Barren Lives (1963)

Highly Recommended

Brazil

Feature Film

Original Title: Vidas Secas

Director: Nelson Pereira dos Santos

Writers: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Graciliano Ramos

Cinematographers: Luiz Carlos Barreto, José Rosa

Composer: Leonardo Alencar

Cast: Átila Iório, Maria Ribeiro, Gilvan Lima, Genivaldo Lima, Orlando Macedo, Joffre Soares

An unrelentingly bleak depiction of a dirt poor family’s harsh existence, living a difficult, rural life in the northwest of Brazil in the early 1940s, suffering at the hands of draught, police brutality, and exploitative landowners, Pereira dos Santos’s austere minor-masterpiece is certainly a hard film to watch, but it’s also a film of rare power and beauty, and one that richly rewards the committed viewer. Iain.Stott