you know about this completely bonkers, bloody movie about survival versus sadism the better.

Aug 27, 2024

Full Review

Paul Kanieski

KSQD Community Radio

Its themes are universal, and anyone who’s seen the videos of rioters storming the congressional halls on January 6th will find some of Bacurau’s antagonists eerily familiar.

Jul 24, 2023

Full Review

Rhys Handley

Vague Visages

Relishing in its ability to wrong foot and thrill right to its final moments, it s an unashamedly cinematic experience, with its makers playing in a sandbox of tropes and expectations, subverting them to put forward a radical and wholly essential message.

Jun 5, 2023

Full Review

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Alexsander F

Long live great Brazilian cinema!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/19/25

Full Review

Thalys R

Mesmo sendo uma história ficcional, o filme tem o dom de fazer com que o telespectador entre na trama apresentada e sofra junto com a população do povoado os problemas enfrentados. Além disso o filme traz uma dura crítica pela falta de atuação dos políticos e os problemas enfrentados pela população sem nenhuma ajuda externa. Ótimos atores, ótimos cenários e ótimo roteiro.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/03/24

Full Review

Kauã M

One of the film's magics is perhaps what makes it not as talked about as it should be, which is not knowing what it's about, but as a Brazilian watching this film I realized that no Brazilian film will be successful if it doesn't address something from the reality of some people suffering in Brazil, but this film is so well constructed, every message to be conveyed, direction and performances are impeccable, you should definitely see this film, and it is a must to see if it is Brazilian.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/22/24

Full Review

Luiz R

An engaging story that captures curiosity when least expected.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/06/24

Full Review

Camila R

Bacurau é sem dúvidas uma obra de arte do cinema. A atuação de Silvero Pereira está impecável, e o consolida como um dos maiores atores brasileiros da atualidade. Bacurau prende os espectadores do início ao fim, ao ponto de nem perceber que se passaram mais de duas horas de filme. Retratar o povo nordestino como pessoas fortes e solidárias é um dos pontos altos da obra, que sem dúvidas ganhou o coração de muitos brasileiros.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/08/23

Full Review

Doug A

I was grasping to latch onto a character or two but you don't get the chance. Mostly I was just confused. Got more interesting as it went along but an exercise in patience.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/26/23

Full Review

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Kleber Mendonça Filho

Director

Juliano Dornelles

Director

Sônia Braga

Domingas

Udo Kier

Michael

Barbara Colen

Teresa

Julia Marie Peterson

Julia

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Synopsis

A few years from now... Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants (among them Sônia Braga) notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one. A fierce confrontation takes place when the townspeople turn the tables on the villainous outsiders, banding together by any means necessary to protect and maintain their remote community. The mercenaries just may have met their match in the fed-up, resourceful denizens of little Bacurau.

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
Producer: Saïd Ben Saïd, Emilie Lesclaux, Michel Merkt
Screenwriter: Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Arte France Cinema, CinemaScópio Produções, SBS Films
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama, Fantasy
Original Language: Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 19, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $58.1K
Runtime: 2h 11m

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