The Sertanistas are wild and poor. They have tight faces, sleek hair and sometimes the green eyes of a Dutch or Celtic ancestor. They hate negroes. They believe in miraculous cures, and their legends tell of a phantom king called Dom Sebastião, who will rid the earth of Antichrist. Like all people born in thorny places, they dream of green fields and a life of ease. Sometimes, with light hearts, they set out south for San Salvador da Bahia, but when they see the sea and the city, they panic and turn back to the badlands. Francisco Manoel’s father, a hired hand on a ranch, was killed while driving steers at a round-up. His leather hat caught in the fork of two branches: the chinstrap slipped round his neck and throttled him. Friends following the tracks of his riderless horse found the body dangling with the feet just clear of the ground. His son was one year old. The mother was a very bad-tempered woman. Her hands were worked raw. Blue veins stood out on her temples and her thinning hair failed to hide the wens that had sprouted in several places on her scalp.
What do You think about The Viceroy Of Ouidah (2011)?
