The Guns

One of the most outstanding works of Brazilian cinéma novo, a movement that revolutionized Latin American cinema and significantly influenced the development of global film art. Cinéma novo combined radical social and political themes with experimental form, and The Guns stands as one of the movement’s defining achievements. The story unfolds in a poverty-stricken region of Brazil, where a unit of soldiers is dispatched to guard food supplies from starving peasants. The director does not present the full sequence of events; instead, the narrative emerges from scattered fragments of information coming from various sources. High-contrast, almost aggressively long takes capture the scorching, apathetic atmosphere of this barren land.

Piotr Kobus

Ruy Guerra (born 1931) is one of the most important figures in Latin American cinema and a pioneer of Brazil’s Cinema Novo. His The Guns (1964) blended social critique with poetic imagery, capturing the contradictions of Brazilian reality. Committed to engaged filmmaking, he experimented with innovative narrative forms. His films, rich in realism and symbolism, explored themes of exclusion and resistance. As a director, screenwriter, and actor, he inspired generations of artists, leaving a lasting mark on auteur cinema.

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