Movie Review Burn free essay sample

The movie Burn! is a 1969 film directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. The main characters are Marlon Brando starting as Sir William Walker and Evaristo Marquez starting as Jose Dolores (The Internet Movie Databases). The movie takes place during the mid-19th century on the island of Queimada, a Portuguese colony located in Antilles(Burn! ). The British send Sir William Walker to Queimada, an English secret agent, to start a rebellion against the Portuguese regiment, to benefit the British Sugar traders. In order to accomplish this, William must persuade the slaves to fight for their liberty and freedom. William saw the potential in Jose Dolores, a baggage carrier, to become the leader of the slave rebellion. The rebellion was successful in overthrowing the Portuguese regiment, and Dolores proclaimed Queimada a Republic. Teddy Sanchez, a plantation owner, becomes the president of Queimada. William Walker leaves after the revolution; ten years later he returns to Queimada. We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Review Burn or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This time Walker is hired by the Royal Sugar Company and the Queimada government to find Jose Dolores and his army, which are disturbing England’s economic interest in producing sugar. His army is killed, and he is captured and then hanged (Burn! ). The director argues that once Queimada obtains its independence from Portugal, Jose Dolores struggles to rebuild the government and there was little change. I agree with the director’s argument. He does a good job presenting his argument and then backing it up with examples. In order for a revolution to start there has to be something or someone that initiates it. In the movie, Sir William Walker was the one who initiates the rebellion in Queimada. The first thing he did was try to find a slave that had the potential to lead the revolution (Burn! ). He saw the potential in Jose Dolores, a slave who worked as a bag carrier. Walker planned to rob the bank with the help of Jose and his men. He promised Jose and his men that once they robbed the gold from the bank a ship would be waiting for them near the shore to go to England and even to Africa. When the government found out that the gold was stolen, the army went to search for the gold to Jose’s village. Dolores and his men were able to kill the Portuguese soldiers that arrived. Walker asked Dolores that if he still want to go to England, but he would have leave the women and children to fend for themselves. Jose decided not to go and instead stay in Queimada (Burn! ). Walker was not going to take Dolores and his men to England; instead he wanted them to stay in Queimada in order to start the rebellion against the Portuguese regiment. Walker uses a good strategy in making Dolores choose between his people and England. Since Dolores had a family, it would be difficult for him to leave his wife and son behind. Meanwhile, Walker meets with the plantation owners to convince them of the economic benefits of freeing the slaves (Burn! ). One of the economic benefits was being able to trade with Queimada, one of the largest producers of sugar. Walker used the example of the Haitian Revolution to explain what will happen if they don’t free the slaves. He explained to the plantation owners that the slaves will revolt against them and the government, and if they don’t take action in the revolution the slaves will become their executors. Walker was able to convince the plantation owners and set up an alliance with the plantation owners, as well as with the slaves and blacks who work in the sugar plantation (Burn! ). Walker prepared Dolores and his men by proving them with weapons and showing them how to load a gun (Burn! ). He also explained to them that in order to protect their people, they had to learn to kill. Dolores led his men against the government of Queimada. The revolution was successful in overthrowing the Portuguese government. The slaves became independent from the Portuguese regiment and Dolores was now in charge of Queimada ( Burn! ). Since there was no president in office, the general had to be power until a president was placed in office. With the independence of Queimada, General Dolores was faced with many decision and responsibilities. The issues he faces were: creating a constitution, choosing a type of government, creating new rules, and etc. Since the Portugal Monarchy was overthrown, Queimada didn’t have a government. Jose meets with the planation owners in order to discuss those matters and come to an agreement. One of the plantation owners presented Dolores with an ideas on how to run the government, but he disapproved it. He also disapproved of signing a trading agreement between Queimada and England. Dolores saw that the process of creating a new constitution and a new type of government would be harder than he thought. He wanted social and economic changes that would benefit his people, not the white men. He realized that the white men where only interested in making money, and they didn’t care about the welfare of the people. Dolores sees no choice but to do what the white men tell him to do. So, he decides to dissolve the rebels by putting down the guns and returning to the sugar plantations. After the slaves obtained their independent from Portuguese there was little change. For example, slaves become free, but their daily lives remained the same, working in the plantation and producing sugar for exportation. In return, they didn’t receive anything out of their work. The whites kept on benefiting from their labor. Also, the slaves didn’t have the same privileges as the white. For example, they didn’t have any say in the decisions being made. There was still a division between blacks and whites. The second thing that changed was the power shift from the president to the Royal Sugar Company. Since the president’s powers were shifted, he had no say in the economic decisions. The Royal Sugar Company was supposed to help the slaves with their independence, but instead they were exploiting them by having them work for them-just like they did when they were under the Portuguese regiment. This caused Queimada to become dependent on the sugar company because they were not able to exercise their powers freely. The slaves wanted social change instead of government change. The director does a good job in presenting his argument and backing it up with examples. For example, the director showed how the revolution began and who were the actors involved. The viewers were able to see the events that led to the revolution and the results that occurred after the revolution. For example, the movie showed that the slaves became free, but their daily lives remained the same. He also showed the struggles Dolores faced after the independence, and how he dealt with them. The director helped the viewer’s better understand Latin America and its history. For example, once the president is taken out of office, a provisional government is put in office until a new president is elected to office. Also, after a new government is in office the president has to start from scratch to create a new constitution and choose a type of government, such as monarchy or republic. The movie shows these two examples, which are relevant to Latin America.