Quilombo (1984)

What the Brazilians and the French have in common is that their men wear thongs to the beach, and also that they teamed up for the production of Quilombo (1984), an epic period piece set in the late seventeenth century. Quilombo was the name given to a settlement of escaped slaves. A hearty society of former chattel had carved out a stronghold in a rocky corner of northeast Brazil, a protected vantage from which the elders led the young warriors in fending off opportunistic Portuguese war parties. The promise of peace is held out by the Portuguese to the spiritual seer of the ex-slaves, an irresistible temptation that is followed by immediate and brutal betrayal. Full-on war follows between the deposed masters and their former property. When freedom is worth dying for, killing comes easy.