SELVAJARIA
a film by MIGUEL GOMES SYNOPSIS These are the Backlands, an arid region in Brazil where plants became warriors to survive, raindrops sizzle when falling on the ground, the dead mummify! The local community has adopted postures and a culture determined by the territory’s laws of physics. We are in Canudos’ small settlement, in the 19th century. The backlanders, lead by prophet Antônio Conselheiro, are surrounded by thousands of soldiers from the young Brazilian republic. The military aims to capture the religious leader and dissolve the community, hostile to the regime. War has lingered on for months, soldiers didn’t expect such resilience nor such inhospitable territory. They suffer; starve and adopt their enemy’s habits to survive. But when reinforcements and supplies arrive, time has come for an assault on the rebel’s bastion! Savagery is a free adaptation of Backlands, the Canudos Campaign, by Euclides da Cunha, an account of this obscure war in Bahia, 1897.
