A 2019 Thriller With A 93% Rotten Tomatoes Score Might Be The Weirdest Western You’ve Ever Watched

The western isn’t exactly at the height of its popularity in the 2020s, but 2019’s “Bacurau” makes a compelling argument for its relevance. The film’s mix of styles makes it a truly unique experience that is not only thrilling, but also has a sharp satirical edge. Additionally, the film was a hit with critics, who gave it a collective 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the 1970s, Roger Ebert gave a perfect score to “El Topo,” a controversial and disturbing western that, in the years that followed, was equally praised by other critics. “El Topo” was credited with launching the so-called “Acid Western” genre, which combined the tropes of classic Wild West adventures with a surreal style and countercultural spirit inspired by the subversive artists who had been so influential in the 1960s. Alejandro Jodorowsky’s inimitable film created a disorienting, surreal and psychedelic vision of an American genre but, unfortunately, the same decade in which “El Topo” debuted also saw the death of the western as a popular and reliable genre. By the late ’70s, the western had been replaced by science fiction films, and it has since been kept alive through some truly remarkable revisionist efforts that won critical acclaim but failed to restore the genre to its former glory. (Of course, Taylor Sheridan and his vast array of neo-Western TV shows might be about to change all that.)

Still, we can at least say that the Western never really disappeared, which is a good thing because otherwise we might never have had “Bacurau.” Brazilian writer/directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ surrealist film defies easy explanation, blending social commentary with action-genre thrills and thus evoking the spirit of earlier weird westerns like “El Topo.”

“Bacurau” co-director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s previous films, 2012’s “Neighboring Sounds” and 2016’s “Aquarius,” both debuted to critical acclaim and, like “Bacurau,” were concerned with modernity encroaching on the lives of ordinary people. For the latter film, however, Filho took the helm alongside Juliano Dornelles, who had worked as art director on “Neighboring Sounds” and “Aquarius.” Together, the duo drew on their experience of growing up with Brazilian dramas alongside American films to create what is arguably the perfect distillation of their shared cultural experience. The result was “Bacurau”, a brutal and unique Western, unlike anything either had ever produced.

The film makes no secret of its anti-imperialist point of view, transforming the inhabitants of a small town into heroic resistance fighters fighting against the forces of modernity. But it’s also not afraid to embrace the theatrical stylings of genre films, making it a powerful and very funny social critique.

“Bacurau” stars Sônia Braga as Domingas, a small-town resident who holds the Brazilian sertão. After the death of the town matriarch, Carmelita (Lia de Itamaracá), Domingas and her townspeople discover that Bacurau has disappeared from online maps. Things get even stranger when a UFO-like drone appears, cell phone service goes out, and strangers are seen riding bikes around town. Soon, these peculiar events take a surprising and violent turn when armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier’s Michael arrive to expel the Bacurauans from their homes. But the gunmen did not expect the resourceful locals to put up a fierce fight as they eventually did.

“Bacurau” premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize before a theatrical release in Brazil and France the same year. Unfortunately, a planned U.S. release was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a shame because “Bacurau” was one of the best international films of its year, and critics absolutely loved it.

David Sims of The Atlantic called the film “one of the best cinematic distillations of that 21st century sense of impending doom” and “a concentrated vision of the apocalypse that somehow manages to strike a note of hope.” Cody Corrall of the Chicago Reader was also complimentary, writing, “It’s a rallying cry against structural injustice told through a satisfying blend of Western and science fiction influences.” The positive reviews continue to pile up, and it’s not just the so-called “great critics” who have been won over by “Bacurau.”

On Letterboxd, users have consistently rated the film four stars or higher, with a minority giving “Bacurau” three to three and a half stars. One review likens the film’s tone to that of a Quentin Tarantino film, while another describes it as “a patient, sprawling portrait of a Brazilian community struggling to defend itself against the dark specter of modernity” and “a gloriously demented (and slightly psychedelic) western.” In this way, we find a little of the spirit of “El Topo” in “Bacarau”, which is otherwise quite separate. If that sounds appealing to you, the film is available to rent on the usual digital platforms in the United States.