Behind the Sun
Miramax Films | Release Date: December 12, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
That tragedy looms heavily in Behind the Sun only makes its life-affirming moments -- resonate more deeply and powerfully in a film that is one of the year's best. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Carvalho's superb cinematography, Antonio Pinto's score and a dedicated cast and crew admirably sustain this poetic and uncompromising film. Read full review
90
New Times (L.A.)Luke Y. Thompson
Beautiful to watch and universal in theme by any name. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A compelling existential tableau: sweating bodies, creaking mills turned by numbed oxen, people facing the daily and seasonal cycles of life with little hope of breaking free. Behind the Sun is forceful stuff. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
When a culture offers little more than death upon death, appreciating life's everyday beauty is as good an answer as these characters -- and this filmmaker -- can provide. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJessica Winter
The movie's subject is brotherly love in all its extremes; the trajectory is grimly inevitable, and yet its final descent still manages to startle. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Consummately crafted and stunningly shot in magnificent locations deep in Brazil's remote northeastern badlands, the film unapologetically courts the commercial curve of the international arthouse arena with its rustic exotica and sensory overload of poetic imagery, giving it something of a grandiose air. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Salles is a master storyteller, and the film's pacing is flawless. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Schickel
This movie is more emotionally remote than Salles' fine "Central Station." But it is starkly beautiful and says something potent to a world in which nations, like these families, engage in mindless blood feuds. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A powerful allegory. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeRenee Graham
This is a deeper film, delving into the twisted motives that rule lives, the lethal cycles that shackle progress, and, ultimately, the courage it takes to choose life. Read full review
75
New York PostJonathan Foreman
A gorgeously photographed, sun-baked fable. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The blend of grim violence with romantic whimsy tilts toward sentimentality. Mr. 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. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The story, which was inspired by an Albanian novel and the Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, ends with a literary patness. But it's still a potent tale of fraternal love and the loss of innocence. Read full review
60
Film ThreatChris Barsanti
A film with a bare-bones story told with such potency that its occasional flights of heavy-handed symbolism are easily excused. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It's all so visceral that it overwhelms the near-abstract story and smothers what passes for characters. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It has some of the simplicity and starkness of classical tragedy, but what made me impatient was its fascination with the macho bloodlust of the two families. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
The appearance of circus performers in any film not by Fellini usually bodes ill, and it does so here. Read full review
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