The Cangaço in Brazilian cinema

Author(s)

Marcelo Didimo Souza Vieira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Artes
• Defense date: 2007-01-30

Examining board members

Marcius Freire; Francisco Elinaldo Teixeira; Josette Maria Alves Monzani; Luciana Sa Leitão Correa Araujo; Maria Bernadette Cunha de Lyra

• Advisor: Marcius Freire

Abstract

The cangaço was a kind of social banditry that occurred in the Northeast of Brazil between the years 1870 and 1940. This historic movement was portrayed in the Brazilian cinema through different periods, by diverse forms. The first films approaching this thematic were developed from 1920 decade on. The cangaço is structured as a specific genre during the 1950 years, the Nordestern, when several films started to treat the subject with common characteristics, using the western as a reference. The comic type of film considered the cangaço in a satirical way and some documentaries had been produced along these years. Glauber Rocha, one exponent of the Cinema Novo, also engaged himself in the theme streamline with films of symbolic characterization. In 1990 decade some films brought new views, within the new Brazilian cinema. Finally, about 50 films were produced in 70 years, which constitute a very particular Brazilian genre: the Cangaço Films (AU)