For the last forty-five years or so, Carlos Diegues had led a movement in Brazilian Cinema that aims at extending the range of topics beyond the colonial history of the country, into the ethnic heritage of the blacks and native Americans who make up a sizable fraction of the population. One of his more successful efforts is this film, Quilombo (1984). It is a film that tells a remarkable story.

The Director: Carlos Diegues was born on May 19th, 1940 in Maceió, in the state of Alagoa, in Brazil. He moved to Rio de Janeiro when he was just six years of age. He was educated at the Catholic Pontificia University of Brazil (PUC) in Rio, studying law, but also devoting himself as publisher, poet, and film critic for the Journal of the Metropolitan Union of Students (Magazine O Metropolitano) in which the theories of the Cinema Novo (Brazilian New Wave) were to emerge. He began directing shorts as early as 1960 and gradually developed into the most successful of the so-called PUC Group, which also included Arnaldo Jabor and David Neves. His first feature film was Ganga Zumba (1964). The firm under review here, Quilombo, can be considered a remake and updating of that earlier film. He first achieved notice outside of Brazil with his 1966 film A Grande Cidade ("The Big City), for which he acted as writer, director, and producer (through a production company, Difilm, which he helped found). Diegues then paid homage to indigenous Brazilian popular television and cinematic culture through such films as The Inheritors (1969) and When Carnival Comes (1972). His next film, Joana a Francesca (1973), starred French actress Jeanne Moreau and was filmed in Diegues's native state of Alagoa.

In 1975, Diegues directed his most commercially successful film (and one of the highest grossing films in the history of Brazilian cinema), Xica, about a beautiful slave girl who became mistress of the principle Brazilian diamond merchant and revolutionized the culture in the Minas Gerais state in Brazil in the 17th century. Next, Summer Rains (1977) examined suburban apathy in Brazil while Bye Bye Brazil (1980) used an engaging comedic style to illuminate the escalating disintegration of Brazilian heritage. Then, in 1984, Diegues returned to his earlier interest in historical themes with Quilombo, which was one of the most expensive movies ever filmed in Brazil, though it did not match the box-office success of Xica. After 1984, Diegues made just two more films for the big screen: A Train to the Stars (1988) and the satirical Better Days Ahead (1989). In the nineties, Diegues became immersed in television film projects.

Historical Background: The story of Quilombo is fact-based and largely accurate, though the genuine story has been mythologized to an extent that it is sometimes difficult to know for certain where the fact leaves off and the fiction begins. During the early part of the 17th-century in Brazil, black slaves imported by the Portuguese colonialists to work on the sugar plantations came mainly from Angola, which was in turmoil at the time, from invasions and the collapse of the Kingdom of the Kongo. The constant warfare in Angola fed the slave trafficking that operated from a Portuguese coastal settlement. The black Africans who were brought forcibly to Brazil sometimes escaped their bondage and fled into the interior of Brazil to the mountainous region of Pernambuco. As their numbers increased, they formed maroon settlements, called mocambos. The region was forested predominately by wild palm trees and became known as Palmares. When the Dutch invaded Northeastern Brazil in the 1630's, what had been a trickle of fugitive slaves became something of a steady stream. Gradually as many as ten separate mocambos had formed and ultimately coalesced into a confederation called the Quilombo of Palmares, under a popular elected king, Ganga Zumba.

The term "quilombo" establishes a link between Palmares and the culture of central Angola because, during the time of the slave trafficking, natives in central Angola, called Imbangala, had created an institution called a "kilombo" that united various tribes of diverse lineage into a community designed for military resistance during that time of upheaval. That institution proved readily transferable to the situation in Palmares, where the various macombos were comprised of diverse populations that included Africans from Angola, other Africans, native Americans, Jews, and even poor and displaced whites. By the second generation of the mocambos, the population included many Creoles, meaning, in this context, people of African descent but born in Brazil or mixed race people with both native American and African ancestry. Though the institutions of Palmares were derived from those in Angola, the people were of mixed genetic backgrounds. Ganga Zumba, the first King of Palmares, may actually have been a native Palmarino.

