Viva Cangaceiro

Viva Cangaceiro (1969) blends Western elements. Top cast includes Tomas Milian, Ugo Pagliai, and Howard Ross. The plot follows a central conflict that grows in scope as the film progresses.

Actor: Tomas Milian • Provider: Prime Video

Brazil, the 1920s. The sadistic colonel Minas massacres the hometown of a famous cangaceiro (a kind of revolutionary bandit). The only survivor is a young farmer called Espedito; he is nursed back to health by a hermit who thinks he has been sent by God and therefore baptizes him the Redeemer. Espedito/The Redeemer forms his own gang of cangaceiros but doesn’t really understand what he’s doing until he befriends the proverbial European intellectual, a Dutch Oil prospector, who introduces him to important people. Espedito is hired by the Dutchman and a corrupt local governor, but then the Dutchman changes sides …