O Cangaceiro

To call it a spaghetti western would be demean the movie;it's an intellectual work , certainly smarter than most of this kind of production.

The beginning ,notably ,is almost a divine intervention ,which the presence of a priest and a girl named Maria reinforces ;Espedito will be the savior,the "redeemer" who will help the poor and fight the powers to be (the arrival of the bishop ,welcomed by the army,is worthy of Bunuel .

Espedito's stature is so impressive he scares the governor he meets thanks to a Dutch engeneer ,with whom he becomes friends; the dinner in the palace is almost surrealist as those crude peasants mixing with high-born ladies covered with jewels . The Dutch friend remains ambiguous ; there are economic interests at stake : the oil they can get for a song is the reason why they tolerate the Redeemer ...who confesses he never was a savior ;in fact he was only a pawn in their game which they used to get rid of the other outlaws .Gangsters come to the rescue for the sake of the buck .A lot of deaths all along the movie and an unusual relationship between the congaceiro and the blond European .