From the very inception of Palmares, there were repeated invasions by, first, the Dutch, and, later, the Portuguese colonists, but with little success. An expedition led by Bartholomeus Lintz in 1640 found two large mocambos and several smaller ones. By 1645, when there were two expeditions against the quilombo, a double palisade surrounded the largest settlement in Palmares, with a spike lined trough between the two rows of pickets. There were over 200 buildings in the community, a church, four smithies, and a council house. After the expulsion of the Dutch in 1654 by the Portuguese, the expeditions against the quilombo increased in frequency, sometimes in excess of one per year. Between 1654 and 1678, there were at least twenty such incursions. For their part, the Palmarinos engaged in reprisal raids on the Portuguese plantations and villages, freeing slaves, and thus swelling their own numbers. Between battles, trade in crafts, foodstuffs, and munitions ensued between Palmares and some segments of the colonial population. The trade was profitable enough that some segments of the colonial community wanted peaceful coexistence with Palmares, but the plantation owners wanted its destruction because of both the threat of raids and the lure of escape that Palmares provided to the slaves on the plantations.

During a mostly futile attack on Palmares in 1655, led by Brás da Rocha Cardosa, an infant was kidnapped by the Portuguese forces and given over to a Catholic priest, Antônio Melo, in the coastal town of Porto Calvo. The priest set out to raise the boy as his protégé, tutoring him in Latin, Portuguese, and Catholic dogma. The boy, whom Melo baptized "Francisco," ran away at age fifteen and returned to Palmares. There, his education proved invaluable and he soon rose to the position of military commander for Palmares. He proved to be a leader of exceptional valor and strategic intelligence and acquired the title of "Ganga Zumbi" (not to be confused with the King, Ganga Zumba). The name "Zumbi" (sometimes rendered "Zambi") derived from the Angolian word "nzumbi", which meant "ancestral spirit" or "evil spirit." It was Zumbi who led the raids against the Portuguese plantations, so to the colonists, Zumbi meant the evil spirit who comes in the night to wreck havoc and death. The English word "zombie" derives from the same root source and one can readily see the connection. Zumbi may have gained the name when he returned to Palmares, seemingly from the dead, after fifteen years of captivity.

By the 1670's, the King of Palmares, Gunga Zumba, had a palace, three wives, guards, ministers, and devoted subjects at his royal compound called Macaco. There were at least nine other settlements, several headed by brothers, sons, or nephews of Gunga Zumba. Zumbi was chief of one community and his brother, Andalaquituche, headed another. In 1676/7, Portuguese expeditions under Fernão Carrilho proved especially costly to Palmares, resulting in the capture of several sons, nephews, and grandchildren of Gunga Zumba. The King himself was also wounded. When the Portuguese Governor of Pernambuco offered a peace treaty in 1678, the war-weary Gunga Zumba accepted the terms, which required that the Palmarinos relocate to Cucaú Valley. Runaway slaves had to be returned to their owners but the freeborn blacks would be entitled to retain their status as freemen. The treaty failed, however, because it triggered a split among the people of Palmares. A large faction under Zumbi refused relocation and, in 1680, Gunga Zumba was poisoned and Zumbi became King. He ruled until 1694, when the invasion by the bandeirante (i.e., bush captain trained in fighting Indians and capturing runaway slaves) Domingos Jorge Velho, from São Paulo, successfully breached the palisades at Palmares, killing 500 Palmarino warriors, capturing another 500, and effectively destroying the Republic. Two hundred of the warriors leaped from the precipice at the rear of the compound rather than submit to capture. Although Zumbi escaped the massacre and continued resistance actions for more than a year thereafter, he was betrayed by one of his followers, ambushed, and killed on November 20th, 1695. Remnants of the old mocambos continued to reside in the region for another hundred years.

