As the scene ends and the rebel leader embraces Walker, I thought, "No longer will these guys let themselves get slapped around by the white man like they did in the beginning." And I was right. As the rebel leader says near the end of the film, the freedom that is given you by a man is not freedom; true freedom is taken, not given. Pontecorvo intentionally brings together all his weapons to highlight the beach-marching scene because it is then that these slaves have taken their freedom — and it will not be easily taken away again.
In this season of political films and G. Clooney, Queimada is an example of a real political film. It chops the head off black-and-white Edward R. Murrow and blows up Stephen Gaghan's nicely photographed sandscapes.
Relevant during the Vietnam War and relevant now, Queimada ends with something along the lines of these ominous words uttered by an about-to-hang black rebel to William Walker:
"You say that it is a white man's world. This is true. But what kind of world is it? And for how long?"
Rating: A-
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