Eumenides_0 After I watched Gillo Pontecorvo's brilliant movie The Battle of Algiers, I knew I had to watch the rest of his work. I'm glad to say Queimada! not only addresses similar topics, it's also as good.Sir William Walker arrives in Queimada, a Portuguese colony in the Caribbean, to instigate a revolution that will overthrow the government and set up a new one open to business with the British crown. For that he recruits José Dolores, a nobody, to create a revolutionary army. Things quickly grow, for people have been craving for freedom for a long time, and soon José is a general of an army with thousands of men ready to fight the colonists. All seems well and the two men, who've become friends, depart, Sir William to England as a rich man, and José back to the fields after renouncing his power in favor of the new Republic and the democratically-elected government.But years later Sir William is called back to Queimada. Things haven't gone well and José once again rounded up an army, this time to fight against a democratic government which continues to exploit people long after slavery has been abolished. But this time the English are the enemies and Sir William is the specialist in charge of taking down José and his revolutionaries.Queimada! is an epic story about the struggle for freedom, about shattered friendships, about unforgivable betrayals, and even about modern history, in the parallels with the way the West has disastrously dealt with the Middle East in the last years. It's an intelligent, thought-provoking movie, the type that doesn't get made anymore, not only because of its subversive content but also for its scope, with thousands of extras and landscape shots that hearken back to the days of Gone With the Wind or D. W. Griffith's epics.The acting is top notch, with Marlon Brando, playing a rogue who fights for money and not ideals, who can be your friend one moment and the next your greatest enemy, and yet carries a great amount of dignity in all he does.But Evaristo Márquez is also impressive. A non-actor when Pontecorvo cast him as José Dolores, he may lack the acting experience, but it's impossible to fake the excitement and heart he brings to his role. The relationship between the two is amazing and sorrowful, for it's quickly obvious their friendship won't end well.Queimada! is not an easy movie to watch: it's sad, it's violent, it's nearly hopeless, unlike The Battle of Algiers, which ended on a positive note, its critical of western civilization and the lives the march of progress is founded on. It's a very modern movie and clarifying of many of the problems we're facing nowadays. For that, everyone should watch it.

thinker1691 There are perhaps a dozen films which constitute the benchmarks of Marlon Brando. Reading his biography, I learned this movie " Queimada ' or "Burnt" was among his favorites. After seeing this movie and studying his role with interest, I have to agree his acting was superb! Brando plays Englishman (convingingly) Sir William Walker a young snobbish, aristocratic, adventurer sent from England to the islands conquered by the Spanish and Portugese. His task and that of his government is to incite discontent, insurrection and ultimately revolution. Selecting at random, an ignorant, but potentially educational native called José Dolores (Evaristo Marquez) Walker sets about to teach him how to not only win his freedom, but to eventually overthrow the Portugese and their government. The film story in shown in nearly historical chronologically as it purports to show how the two men change over the years. Distrustful of one another at first, they become fast friends over the decades, until the inevitable happens. The country which was once plagued with racism, injustice and slavery evolves. Yet, twenty years later with Walker returning to visit the country, all of it has returned. Brando's acting is so convincing I believed Fletcher Christian, not Walker had landed in Queimada. Renato Salvatori plays Teddy Sanchez another student of Walker is cautiously curious as to Walker's future plans for him. The movie is a political statement of the suffering plight of many native countries as Europeans arrive with lofty ideals and leave only desolation, death and ruins. This film may be among the best of Brando, but it's also a monumental Classic for his fans. ****

Claudio Carvalho In the Nineteenth Century, the cynical and pragmatic British agent William Walker (Marlon Brando) arrives in Queimada, a Portuguese colony in the Antilles, to promote a revolution and benefits the sugar trade with England. He finds in the water and luggage carrier José Dolores (Evaristo Marquez) the necessary potential to be the leader of the slave revolt, and the Portuguese troops are expelled from the island; then the provisional government of President Teddy Sanchez (Renato Salvatore) assumes the power with the support of the British government. Ten years later, William is hired by the Royal Company that is exploring the sugar cane plantations and the Queimada government to chase José Dolores that is disturbing the economical interests of England in sugar cane with his army of rebels.It is impressive the timing of director Gillo Pontecorvo to make and release "Burn!". In 1969, the South America was under military dictatorships promoted by the United States of America to improve their economical and political interests in the region. There are many parallel situations in the colonization process between what was happening in South America in that historical moment and in the fictitious island of Queimada in the previous century. Marlon Brando performs one of the most Machiavellians characters of the cinema history and very similar to the American advisors that supported the foregoing dictatorships (despite not using torture). His character is fascinating as well as his political capability to envision the consequences of his actions; he is indeed the personification of the thoughts and concepts of Machiavelli in "The Prince". My only remark is the use of English language in a Portuguese colony; Mr. Pontecorvo should have casted actors that speak Portuguese to be more accurate. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Queimada!" ("Burn!")

MoneyMagnet A new generation might not know how to take this film, since the production values are sometimes threadbare and the screenplay is very straightforward, but it's still a movie worth watching if you want to understand how the New World (including America) got to where it is today. (No, it's not historically accurate since Portugal never had Caribbean colonies, but it's clear that Portugal is just a stand-in for Spain or England or any other European colonial power.) From the start it is hard not to get involved in the struggles of the Queimadan slaves (who we see powerfully both in close-up and in mass scenes), after we first see the heartbreak and indignity of a widow and her small children forced to cart the headless corpse of their husband/father across the island themselves after he is executed by the slave masters for rebellion. It is also hard not to simultaneously appreciate and loathe the slick operations of Sir William Walker, an English agent provocateur who expertly manipulates one courageous man, Jose Dolores, into fomenting an effective rebellion that is actually planned to ultimately fail ten years later. Marlon Brando gives a masterful performance as Walker. (Even if you think you don't like Brando as an actor, you may be very surprised with him here. He considered this his best screen performance and his judgment was probably correct.) The ideas laid out in "Queimada" may seem old hat to today's audiences, but are also character-driven in a way that escapes most didactic modern treatments of racist imperialism. (Translation: It's a much better movie than BLOOD DIAMOND.) The most important message still relevant for today is that what we think of "freedom" often really isn't "free,", depending on whether we take it for ourselves, or if it is given to us (and who is doing the giving). Still an important lesson for "free" peoples around the world to keep in mind.