The Story: The story begins with a revolt of a group of slaves against their Portuguese oppressors. They are able to gather some weapons and flee into the interior of Brazil, to one of the mocambos in the region of Palmeros. An aging priestess soon declares one of the runaway slaves, Ganga Zumba (Tony Tornado), King of Palmares. Ganga Zumba proves an able leader, uniting the several communities into the Republic of Palmares, organized for common defense. They are able to successfully resist the frequent incursions of Portuguese expeditionary forces by ingenious fortifications, snares, jungle ambushes, and pitfalls.

The film recounts the kidnapping of a young boy from Palmares, his apprenticeship to the Catholic Priest, his ultimate return as Zumbi (Antônio Pompêo), and his ascension to military commander of the Palmarinos. A great debate ensues when the aging Ganga Zumba accepts the peace proposal of the Portuguese, which is emphatically opposed by Ganga Zumbi, creating a schism in the community. The story reaches its climax with the Velho expedition, the destruction of Palmares, and the final betrayal of Ganga Zumbi. The story sticks fairly closely to the historical facts except for some poetic license, mainly for narrative continuity.

Themes: In 1995, Brazil celebrated the 300th anniversary of the death of Zumbi, the last leader of Palmares. The history surrounding the Republic of Palmares has taken on a mythical quality that continues to excite the imagination and aspirations of many people of Brazil, as the country seeks to become a truly integrated and colorblind, multi-ethnic society. Palmares symbolically represents, for Brazil, the struggle for economic and political justice and equality. Since 1978, November 20th has been a national holiday in Brazil, now known as Black Consciousness Day, but originally designated Zumbi Day. Like Martin Luther King in America, Zumbi represents for many Brazilians not only the aspirations of its black populace, but the broader hopes for an alternative to racism and classism.

Production Values: Diegues presents this magnificent story of man's thirst for freedom as an epic pageant. He has chosen deliberately to idealize the story rather than present it realistically. As is traditional in Latin American cinema, the style of storytelling freely blends real and surreal elements. In one scene, for example, a small band of Portuguese raiders attack a group of Palmarinos consisting of one old man and a group of children, but some of the children successfully kill the invaders while the remaining children dance and turn cartwheels. Life in Palmares is portrayed as a continuous succession of ceremonies involving dance, song, chants, and body painting. Life is idyllic, food is abundant, and nobody does any work. At the end of the film, poor Zumbi gets shot perhaps thirty times and still manages to toss his spear into the heavens where it disappears into eternity. Diegues is thus presenting the story as something out of mythology or folklore, more than a reality based historical account. Some of the dialog strains credulity, such as Ganga Zumba's stab at a kind of Utopian communist-style manifesto when he declares, "What comes from the earth belongs to everyone, as the earth belongs to no one. If they need food, they have a right to take yours."

The costumes and sets, which were the work of Luiz Carlos Ripper, are spectacular in color and detail. The cinematography is stylish and creative, with rich flows of color. There are many intricately choreographed dance numbers. Diegues is especially effective in designing and filming these ensemble scenes. The musical soundtrack leaves much to be desired, however. It consists largely of Brazilian pop music of the eighties (written by Gilberto Gil and Walid Salomao). Some kind of traditional indigenous Brazilian folk music would have been far more appropriate.

Antônio Pompêo gives a good performance as Zumbi as does Tony Tornado as Zumba. The most recognizable person in the cast, however, is Zezé Motta, because of her previous lead performance in Xica. Antonio Pitanga, one of the best-known Brazilian actors, provides a solid performance as Acaiuba, one of the mocambo chieftains.

Bottom-Line: This is a fine change-of-pace film, provided that you can get into history presented with more surrealism than realism. It's a chapter in Brazilian history with which I was previously unacquainted but found highly intriguing and inspirational. I imagine that many of you would as well. I recommend this film and give it a solid four-star rating. Quilombo is in Portuguese with English subtitles and has a running time of 114 minutes.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Brazil:

Behind the Sun
Black Orpheus
Central Station
City of God
The Motorcycle Diaries
Pixote
Xica

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older