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Burn!

Burn! (1969)

October. 21,1970
|
7.1
| Drama History War

The professional mercenary Sir William Walker instigates a slave revolt on the Caribbean island of Queimada in order to help improve the British sugar trade. Years later he is sent again to deal with the same rebels that he built up because they have seized too much power that now threatens British sugar interests.

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Jeanskynebu
1970/10/21

the audience applauded

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Vashirdfel
1970/10/22

Simply A Masterpiece

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Allison Davies
1970/10/23

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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Geraldine
1970/10/24

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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renegau
1970/10/25

This version (presently available on DVD and US release) is the edited one. Like so many foreign films at the time, was edited for "American audiences". Since the studio had the rights to the film, there was nothing Pontecorvo could do, but watch his masterpiece reduced to nothing. 22 minutes were cut. In addition the DVD version is very poor. The aspect ratio has been changed, and the copy is very poor. As a result of the cuts, the subtle undertones of the relationship between the main characters was altered, as well as the political undertones. Pontecorvo had already conceded the change of title and script change (Spanish island to Portuguese island) because Generalisimo Franco's protest, and his threat not to allow distribution in Spain. It's ashame that at this point the directors cut version is not available , at least as an alternative to the average viewer. It is available , in the Italian DVD . It's in Italian language, with Brando's voice dubbed. The dubbing in this case doesn't take away from Brando's performance (his personal favorite). It has English subtitles. Pontecorvo himself edited this version before his death. It's quality is much better, and has the original aspect ratio. Occasionally shown at art festivals. My rating applies to this version . The real masterpiece .

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Wuchak
1970/10/26

Gillo Pontecorvo, the acclaimed director of 1966's "The Battle of Algiers" released his next film "Queimada" -- aka "Burn!" -- three years later in 1969. "Burn!" stars Marlon Brando as William Walker, a British agent sent to a fictional Caribbean island, Queimada, to spark a revolution amongst the black slaves who work the sugar cane fields. But Walker isn't really interested in freedom for the slaves, he just wants to procure the sugar trade for England. It doesn't take long for the freed slaves, led by Jose Dolores (Evaristo Márquez), to realize that their freedom is in name only. The film's called "Burn!" because fire is the European's preferred method of putting down slave insurrections, as in burning the whole freakin' island if necessary! Shot in beautiful Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia, "Burn!" explores the nature of imperialism and insurrection. Add the most captivating actor in history and Ennio Morricone's memorable score and you have what should be a great film. While it is an impressive and unique film like "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", and had potential to be spoken in the same breath as "Apocalypse Now", this unfortunately isn't the case. "Burn!" is certainly educational and somewhat compelling in the second half, but it lacks flow and characterization. As a result, the viewer doesn't know the characters and therefore isn't drawn into their story.I've watched "Burn!" three times now and it's left me with the same feeling each time: It's worthwhile, but don't expect to be entertained or to care about the characters and their story. Brando cited "Burn!" as one of his best performances, but his portrayal of Walker is actually unmoving because he's never fleshed out as a human being, not to mention his lack of character becomes clearer as the film progresses.The film runs 112 minutes, which is the version originally released in the USA in 1969, but there's supposed to be a restored version that runs 132 minutes. I doubt the extra 20 minutes can turn such an un-involving film into an engrossing one, but I'd be interested in seeing it some day.GRADE: C+

