Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Andy (film-critic) "Abril Despedacado" is one of those films that you cannot judge directly after watching. It is one of those films that needs to be developed within your mind first, chewed after, re-watched, then tackled. It is not a simple film, yet Salles makes it so. Confused? I was too after watching this film, not because of the storyline, but because of my insecurity of emotion felt towards this title. Typically, I can say – "Nope", or "Yep, loved it", but with this one it took me two viewings to fully find myself saying, "This was nearly a masterpiece". This isn't your typical Hollywood film, but neither was his original first "Central Station", this is a film with minimal players, coupled with a simple plot, yet emotion raining down from the sky like fire. It is about a family that is so caught up in tradition, that living just isn't available. Year after year, or in this iteration, months after months, two families struggling for control over land (the bickering and death has gone on for so long that the land seems so unimportant in the grand scheme) kill one another in hopes that this final blow will be the last. The crazy thing about tradition, it keeps going – and this one is not different – until now. Two brothers, workhorses, who question this tradition after one is faced with the undutiful task of killing, look outside their small box of a life to see what else is out there to life for. It is there they find something that has been missing – imagination, love, and most importantly – a life.My description above seems, and feels to me like ultimate cheese spread on a film. Why would I like this? I think the first thing that pulled me towards this sleeper foreign film was the fact that I never quite new what was going to happen next. The story was solid, when I say that I mean it was lacking the typical holes that cliché Hollywood standards. This story was so simple (yet not), that Salles was able to focus on our characters, enriching us with images of the land, the culture, and the possibilities. The fact that this is a foreign film takes us away from the hardships, makes it almost fantastical, yet keeps us grandly rooted in reality. I felt sympathy for all the characters because there was no defined evil, I wanted them to explore, go on adventures, and see opportunities that this tradition was holding them back from. I loved the character of Pacu, or "The Kid", as he read the book given to him from a circus performer. The fact that he couldn't read didn't stop him from using his imagination, bringing stories to life, and enjoying a small cusp of life that we typically take for granted. What could have been dull or trite transformed by Salles vision into pure gold. This was more than just a film, but instead a cry to anyone that may feel the pressures of work getting them down, and looking for any opportunity to escape. "Abril Despedacado" is a universal story, rooted within an obscure culture. Why did this take me two viewings to see it? I must say everything fell perfectly into place with "Abril Despedacado", nothing was missing, nothing was forgotten, and nothing was misplaced. In a year of overplayed, recycled films, this was a breath of fresh air. Our characters were strong, yet independent. I loved that Tonho wanted to leave, find a new hope, yet couldn't forget about his family, especially his younger brother. I loved the sense of family and trust that happened within a small sect of people that really had nothing in common except the word "family" and the roof over their heads. While the ending was sad, I saw it as the perfect wake up call for these two bickering families. The scenery was genuine. The music was somber. Salles, in my eyes, couldn't have perfected "Abril Despedacado" any better. I have seen some utter garbage this year, and while my eye for film is constantly changing with age, I think "Abril Despedacado" is one that families could enjoy, as well as anyone who found the courage to put this in their DVD player. I am eager to see more of what Walter Salles has to offer, really explore his style, and suggest him thoroughly to friends and family.Overall, I am very impressed with this film. It is one that could be watched again and again, and more could be discovered. It is the perfect film to enjoy on a rainy day, with a warm cup of coffee, and enjoy the beauty that Salles creates with such a poignant family drama that obviously has a date on it, but can be considered universal. Time has shown on this film, AND proved that "Abril Despedacado" is one that can sustain the test of time. Bravo Walter Salles, Bravo! Grade: **** out of *****

Pedro Ser This film's craftsmanship is praise-worthy. It is a testament to the filmmakers' talent to visually convey their message in a graceful fashion without having to put all the burden on the dialog, voice-overs, etc. I disagree with some of the posted comments that describe how "obvious" or "overt" the symbolism is. Film-making, after all, is a visual art more than anything else, and I feel that the visuals were presented in a balanced, hardly in-your-face manner. This is the first film that I see from Mr. Salles and now I look forward to see his other work like Central Station. This movie is a must-see and I feel fortunate, because I happened to come across it by chance, picking it because I've never before seen a Portugese-language film. April Despedacado is a delight to the eye and a story to behold. It reminds us why we love to go to the cinema!

