Abril Despedaçado (Behind the Sun) Reviews
Top CriticSalles ... has found the beauty not only in this terrible place, but in a story by novelist Ismail Kadaré that originally was set in Albania.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Salles ... has crafted a compelling existential tableau.
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Old School Reviews
arthouse fans hunger for a lot more than tortilla chips for an appetizer.
Full Review
| Original Score: C-
One Guy's Opinion
At once sharp and hallucinatory and, though deliberate and self-consciously 'artistic,' quite affecting.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Film Journal International
Turns a potentially interesting story into, well, refined sugar.
A rewarding parable on the futility of revenge and the redemptive power of self-sacrificing love.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
You're always aware ... that you're watching a quaintly middle-class, museum-poster notion of an 'elemental' peasant fable.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
Nitrate Online
Behind the Sun is a glorious revelation....critics-and audiences-will welcome this to their top ten lists.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Spirituality and Practice
Salles shows us through this powerful parable that true peace will come only when individuals disarm their hearts and act in love.
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
A dreary Aristotelian tragedy whose contemporary geopolitical relevance cannot compensate for the lack of gripping protagonists.
Salles has the confidence of a storyteller too entranced by his tale to worry about the resistance of his audience, which he thus effortlessly overcomes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable about a rural vendetta.
Boxoffice Magazine
A tragedy shot through with moments of blinding brilliance.
The trajectory is grimly inevitable, and yet its final descent still manages to startle.
Los Angeles Daily News
Salles and Carvalho turn every moment of Behind the Sun into a sumptuous feast for the eyes.
Compuserve
A stunning tale of revenge and family rebellion in the Brazil of 1910.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
A worthy but somewhat less-than-satisfying follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Central Station.
IFilm
It's a fine movie, but it's not quite dynamic enough to earn much more than your respect.
