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Touches You

Absolutely brilliant

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Queimada is Pontecorvo's follow up to his critically acclaimed magnum opus, Battle of Algiers–an epic war movie based on the events surrounding the Algerian War. Queimada stars American movie-icon Marlon Brando in the lead role of a mercenary named Sir William Walker. At the time of its release, Queimada failed at the box-office resulting in huge financial loses. The major reason for movie's failure was the elimination of several politically sensitive scenes from the originally shot material. The highlight of the movie, apart from its controversial themes, is undoubtedly Brando's larger than life portrayal of Sir William Walker. In a career spanning over five decades, Brando gave a plethora of breathtaking performances which include the tour de force of a hot-headed brute in A Streetcar Named Desire, the Oscar-winning portrayal of an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman trying to fight against the all-pervasive corruption in On the Waterfront, the icy portrayal of an outlaw betrayed by his partner in One-Eyed Jacks, the heart-wrenching portrayal of a recluse widower in Last Tango in Paris, and the unforgettable portrayal of an aging patriarch of an organised crime dynasty in The Godfather. Among the myriad of performances that Brando delivered during his long illustrious career, it's quite remarkable that he rated his portrayal of an agent provocateur in Pontecorvo's Queimada as his best ever. In his autobiography "Songs My Mother Taught Me", Brando revealed, "I did some of my best acting in 'Burn!'". Brando also admitted to it during an interview with Larry King on CNN as the latter, apparently disinterested in discussing a relatively unknown movie during the precious little time he had with the great actor, never allowed Brando to justify his choice.On the face of it, the movie deals with imperialism of the nineteenth century wherein colonial superpowers like England enslaved the black in the name of civilizing them–a seemingly moral obligation that the English laureate Rudyard Kipling so eloquently referred to as "The White Man's Burden". But, if one digs deeper the tale that is presented here appears to be both universal as well as timeless. A couple of centuries back, it was sugar that was perceived as a priced commodity, one that could make or break a fortune, but in the contemporary context, oil is the commodity that holds that coveted spot. Such is the power of Queimada that the conflict depicted in the movie can be aptly applied to several scenarios of past few decades. While in the movie it is the overambitious English sugar plantation company that held the actual sway over the Governments of Queimada as well as Great Britain, today we have petrochemical giants that happen to dictate their terms to the governments of the world. Queimada serves to be a smack in the face for all the perpetrators of mankind who have ever tried to exploit or patronize a certain oppressed section of humanity on the basis of color, creed, race, caste, sex, or religion.What makes Marlon Brando's portrayal singular is the element of unfathomable complexity associated with it. Sir William Walker is a ruthless mercenary, a filibuster, an agent provocateur, who knows no bounds when it comes to fulfilling his mission, and yet he has a certain element of humaneness that makes him likable. Behind the facade of a manipulative mercenary there exists a disgruntled, self- loathing persona trying desperately to escape his overwhelming guilt. Ironically, every move that he makes takes him deeper and deeper into the quicksand of his guilt as the escape becomes impossible. Brando's William Walker is a cross between a wolf and a sheep, a fiend and a beloved, an inflictor and a savior, a demon and an angel, a usurper and a guardian, a misanthrope and an altruist, and a mercenary and a messiah. It is this ambiguity that makes Brando's portrayal unique and remarkably magnificent. Walker is a gifted orator, a master manipulator, an opportunistic pacifier who dresses with the perfection of a fop. His aristocratic attire offers a striking contrast to the shabby appearance of the war-torn natives. Interestingly, Pontecorvo wanted Brando's portrayal of Sir William Walker to be out and out bad, but it Brando who insisted on putting up a grey-shaded caricature for Walker.Vintage Franco Solinas, Brando, during the course of the movie, gets to deliver some unforgettable lines, including a monologue in which he expatiates on the economics of using a paid worker vis-a-vis a slave by comparing it to the advantages of choosing a prostitute over a wife. However, my most favorite moment comes when Sir William Walker exhorts the power-hungry politicians of Queimada to offer amnesty to the guerrilla leader Jose Dolores warning them about the overwhelming power of a myth in comparison to a man, for unlike a man a myth cannot be killed and only grows to become a legend. Brando is well supported by the rest of the cast that mainly consists of Italian actors and amateurs. The team and Marcello Gatti and Giuseppe Ruzzolini have done wonders to movie's cinematography as the events seem to be taking place in front of the eyes rather than on the screen. Master composer Ennio Morricone's poignant music greatly complements the movie's motifs immensely adding to the beauty and power of the movie.Overall, Queimada serves to be a great specimen of filmmaking contributed by a great mix of direction, acting, screenplay, music, and cinematography. Pontecorvo triumphs in his great attempt to mock and mourn the plight of the oppressed indigenes during the colonial era while simultaneously presenting a great parallel to highlight the global crises post World War-II. Queimada may not serve to be the ideal sort of a cinematic experience for an average viewer, but it surely caters well to the needs of a thinking viewer who is not averse to getting out of his/her comfort zone in order to savor intelligent cinema.(This review was first published at A Potpourri of Vestiges)