Renato Sabbatini (rsabbatini) This movie starts with a blood-stained shirt hanging under a strong wind. We will learn, later on, that it belongs to the eldest son of a small rural farmer (the Breves) in the drought-plagued, sun-drenched, desperately poor Northeast region of Brazil. He was killed in an ambush by a member of another family, the Ferreiras, starting a feud (which in the past -- the year is 1910 -- was very common in this region and could last for decades). Vengeance is required by the rough peasant's honor system, but a truce period is dictated by the slow yellowing of the blood stains under the sun.One of the things that are extraordinary in this gorgeous movie is the way we learn all this. The slow tempo of images, their rough poetic beauty, with an eerie musical background, tells everything we must know without words, but with skillful dramatic suspense. A lot of symbolism is also present: for instance, the sugarcane mill operated by the Breves family is powered by a pair of bulls walking endlessly around. The family patriarch is behind them all the time, forcing with a whip and shouts their round about. The oxen are so used to it that when the yoke is removed at the end of the day, they continue marching by their own around the mill! So, this is an apt metaphor for the routine, yoked, forced existence of the family under the weight of the father's authority and of tradition, an existence they see as a kind of inescapable karma.The remaining eldest son of the Breves (played superbly by Rodrigo Santoro) must now exact revenge on his dead brother. There is no way out, so, reluctantly, he does just that and kills the eldest son of the Ferreira family in a dramatic sequence, one of the best filmed I ever saw. He knows now that he will have a truce, too, until the bloodied shirt of his enemy yellows. His life is now divided into two, as the blind patriarch of the Ferreira clan tells him: the 20 years he has lived so far, and a week or so he still has to live, because death will surely come and he cannot dishonor his family by running away. The mutual killing cycle will so be like their bleak lives and the oxen's. It will be like two serpents eating each other tails until nothing remains, just a pool of blood (another touching metaphor described by one the characters). He has never known love, and will never know. April, the month when all this happened, was torn up (the meaning of the title in Portuguese, which was disgracefully altered in the English title).The film's ambiance alternates between blinding sun and the dried up "caatinga" (the semi-arid plains typical of this region) and the darkness of the night, lighted only by primitive oil lamps and candles. Night always bring respite and rest, to the oxen as well as to the humans, but it also brings fear. The eldest son wants to escape from this life, to interrupt the oppressing lifestyle, to revolt against the symbol of all this, his father, and to stop the revenge cycle. He doesn't know how, but the sudden appearance of a two-person circus in the village changes everything. The metaphor is now apparent: a beautiful girl shows him that love is possible, that a new life elsewhere is possible, that there are many other things beyond his narrow horizon of poor peasant. His young brother gets a book as a gift from the girl and this opens up marvelous, fascinating storytelling and daydreaming, of constructing a new reality where the boy is hero and is desired, with a plot he can change at his will. Both brothers see a light at the end of the tunnel, a dark passage to a brighter day.The movie paces up now to a climax that everybody is able to feel, the characters as well as the audience. The assassin is coming for him, the shirt stains have finally yellowed. Night falls and he meets for the first time his love. Heavy rain starts, a new metaphor, because it is so rare and so unexpected. Will this mean that there will be a way out for him, a meeting of a new life and world, a blossoming of life like the one is brought by rain in this parched land? How can he escape without dishonor to his family, without having to kill again?The answer is at the same time simple and fully symbolic, too. I will not spoil the surprise, but I must say that is absolutely impressive and emotion-laden. When you see the film, you will understand the solution to this impasse, painful for some, liberating to others.This is another triumph for young director Salles and his team, one of the best of the new breed of Brazilian cinema directors. His previous international success, "Central do Brasil" was excellent, too, and very properly incensed by critics and public alike. "Motorcycle Diaries" is also another movie by him, very well received. But "Abril Despedaçado" belongs to the rare category of a true masterpiece.

gdkarma2 This film is so beautiful, from the actors, the setting, the cinematography, the message...it was such a stunning and touching movie. A movie about vengence. A movie about love among family. Brotherly love. I felt myself transported and enraptured by this movie. More of a peek into time and space rather than watching a movie, really. To be utterly forgotten that I was watching this at home, from my VCR and feel as though I could taste the dust and feel the grind of the sugarcane mill...Who knew one could extract such sadness and anger from the sight of a bloodstained shirt, billowing in the wind as if it were dancing? Walter Salles did. The pace was deliberately slow. It's like reading a book very slowly, because you want to soak in every word and don't want to reach it's inevitable end. So if you'd rather watch a Kung Fu movie, fine.Wonderful performances by Rodrigo Santoro (yes, he's gorgeous, can we all get over that and take his performance for what it's really worth? Tell me his doe-eyed, innocent, 'boy trapped in a man's body' performance wasn't convincing, cus it was to me), Jose Dumont as the rigid and exhausted father, and especially the charming, darling young Ravi Ramos Lacerda.