Glauber Rocha was one of the driving forces behind Brazilian cinema nôvo. Set in the 1940s and exhibiting both indigenous cultural and international filmic influences, this sertao western epitomises the movement's initial preoccupation with the politicisation of the peasantry. Alternately presented in long takes and montage sequences, the action follows Geraldo d'el Rey as he veers between bandit Othon Bastos and his sworn enemy Maurício de Valle. In so doing, Rocha illustrates how difficult it was for uneducated farmhands to know where to place allegiance in the struggle against the oppression of the pitiless landowners. De Valle would return in the sequel, Antonio das Mortes (1969).