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Drama

Black God, White Devil

Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol

Year
1964
Length
118 minMr Bongo restored presentation Version sources ↓

A poor couple cross Brazil’s sertão through a messianic cult, hired violence, and revolutionary myth after killing an exploitative landowner.

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Country
Brazil
TenseStrange Best saved for later · For patient viewers Drama
Black God, White Devil — Black, red and ivory woodcut figures cross a harsh Brazilian landscape.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Rocha fuses ballad, landscape, handheld urgency, ritual, politics, and violence into Cinema Novo’s call for a form adequate to hunger and revolt. The film refuses a stable saviour, whether religious, outlaw, or state.

How to ease in

The style is intentionally raw and allegorical. Follow Manuel and Rosa through three systems of promised liberation, and listen to the songs as a public narration that both explains and mythologises them.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes graphic violence, infant death, religious fanaticism, exploitation, killing, animal harm, poverty, and intense political imagery.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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Each leader promises an exit from hunger, yet every path asks Manuel and Rosa to surrender judgement. I listen to the ballad celebrate myth while the landscape keeps recording its human cost.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits
Screenplay
Glauber Rocha

Version map

Mr Bongo restored presentation 118 min 118 minutes is attached only to the named Mr Bongo restored presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred. Source: Mr Bongo — Black God, White Devil Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

Sources for the facts

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