''Behind the Sun'' ( pt, Abril Despedaçado) is a 2001 Brazilian-French-Swiss social drama film directed by

Walter Salles Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (; born 12 April 1956) is a Brazilian filmmaker. Early life Salles was born on 12 April 1956 in Rio de Janeiro and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He is the son of Brazi ...

, produced by

Arthur Cohn Arthur Cohn (born February 4, 1927) is a film producer and a multiple Academy Award winner. Biography Cohn was born to a Jewish family, the son of Marcus Cohn, a lawyer and leader of the Swiss Zionist movement who moved to Israel in 1949 where h ...

, and starring

Rodrigo Santoro Rodrigo Junqueira Reis Santoro (; born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Persian King Xerxes in the movie ''300'' (2006) and its sequel '' 300: Rise of an Empire'' (2014). Other famous movies include ' ...

. Its original Portuguese title means ''Shattered April'', and it is based on the 1978 novel '' Broken April'' written by the

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n writer

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; spelled Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born on 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the pu ...

, about the

honor culture Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

in the North of Albania. Co-produced by Brazil, France, and Switzerland, it was shot entirely in

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

, taking place in Bom Sossego, a district of the city of

Oliveira dos Brejinhos Oliveira dos Brejinhos is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Bahia This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of B ...

, and in the cities of

Caetité Caetité is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Bahia. It is located in the semi-arid ''sertão'' region in the interior of the state. It had an estimated 51,081 inhabitants as of 2020. It covers and is from the state capital, Salvador. Cae ...

and

Rio de Contas Rio de Contas is a municipality in the Bahia state, in the eastern part of Brazil. Its estimated population was 12,932. Rio de Contas has its origins in the 18th century. In 1718 the town of Santo Antônio de Mato Grosso was founded. It was l ...

Plot

The year is 1910; the place, the badlands of

Northeast Region, Brazil The Northeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Nordeste do Brasil; ) is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises n ...

. Twenty-year-old Tonho is the middle son of an impoverished farm

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

, the Breves. He is next in line to kill and then die in an ongoing blood feud with a neighboring clan, the Ferreiras. For generations, the two families have quarreled over land. Now they are locked into a series of tit-for-tat assassinations of their sons; an eye-for-an-eye, a tooth-for-a-tooth. Embedded in this choreography of death is a particular code of ethics: "Blood has the same volume for everyone. You have no right to take more blood than was taken from you." Life is suffused with a sense of futility and stoic despair. Under pressure from his father, Tonho kills one of the Ferreira sons to avenge the murder of his older

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

. This act marks him as the next victim. Tonho's younger brother is addressed only as "the Kid" by the family. Anticipating future loss, his parents don't give him a name. The Kid is an imaginative and loving child, whose spirit will not break in the face of harsh parenting, brutalizing isolation, and numbing poverty. The Kid's love encourages Tonho to question his fate. When Tonho meets Clara, a charming itinerant circus girl, all of life's possibilities open up for him. The film is narrated by "The Kid" who is later given a name by Clara and her stepfather, the traveling circus performers. They call him "Pacu" and he spends the whole film narrating which ultimately drives the viewers to identify and allows the film to humanize the characters. Later, Pacu and Tonho visit the circus in town, with Tonho forming a relationship with Clara. Clara later leaves her stepfather to be with Tonho, arriving at the farm to be with him. The two sleep together before she departs, telling Tonho to meet her in the east by the ocean. One of the Ferreira men come to the farm in order to exact revenge on the Breves, initially appearing to kill Tonho. However, it is revealed that they actually shot and killed Pacu, devastating the Breves. The father tells Tonho to get the gun in order to kill all of the remaining Ferreiras in retaliation. Tonho, realizing that his life with his family is destroyed, walks off without a word. His father attempts to shoot him for disregarding the honor of their family, but he is stopped by the mother who insists that the feud no longer matters and that it's over. Tonho arrives on a beach, staring at the sea with an expression of melancholic wonder on his face.

Cast

José Dumont José Dumont (born 1 August 1950 in Bananeiras, Paraíba) is a Brazilian TV and movie actor, best known for his role as the family father in ''Behind the Sun'' (''Abril Despedaçado''), an award-winning film of director Walter Salles. More ...

as the father *

as Tonho, the eldest son *Rita Assemany as the Mother *Ravi Ramos Lacerda as Pacu *

Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos (born 25 June 1954) is a Brazilian actor. Selected filmography Film Television References External links * 1954 births Living people Brazilian male film actors {{Brazil-actor-stub ...

as Salustiano *Flávia Marco Antonio as Clara *Everaldo Pontes as Old Blind Man *Caio Junqueira as Inácio *Mariana Loureiro as Widow *Servilio De Holanda as Isaías *

Wagner Moura Wagner Maniçoba de Moura (; born 27 June 1976) is a Brazilian actor, director, filmmaker, musician, and journalist. Wagner started his career doing theater in Salvador, where he worked with renowned directors, and soon scored some appearances ...

as Matheus *

Othon Bastos Othon José de Almeida Bastos (born 23 May 1933) is a Brazilian actor. He has appeared in 50 films since 1962. Filmography References External links * 1933 births Living people Brazilian male film actors People from Bahia 20th-ce ...

as Mr. Lourenço *

Gero Camilo Gero Camilo (born Paulo Rogério da Silva on December 18, 1970) is a Brazilian actor, dramatist, singer-songwriter and poet. A descendant of Indigenous, African, Portuguese, and Dutch people, he was born in Fortaleza, Ceará from parents of Ac ...

as Reginaldo * Vinícius de Oliveira as "the Kid"

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Film Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, r ...

–

and

(nominated) Golden Globe Awards *

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

(nominated)

Havana Film Festival The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiva ...

*Best Director – Walter Salles (won) *House of the Americas Award – Walter Salles (won)

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

*Little Golden Lion – Arthur Cohn and Walter Salles (won) *Golden Lion – Walter Salles (nominated)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behind The Sun 2001 drama films 2001 films Films based on Albanian novels Brazilian comedy films Films directed by Walter Salles Films shot in Bahia 2000s Portuguese-language films Films set in 1910 Films scored by Antônio Pinto