Bacurau

Paranoid revenge Western about revolting villagers that has attracted record audiences in Brazil and become a symbol of the resistance against president Bolsonaro. Won the jury award at Cannes.

Like the god-forsaken village of Macondo in Garcia Márquez’s epic “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Bacurau also lies isolated in the backcountry. Teresa returns there to attend the funeral of her mother, the village matriarch. But strange events occur at the dusty village. Suddenly the place disappears from the map apps. A corrupt politician on a campaign tour promises development in turn for votes. But his appearance is just a portent of a greater threat that is soon to befall Bacurau: encircling the village are foreign murderers led by the despot Udo Kier. Bacurau is not just an amazing film: it filters the western genre through local politics and cultural history and has subsequently become a unique cultural phenomenon in Brazil.

• Maja Kekonius