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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
- Cat and Mouse
- Historical Drama
- Marlon Brando Films
- Race Relations and Racism
- Revolutionaries
- Slavery
Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary writes, this “exceptional political narrative by radical Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo” is “a painful yet fascinating look at colonialism and revolution in both theory and practice.” He asserts it’s “the equal of Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers,” though he points out that “poor distribution by United Artists decreased its chance of duplicating that film’s commercial success or notoriety.” I’ll cite directly from Peary’s initial description of the film, since it provides valuable contextual detail: he notes it’s “based on historical evens,” “set in 1845 on a Caribbean island where in 1500s imperialistic Portuguese (in truth it was Spanish) burned the entire landscape and exterminated the entire native population to quell an uprising” (hence the island name of Queimado, or “burnt”) — and “for the next three centuries black slaves who were imported from Africa to replace the Indians worked on the sugar plantations of the colonialists.”
Enter into this scenario Brando “in perhaps his most interesting role” as “the intellectual, mannerly British agent Joseph Walker, who teaches the blacks the art of revolution and finds the charismatic man (Dolores)… who can lead them” — then “sees to it that Dolores hands his leadership over” to a mulatto “who will allow the British to control the island as the Portuguese had.” As Peary puts it, “Walker turns out to be not a hero but a bastard, and his friend Dolores is at once disillusioned and politically enlightened” — thus leading to the film’s powerful final section.
Peary points out that “with a great rousing score by Ennio Morricone, this is an extremely colorful combination of an old Errol Flynn swashbuckler that had revolutionary spirit and a ‘film of ideas'” with “many historical applications throughout the world.” To that end, “it is, most significantly, the story of revolt against colonialism in Third World [sic] countries,” a “major point of the film” being “that white men cannot comprehend the singular nature of the black [man] and his willingness to fight endlessly for freedom.” Dolores — who “comes across with great dignity” — is “a symbol of the continuing revolution.”
Peary goes into further detail about this film in his Cult Movies book, where he posits this film in contrast with “so-called political [American] films which criticize once-sacred cows — the President, people in government, the FBI, the CIA, the police, the military, the courts” — but “typically wait until such criticism becomes fashionable,” thus making such films not “really controversial” but rather “reflect[ing] the popular sentiments of the time” — and, crucially, emphasizing “that their villains are individuals whose actions in the name of America go against everything the American system stands for: they are rotten apples in an otherwise perfect barrel.”
Ultimately, “though antiestablishment on the surface, these pictures reinforce our faith in the American way of life, in the American political process,” suggesting “that it is not a sociopolitical system rooted in corrupt, anti-humanistic activities that is the real villain, but the opportunistic, fascistic men who take advantage of such a system.” It is therefore:
“… instructive for American moviegoers to see alternative pictures [like this one] which attempt to give us a better understanding of history (which does indeed repeat itself and which has indeed shaped the present), where the stories told reveal important political truths about countless occurrences in the past all over the globe, and where such terms as imperialism, colonialism, racist policies, counterrevolution, systematic oppression, systematic torture, nationalism, liberation movements, political consciousness-raising, popular uprisings, terrorism, guerrilla warfare, and revolution are defined and placed in historical context.”
In his Cult Movies essay, Peary also describes Brando’s character in a bit more detail, writing:
“History is full of brilliant political men, military strategists, and philosophers like Walker who, for reasons of their own, fought on the wrong side. We see that Walker really does like Jose and wants him to live… to exonerate himself from the guilt he feels and to prove to Jose and to himself that his theories on these black slaves are correct.”
He “cannot accept that in this godforsaken world people with virtues (people like Jose) exist — if he had known, he might have remained virtuous, too.” That’s debatable — but Brando imbues this complex character with enough subtlety and humanity that we can’t help staying invested in his plight even when he’s at his most vindictive.
Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
- Marlon Brando as Sir William Walker
- Evaristo Marquez as José Dolores
- Beautiful cinematography and production design
- Creative opening credits
- Ennio Morricone’s score (According to TCM: “Burn! was only one of 29 scores the now venerable Italian composer and conductor – with something like 500 to his credit – wrote in 1969 alone.” Ummm… Can you say brilliant and prolific?!)
Must See?
Yes, as a powerful and unique cult classic.
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