Epic historic melodrama with both purely fictional and real based characters in the bloody war of Canudos, in Northeastern Brazilian hinterland. It is a long story which is interesting to see gender roles in that society, disreputable military ethos, the varied behaviour of the press during the conflict, the serious lack of welfare policies in that region which was not improved with the rise of the Republic, and obviously the controversial messianic character Antônio Conselheiro and his militias: he was reactionary, monarchist, religious fundamentalist and even booster of mystical fanaticism, but also brave, concerned about the poor and the abandoned, democratic in what concerns respecting the will of those who could chose to follow him or not, and a man who defended honestly what the believed. As the movie is quite long, it is not very regular. However, not only it has very good moments but also is able to explore many important events and subplots. To resume, I shall also mention excellent actors who played core characters: José Wilker, Cláudia Abreu, Paulo Betti, Marieta Severo, Tonico Pereira, Roberto Bontempo, Tuca Andrade and José de Abreu. Director Sérgio Rezende has an important contribution in his initiatives of bringing Brazilian History to the big screen.