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. ****

This film is now available on DVD under its English name:"Burn" I see the main characters and setting of this film as purely symbolic. The island has a fictional name:Queimada, which refers to a once popular European spicy alcoholic drink. As part of its preparation, it underwent burning, which supposedly scared away evil spirits. This relates strongly to the story developed in this film. This island is said to be a former Portuguese colony in the Caribbean. Although the Portuguese were once among the most ruthless colonialists, they stayed clear of the Caribbean. Thus, the Portuguese connection is purely symbolic. Brando's character, William Walker, is the namesake for perhaps the most fanatical conquistador the US ever produced, whose ultimate ambition, in his last few years, was to annex most of Central America, Cuba, and maybe more parts of Mexico, to be admitted as slave states to bolster the flagging political power of the South, in its competition with the North. Thus, he represents the unbridled ambition of Europeans to rule and exploit all the other peoples of the world. The indicated previous wholesale burning of the island's native vegetation and the dramatized burning of much of the island's sugarcane and laborer villages symbolizes the total disregard of most colonialists for the physical environment of these foreign lands or for the wellbeing of the native and imported laborers. I believe Walker's ultimate demise symbolizes the ultimate withering of colonialism, despite its apparently unshakable entrenchment the world over. The brief interlude showing Brando brawling in a slum in Britian only makes sense if it is saying that most colonialists were basically degenerate bullies, whether at home or abroad.We can read further possible symbolisms into the script, if we choose. Jose Dolores and the other rebels might be seen as representing those Negroes and their white supporters in the US who had recently fought and sometimes died to achieve true racial equality. Ditto for similar events in other countries. We might see the Portuguese as a stand in for the French and the Brits as representing the US in the Vietnam situation that was current when this film was made. The changing relationship between Walker and Dolores might be seen as similar to that between China and the US during vs. following WWII. A more recent example would be the changing relationship between Sadam Hussein and the US.I don't like Brando's general arrogant demeanor, nor do I like his slovenly speaking style. Perhaps these were appropriate for this role. The initial slave rebellion, their transformation into free laborers, and their subsequent realization that there was little practical difference between their former and present status was treated far too superficially to prove satisfying to the viewer. Perhaps there was more about this in the 20 min longer film version. The person who played Jose Dolores was not a professional actor and appears to lack the charisma that a successful rebel leader would need. Also, I found it difficult to understand him, with his thick accent. I did enjoy the scenes of Negro festivals and village life, although they were sometimes too long.You may have noticed that my name is William Walker, which is the initial reason I chose to see this film. I own a good biography of William Walker, written by Albert Carr. I understand another movie was made: "Walker", which also alludes to the imperialist dreams of this fascinating man. Unfortunately, this again was not a serious attempt to chronicle the real story of Walker, but was rather a political satire, relating to the then involvement of the US in the political struggles within Nicaragua as a follow up on Walker's long ago meddling in the politics of this country. Apparently, it portrays the critical relationship between Walker and Cornelius Vanderbilt as being the exact opposite of the true relationship. William Walker was a fascinating enough man that his life deserves a straight treatment, without becoming a caricature of a message film.

While watching this film, I had to wonder how different it would have been historically and even cinematically without Marlon Brando. His presence looms larger than the burned island we're introduced to at the beginning of the film. Considering that one of the early images of the movie is a white island whose land was colored or rather dis-colored by the dried bones of African slaves brought to the island after the total destruction of the native population by Portuguese "settlers", it does point to Brando's ability to fill a screen.I had never seen a film by Gillo Pontecorvo, which is pretty blasphemous for any self-respecting, pompous cinephile such as myself although Battle for Algiers is high on my list, along with other films that my friends can't believe I haven't seen, like Rashomon, Apocalypse Now, or The Wild Bunch. This film, however, is kind of what I expected from someone whose work is as politically-informed as Pontecorvo's and very characteristic of late 60s-early 70s cinema: frenetic camera movement, jump cuts, hammy yet stirring close-ups, and the highlighting of political injustice.Brando plays SIR William Walker, a colonial troubleshooter for England's sugar industry, or interests. Basically, Walker goes to Queimada to foment revolution against the Portuguese, meets and "trains" the porter Jose Dolores (played by the studly Evaristo Marquez). Dolores. In Spanish "dolor" means pain. I wonder if it's similar in Portuguese. If so, it makes sense because Walker leaves after doing his fomenting and then returns ten years later to bring down the powers that he helped earlier because of their threats to the sugar interests. Throughout the film, the interaction between Walker and Dolores dominates and forms the narrative arc. In the end, after much back-and-forth, Dolores shows Walker that he and only he is the master of his destiny, just as the Developing World attempted to show the Developed World back in that era. I use capital letters here because these terms have been utilized so thoroughly and are so politically loaded that they are characters themselves, with a relationship built on ideology, passion, corruption, and exploitation, rather similar to Walker's and Dolores'.Pontecorvo attempts to show the injustice of colonialism through this microcosm of Queimada, but he's also using the relationship between Walker and Dolores to add a deeper layer to this conflict by using something audiences can always relate to: character development. But it felt dated and just didn't seem to work for me. In fact, it was an 11 am movie so I fell asleep for part of it. When I woke up and asked my boyfriend what I'd missed, he said "Not a lot, just Brando slapping people around." I gently nodded off for another fiver. I knew that the sugar interests were going nowhere for the moment.cococravescinema.blogspot.org