If you’re looking for your next binge, look no further thanPrime Video. Withlots of new stuff being added to their streaming catalog in September, an August late addition took us by surprise and is definitely worth the watch, the Brazilian seriesNew Bandits. While we know that this wouldn’t usually catch your eyes at first glance, that’s also what we’re for, to show things the audience wouldn’t have watched otherwise.New Banditsis a story that’s tailor-made for Western fans despite being set on nowadays. It also adds a Brazilian perspective to a genre that fits the Sertão as well as it does the U.S. Old West.
What Is ‘New Bandits’ About?
New Banditstakes place in the small town of Cratará, in a region of the Brazilian Northeast known as “Sertão”, where the weather is arid, poverty is extreme, and lawmakers don’t care whether people have food to eat or water to drink. The story follows the misadventures of Ubaldo Vaqueiro (Allan Souza Lima), prodigal son of Cratará and actual son of a former bandit of the town who used to help the local community when the official powers let them down.
As a child, Ubaldo was taken to São Paulo, in the other side of the country, under mysterious circumstances, and he’s now back in his hometown after decades to settle an inheritance issue with his forgotten biological sisters, the hot-headed Dinorah (Alice Carvalho) and the sensitive Dilvânia (Thainá Duarte) - both way more badass than Ubaldo. What he has no idea about, though, is that they are part of a group of marauders that has been robbing banks in the neighboring towns for decades. He thought the whole affair would be quick, and that he would be back in São Paulo in no time, but soon finds himself trapped between threads of his own forgotten history in Cratará, his family legacy, and the cartel of corrupt politicians that rules the town.
Prime Video has been making Brazilian original content for a long time, butNew Banditsfeels different for many reasons. First, for taking a consolidated genre like the Western and bringing it to the Sertão, where it works perfectly. Second, the series is not only very well acted (kudos to the trio of Vaqueiro siblings), but it’s also very well directed by prominent Brazilian filmmakersFabio MendonçaandAly Muritiba,who understand the genre perfectly. The episodes are fast-paced and packed with raw and lifelike action and drama, while also fleshing out the harsh reality of the people in the Sertão, the most resilient people in Brazil.
‘New Bandits’ Has Already Become a Staple of the Brazilian Western Subgenre Known as “Nordestern”
We’ve mentioned the Sertão, so let’s put it into context. This is a region that engulf the largest part of the Brazilian Northeastern region. This corner of the country is best known for its beautiful beaches and coastal towns, but once you start venturing toward the countryside, things quickly change. The Sertão is an arid biome that looks pretty much like a desert, but with its own vegetation that consists mostly of low plants with long thorns. That means there’s no natural protection from the sun, and this makes the weather always extremely hot and dry.
The best Western movies often play the card of making the desert a character in itself, likeSergio Leone’sThe Good, The Bad and the UglyandClint Eastwood’sHigh Plains Drifter, andNew Banditsdoes this a lot. In fact,there’s a whole subgenre in Brazilian cinema that transports the very same premises of the Western to the Sertão, called the “Nordestern”- a mix of the words “Nordeste” (“Northeast” in Portuguese) and “Western”. Some of the greatest Brazilian films fit into this subgenre, likeGlauber Rocha’s classic from the 1960sBlack God, White Devil,Guel Arraes' adaptation ofAriano Suassuna’s classic playA Dog’s Will, andKleber Mendonça FilhoandJuliano Dornelles' Cannes award-winning hitBacurau.
The premises of Nordestern movies are often similar to that of the Western, usually addressing the strength of local communities when faced with foreign threats that want to subdue them. This is part of the Brazilian twist on the genre, though: those threats may come even from within the very community and are usually analyzed through the lens of colonialist attempts to infiltrate and dominate local culture. Subjects like honor, family bonds, and money are also a constant in Nordestern, and it’s usually through this lens that they drive the plot forward, too. The communities in the Sertão are usually very poor and are often left to fend for themselves against bandits, marauders, and corrupt government officials, much like in the Old West.
‘New Bandits’ Draws on the Legacy of the Cangaceiros To Tell Its Story
In the Sertão, though,this led to the rise of the mythical figures of the Cangaceiros. The Cangaço was a form of social banditry carried out by bands of rogue gunslingers that made history between the late 1880s and the 1940s. While some groups of Cangaceiros were brutal marauders, most were usually seen as Robin Hood figures by the poor people, as often they helped local towns and communities to the point of achieving a mythical status. Cangaceiros like Lampião and his wife, Maria Bonita, are celebrated in Brazil because of this. They were indeed outlaws and the 1940s Brazilian fascist regime eventually gave them a barbaric end, but their cultural and historical significance for the Northeast is something no government can ever take away.
Controversial as they were, the Cangaceiros also have a match in Western lore.In the Old West, figures like the cowboys also became legendary for the role they played, for better or worse. They could act as protectors if well paid or could be a town’s worst nightmare if not - which is the idea behind basically most Clint Eastwood characters, for example. Cangaceiros were pretty much the same in this sense, with the twist that they didn’t come to the Sertão looking for money, but rather they were originally from the Sertão themselves and took action - for better or worse.
Despite being set nowadays,New Banditsdraws heavily on the legacy of the Cangaceiros both as marauders and protectors. In fact, the Portuguese name of the series is “Cangaço Novo”, a reference to the influence these figures have on both the story and the premise of the show. Another reference is the very name of the Vaqueiro clan. In Portuguese, “Vaqueiro” is a direct translation of “cowboy”, and that is enough of a hint of how important they are to the local Cratará community, as well as how tough a family they are.
Prime Video sure has a lot of great Westernsanda lot of great series on its catalog right now, butNew Banditsis unlike any of them. Of course, its modern-day Brazilian setting does set it apart, but while the classic the classics have already established a formula for the genre, this new series takes it a step further in the way it approaches the premises of the genre in a way no US movie or series can, all the while staying true to its roots in the Sertão and the Western genre. In fact, one could say it’s not really a Western; it’s Nordestern.
