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A saga de Canudos (2000)
  • Title: A saga de Canudos
  • Alternate Title: The saga of Canudos
  • Holdings: photo gallery
  • Language: Portuguese
  • Date: 2000
  • Location: Porto Alegre, Brazil
  • Type-Format: play, performance
  • Cast: André Luís, Carla Moura, Clélio Cardoso, Denise Souza, Diego Comerlato, Edgar Alves, Gustavo Gojen, Jorge Perachi, Leila Silveira, Luís Fernando Xavier, Mauro Rodrigues, Paulo Flores, Renan Leandro, Sandra Steil, Sandro Marques, Tânia Farias, and Urso da Silva; Beatriz Britto, Daniel Gustavo, Jeferson Vargas, Luana Fernandes, Marcos Caldeira, Marta Haas, Nara Brum, Pedro Kinast De Camillis, and Roberta Darkiewicz
  • Credits: Adapted from O Evangelho Segundo Zebedeu, by César Vieira; Text fragments by Glauber Rocha and cordel literature; Ói Nóis Aqui Traveiz, script and direction; Alex de Souza, Fábio Paes, Gereba, Ivanildo Vila Nova, Padre Enoque Oliveira, Patinhas, and Raimundo Monte Santo, music; Tânia Farias, costumes; Denise Souza and Renan Leandro, masks; Clélio Cardoso and Renan Leandro, puppets; Antônio da Luz, Clélio Cardoso, and Mauro Rodrigues, props

A saga de Canudos (2000)

Through masks and puppets, music and dance, A Saga de Canudos tells the story of the construction and destruction of the city of Canudos in one of the deadliest civil wars Brazil has ever seen. The performance recuperates the political aspects of the 19th Century movement led by Antônio Conselheiro. Plagued by hunger and oppression, thousands of sertanejos gathered around this legendary figure. The land, the herds, the tools, were all collective property, the tasks were distributed according to each one's capacity, and decisions were taken collectively in daily meetings. Their motto, however — "The land has no owner. The land belongs to all" — was considered a direct challenge to landowners, the government, and the church. Official historiography has painted Antônio Conselheiro as a fanatic, but this play presents him as a man conscious of his historical role, a man who fought against slavery and against the monopoly of the land, who challenged the church and the government, and who led the peasants in defeating the National Army several times.