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tieman64
1970/10/27

The 1840s. Marlon Brando plays William Walker, a mercenary who is sent to the Spanish Caribbean on behalf of the British Empire. He touches down on Queimada, an island currently ruled by the Portugeze. Queimada, we later learn, means "burnt" in Italian. The island has been razed to the ground numerous times in the past, Empires routinely setting her ablaze in an attempt to squelch uprisings. Offshore, the bones of dead Amerindian and African slaves adorn a grotesque coral reef. An early scene, in which domesticated birds battle to the death because their "masters" set them against each another, drives home the crux of the film; the tragedy of men used as sacrificial pawns in proxy wars instigated by wealthy spectators. In this regard, it is Walker's mission to infiltrate Queimada and coax its black natives into rebelling against their Portugese colonisers. If Walker is successful, Britain will then be able to step in and gain access to the island's sugar plantations, the "white oil" of the 1800s. Brando plays Walker as an effeminate, snake-oil salesman. He's a dandy, his ridiculous gait masking his slimy, brutal nature. Walker's target? Jose Dolores, a broad-shouldered black slave to whom Walker whispers sweet words of rebellion. Jose takes the bait, begins to desire the freedom Walker sells, and so dutifully fights a little war against the Portugese. After all, it's in his best interest. Isn't it? Walker stands back and watches while the dominoes fall. Once the blacks have conquered the Portugeze, the British Empire then steps in and labels Jose's freedom fighters "terrorists" and "extremists". Jose Dolores and his rag tag rebels resist the British at first – they've tasted freedom and won't let go – but they're eventually crushed. The island is once again burnt to the ground.Walker's role changes dramatically in the second half of the film. No longer urging Jose to stand up to Empires, he switches gears and seduces Jose into stepping aside and letting a "civilized" Britain take over. "You can not learn the secrets of the white man's civilisation over night," Walker says. "Who will teach your children? Who will cure your sick? Who will transact your commerce?" Jose looks at Walker with confused eyes. He cannot read, has no understanding of a constitution, laws or rights. Cunningly, Walker steps back and lets Jose realise these things himself. Under Jose's leadership, the island degenerates into a mess. Disorder. Near anarchy. Jose's men virtually will the British Empire into returning to them.The film offers a fictional parable of the bloody transition from chattel slavery to "free" labour; from old imperial colonies to "independent" nations dominated by foreign capital. Today its imagery alludes not only to actual historical events from the past – Brazil, Vietnam, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America – but current crises (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya) in which Empires seduce leaders into fighting proxy wars against their enemies, before violently discarding their pawns and stepping in themselves. The film was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, a director who routinely condenses complex history, truths and politics down to rousing epics. Think his 1965 film "The Battle of Algiers", which was so prophetic that Pentagon officials and think-tank experts screened it before the Second Gulf War. This one, "Burn!", was intended as a truncation of the Vietnam War.The youngest of three Italian-Jewish brothers, all of whom suffered under the anti-Semitic restrictions of Mussolini, Pontecorvo was a leader of the Milan Resistance during WW2. Like many in his generation he was a staunch communist. After the war he worked as a functionary in the Italian Communist Party. When the Soviets invaded Hungary in 1956, Pontecorvo resigned from the party but did not abandon Marxist politics. He then brought his political commitment and his many talents — photography, journalism and music composition — to filmmaking. The Italian neo-realism of Rossellini inspired him. His goal as a director was to be three parts Rosselini and one part Eisenstein.Like most neo-realists, Pontecorvo's casting decisions were based almost entirely on actors' faces and physical presence. He selected most of the actors in "The Battle of Algiers" this way. Unsurprisingly, Brando was the only professional actor cast in "Queimada". To play Jose Dolores, Pontecorvo found Evaristo Marquez. A tall Colombian, Marquez spoke no English, had never seen a film, and could not learn cues. This didn't matter to Pontecorvo. The guy looked like a mahogany god. Pontecorvo turns him into a stoic symbol of Africa, her persecution, strength and potential.But though it possesses a number of neo-realist traits, "Queimada" pulls heavily from Italian opera. Ennio Morricone's score, which consists of an exhilarating, deranged amalgam of 1969 Euro electronic space-jazz and soaring African chants, captures the tone of the film. Drawing from exploitation cinema, this is a blood soaked epic, filled with psychedelic imagery, rousing passages and remarkable, weird energy. Using dense colour-saturated film (lush images zap our eyeballs, and the film's tropical heat is palatable), Pontecorvo treats us to the kind of spectacle typical of someone like Sergio Leone. Think the film's large processions of half-naked men, women, and children, which are later reversed with a bombastic scene in which a triumphant Jose Delores returns to his city with an army. The mahogany saint, now a general on a white horse, is an unforgettable, and comical, image of empowerment. Other sequences, in which blacks are hunted down by dogs, and villages are vapourised by artillery and flame, conjure up Vietnam's macabre image bank. And then there's Brando. Brando called this his best performance, the actor parodying genteel devils and perhaps expressing sneering disdain for both his own acting and the play-acting of history's Walkers. Though much hated, it's a fascinating performance.9/10 – Masterpiece. See uncut version only. Worth one viewing. See Alex Cox's "Walker".

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thinker1691
1970/10/28

There are perhaps a dozen films which constitute the benchmarks of Marlon Brando. Reading his biography, I learned this movie " Queimada ' or "Burnt" was among his favorites. After seeing this movie and studying his role with interest, I have to agree his acting was superb! Brando plays Englishman (convingingly) Sir William Walker a young snobbish, aristocratic, adventurer sent from England to the islands conquered by the Spanish and Portugese. His task and that of his government is to incite discontent, insurrection and ultimately revolution. Selecting at random, an ignorant, but potentially educational native called José Dolores (Evaristo Marquez) Walker sets about to teach him how to not only win his freedom, but to eventually overthrow the Portugese and their government. The film story in shown in nearly historical chronologically as it purports to show how the two men change over the years. Distrustful of one another at first, they become fast friends over the decades, until the inevitable happens. The country which was once plagued with racism, injustice and slavery evolves. Yet, twenty years later with Walker returning to visit the country, all of it has returned. Brando's acting is so convincing I believed Fletcher Christian, not Walker had landed in Queimada. Renato Salvatori plays Teddy Sanchez another student of Walker is cautiously curious as to Walker's future plans for him. The movie is a political statement of the suffering plight of many native countries as Europeans arrive with lofty ideals and leave only desolation, death and ruins. This film may be among the best of Brando, but it's also a monumental Classic for his fans. ****

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