Santo ou demônio: a figura Antônio Conselheiro no filme Guerra de Canudos (1996)

Abstract

The article brings a vision about the image of Antônio Conselheiro in the movie “The War of Canudos”, directed by Sergio Rezende and released in 1996. Via a bibliographic research on the study over representations, between social and historic, the research presents a revision about these; following other studious about Conselheiro and Canudos, the real life of Conselheiro is also revisited, along with the context about Canudos, about how the fair and its leader became the most important public enemies of the time and the need to erase them for the rest of History. Finally, the analysis shows that although it’s difficult knowing the real reasons and desires of the religious leader, the movie portrays him as someone mythical and influential, immortalized on the mouth of his enemies and his allies as someone that presented the possibility of freedom to those who did not have it, and how expensive its price is.