Director Aly Muritiba offers insight into the contemporary landscape of “Cangaço Novo,” a groundbreaking Amazon Prime Video production that etched its name in history at the 2023 Festival de Gramado by becoming the inaugural TV series to grace the festival’s esteemed schedule. Unfolding within a modern incarnation of the Brazilian sertão, the inaugural episode melds elements reminiscent of “Mad Max” with a narrative uniquely Brazilian.
The premiere installment of “Cangaço Novo” commences with Ubaldo (Allan de Souza Lima) returning to his birthplace in Ceará, seeking the inheritance bequeathed by his influential father. His arrival precipitates a radical transformation of his existence: his estranged sister, Dinorah (Alice Carvalho), has ascended as the leader of a criminal gang, and their reunion is far from harmonious.
As the story unfolds, the siblings’ paths entwine once more, amidst a trail of bloodshed, and other members of Ubaldo’s family and his father’s admirers come to the fore. While the initial plot boasts gripping action sequences, directors Aly Muritiba and Fábio Mendonça assure audiences that the narrative delves even deeper.
“This is a tale of kin, a narrative enriched with action, gunfire, and explosive events, yet it transcends these facets. It serves as a platform for familial drama,” Muritiba elucidated during a press conference held at the 51st Festival de Gramado. The series takes its moniker from a genuine phenomenon: the emergence of the “new cangaço,” a term denoting criminal syndicates operating within small towns across the nation’s hinterlands.
The “new cangaço” signifies a criminal trend, a method employed to subjugate towns wherein perpetrators seal off access routes. In present times, this phenomenon has extended its reach to the south and southeast, coining its nomenclature from traditional cangaceiros, as elucidated by Aly Muritiba. Nonetheless, the series’ objective isn’t to romanticize violence, but rather to immerse the audience within this contemporary realm.
“The series minimally engages with the conventional cangaço. Our aim is to explore the contemporary, modern, cosmopolitan sertão, encapsulating its inherent contradictions. We endeavor to position the viewer within the collective, at times as the perpetrator, and at others as the victim,” Muritiba aptly articulates.
