QUEIMADA
QUEIMADA
The film’s original title is the name of the fictional Caribbean island on which the story takes place, colonised by the Portuguese. The name translates as ‘burnt’ – a reference to the way the colonisers razed local villages and disposed of their inhabitants to bring in enslaved people and begin exploiting the island through plantation agriculture.
In the mid-19th century, William Walker arrives on the island as an agent hired by the British Crown. His task is to radicalise the enslaved population and foment an uprising – a move designed to oust the Portuguese and enable the plantations to be taken over.
This epic film by Gillo Pontecorvo, the Italian director regarded as one of the foremost figures in politically engaged cinema, is at once a period drama, an action film, and an incisive treatise on colonialism. The mechanisms of subjugation, manipulation, and exploitation are laid bare with striking clarity and directness, and their relevance to the present day is hard to miss. Although BURN! is not a historical film and its story is fictional, it can be seen as a faithful reflection of the reality it depicts. At the time of its release, it was also regarded as a powerful commentary on the ongoing war in Vietnam.
Marlon Brando’s involvement in this film project subtly enhances the film’s impact. His character appears to be both a cynic and an idealist; he is thoroughly contemporary, complicating the film’s meanings and pushing it beyond the boundaries of the adventure genre. The discriminatory behaviour towards actors that he revealed added further controversy, placing BURN! within the very discourse that the film itself condemned.
Text: dr Karolina Kosińska
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