''The Age of the Earth'' ( - ) is a 1980 Brazilian

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

film directed by

Glauber Rocha Glauber de Andrade Rocha (; 14 March 1939 – 22 August 1981) was a Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most influential moviemakers of Brazilian cinema and a key figure of Cinema Novo. His films '' Black God, Whi ...

. It was his final film. The film had its world premiere at the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

competition of the 1980 Venice Film Festival.

Cast

Maurício do Valle Maurício do Valle (; 1 March 1928 – 7 October 1994) was a Brazilian film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1952 and 1994. He is also known for his roles in several Brazilian TV series, such as Rede Globo's ''Roque Santeiro'' (1985), ...

as John Brahms * Jece Valadão as

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

() *

Antonio Pitanga Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

Christ () *

Tarcísio Meira Tarcísio Pereira de Magalhães Sobrinho (5 October 1935 – 12 August 2021), known professionally as Tarcísio Meira, was a Brazilian actor. He was one of the first actors to work for TV Globo. He was born in São Paulo and was the longtime ...

as Military Christ () *

Geraldo Del Rey Geraldo Del Rey (; 29 October 1930 – 25 April 1993) was a Brazilian actor. He appeared in 65 films and television shows between 1950 and 1992. Filmography External links * 1930 births 1993 deaths Brazilian male film actors Peopl ...

Guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

Christ () *

Ana Maria Magalhães Ana Maria Portinho Magalhães (born January 21, 1950) is a Brazilian film actress and director. She is known for protesting against the arrest of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, detained on 1 March 2010 and held in ward 209 of the Evin prison. ...

as Aurora Madalena *

Norma Bengell Norma Aparecida Almeida Pinto Guimarães d'Áurea Bengell (21 February 1935 – 9 October 2013) was a Brazilian film, stage and television actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. She appeared in several episodes of '' T.H.E. Cat' ...

as Amazonas Queen () *Carlos Petrovich as

the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

() *Mário Gusmão as Babalaô *

Danuza Leão Danuza Lofego Leão (July 26, 1933 – June 22, 2022) was a Brazilian model, socialite, journalist, writer, and actress. Career She had a minor role in Glauber Rocha's 1967 FIPRESCI Award winning film '' Entranced Earth''. She has released s ...

as Brahms' wife *Paloma Rocha

Production

Rocha started the film in 1975 and planned to shoot it in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and subsequently proposed it in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, but was unable to obtain financial support. It was finally shot in

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Brasilia, and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Reception

It was Rocha's last film and the one that caused the most controversy. It was produced by

Embrafilme Embrafilme (in full: ''Empresa Brasileira de Filmes S.A.'') was a Brazilian state-owned company created on September 12, 1969 for production, funding and distribution of Brazilian movies. The company was dissolved on March 16, 1990 by the National ...

, a state-funded company, during the

Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil (), occasionally referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic, was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against presi ...

, despite this, filmmakers had some level of creative freedom while shooting, the dictatorship used to impose its heavy censorship after productions had been completed. Rocha himself had been living in exile during the 70's, after numerous attempts of the censorship were made to ''

Entranced Earth ''Entranced Earth'' ( , "World in a Trance", also called ''Land in Anguish'' or ''Earth Entranced'') is a 1967 Brazilian '' Cinema Novo'' drama film directed by Glauber Rocha. It was shot in Parque Lage and at the Municipal Theatre of Rio de ...

'' (1967) and ''

Antonio das Mortes ''Antonio das Mortes'' ( - ; lit. "The Dragon of Wickedness Against the Holy Warrior") is a 1969 Brazilian revisionist western film directed by Glauber Rocha. It features return of the character Antonio das Mortes, now as the protagonist, with ...

'' (1969). Regardless, it was boycotted by international critics and "crucified" at the 1980 Venice Film Festival, especially after an argument between Rocha and

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made document ...

at the presence of numerous journalists, shortly after the

results were announced. ''Atlantic City'', directed by Malle, had won the main prize and was deemed imperialist, by Rocha: "You won because your film was produced by Gaumont, an imperialist multinational"

References

External links

* 1980s avant-garde and experimental films 1980 drama films 1980 films Brazilian avant-garde and experimental films Brazilian drama films Films directed by Glauber Rocha Films shot in Brasília Films shot in Rio de Janeiro (city) 1980s Portuguese-language films 1980s Brazilian films {{Experimental-film-stub