Bacurau (2019) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Bacurau takes place in the fictional Serra Verde region of western Pernambuco, Brazil. It's a small, impoverished rural settlement in the sertão, the semi-arid backlands of northeastern Brazil. The town exists in near-future Brazil, though it feels disconnected from the modern world both geographically and digitally.

Foreshadowing: The town's digital erasure from online maps from the very beginning hints at its isolation and vulnerability.

• brazil
• serra verde
• pernambuco
• sertão
• rural setting
• brazilian town

Bacurau is set in the near-future of Brazil, blending contemporary social issues with a slightly futuristic technological context. While it has a modern veneer, the core struggles of water access, political power, and survival remain timeless and deeply rooted in Brazil's historical inequities.

• near future
• brazil
• time period
• modern brazil

Bacurau explores three interconnected themes: community resilience as residents unite against external threats, water rights as a struggle over vital resources controlled by corrupt local politics, and foreign interference representing colonial extraction and exploitation. These themes examine power dynamics, resource scarcity, and the fight for sovereignty.

• themes
• community resilience
• water rights
• foreign interference
• colonialism
• power
• resistance

Teresa is a woman who returns to Bacurau for her grandmother Carmelita's funeral, bringing medicine to the community. She serves as a bridge between the town's older and younger generations, embodying determination and care while driving small acts of resistance and solidarity.

Foreshadowing: The medicine Teresa delivers becomes crucial later in the story when the townspeople face external violence.

• teresa
• barbara colen
• character
• protagonist
• granddaughter

Dona Carmelita was the beloved matriarch of Bacurau who lived to be 94 years old. Her death at the beginning of the film triggers the town's collective grief and eventual unity. She symbolized the enduring ties that bound the community together, and her absence leaves a void as residents confront external threats.

• carmelita
• matriarch
• death
• funeral
• community leader

Lunga is a revolutionary figure secretly sheltered by Bacurau's residents. He leads the community's resistance against the invading outsiders, embodying courage and tactical resolve. His presence anchors the town's stubborn stand against oppression and guides the collective defense.

Foreshadowing: Lunga's hidden身份 and combat skills are hinted at early through subtle references to someone living in the hills.

• lunga
• silvero pereira
• revolutionary
• resistance leader
• freedom fighter

Tony Junior is the wealthy mayor of Serra Verde who controls the water rights affecting Bacurau. He arrives with political promises but demonstrates opportunistic power and corruption, ultimately attempting to deny responsibility when the foreign group's crimes are exposed. He represents systemic exploitation and political decay.

• tony junior
• mayor
• water rights
• corruption
• politician
• power

The central conflict centers on control of the river that feeds Bacurau. The wealthy mayor Tony Junior controls the upstream damming, using water access as a weapon and measure of power. This struggle reveals systemic exploitation of resources in rural Brazil, where water becomes both a lifeline and a tool of oppression.

• water rights
• river
• dam
• mayor
• resource control
• scarcity

The outsiders are a group led by Michael, a German expatriate living in the U.S. They arrive with a drone and a colonial sense of entitlement, treating human lives as a game to score points. Their intrusion represents a borderless threat of extraction and exploitation, revealing brutal external profiteers who value lives as currency.

• foreigners
• michael
• udo kier
• outsiders
• invaders
• extraction
• colonialism

Bacurau's digital erasure from online maps underscores its precarious isolation and vulnerability. This mysterious disappearance highlights the town's extreme remoteness and marginalization, emphasizing how the community exists outside the connected world despite being part of modern Brazil.

• maps
• digital
• isolation
• disappearance
• technology
• vulnerability

Bacurau delivers a message about community resilience and the fight against systemic exploitation. The film emphasizes that collective action, mutual aid, and courage can resist even powerful external threats. However, the bittersweet ending suggests this victory is just the beginning of an ongoing struggle for sovereignty and justice.

• message
• theme
• meaning
• collective action
• resistance
• survival
• justice

Pacote is Teresa's former lover who plays a crucial role in driving the resistance. He convinces others, including Lunga, to join the fight against the outsiders. His personal stake in the conflict adds urgency to the town's struggle and helps propel the community toward collective action and confrontation.

• pacote
• thomás aquino
• teresa
• resistance
• character

Bacurau blends multiple genres including Western, thriller, mystery, and political commentary on human rights and racism. The film starts with a slow, melancholic pace focused on communal grief, then shifts to a fast-paced survival thriller in the second half. Its tone is dark, exploring themes of exploitation and systemic violence.

• genre
• western
• thriller
• mystery
• political
• dark tone
• pacing

Bacurau is politically charged because it directly addresses corruption, resource exploitation, and the exploitation of rural Brazilian communities. The film critiques how local politicians like Tony Junior use water control for power, and how foreign entities extract resources while treating local lives as expendable. It serves as an allegory for neocolonialism and systemic inequality.

• politics
• corruption
• neocolonialism
• resource exploitation
• inequality
• brazil social issues