It appears that, besides the well-known Amazon jungles, the huge territory of Brazil encompasses a quite different type of hinterland – the so-called sertoes, an arid region located behind its North-Eastern Atlantic Coast.
In the end of the 19th century, sertoes were a land of anarchy, poverty and periodic droughts – in short, the hard-core and real-life version of Wild West. It was in such surroundings that an alluring preacher called Antonio Conselheiro gathered around him all sorts of riff-raff – despaired folks, ex-slaves, former criminals, disfigured cripples. All who felt neglected or penitent found solace and refuge around this self-proclaimed prophet, and gathered in a cult that went from village to village, preaching the impending Apocalypse, constantly gathering hew members.
The country, it turned out, was run by a malicious Antichrist (called 'Republic') and his servants, the fiendish dogs – so all good-faithed Christians had only one solution – to fight the diabolical forces in preparation for the upcoming Salvation. They retreated to a mountainous village of Canudos and started creating a real-life Utopia – without landlords, money, property or sin. Instead there were communal meetings and work, free love and passionate prayers.
Of course, the aforementioned Republic didn't like the new Revolutionary Utopia at all. It was – through a set of political machinations – declared a Monarchist conspiracy, a threat to progress and the unity of the country. Imagine – a group of backward Barbarians of the god-forsaken lands united their forces to restore the old order, menacing the newly achieved Republican liberties! Crushing the Canudos rebellion was proclaimed a patriotic duty – and truly believed to be so.
And so it became a full-scale war. The war is a thing not only ugly, but also absurd to the highest degree – isn't it funny how two forces of idealists meet in a deadly clash, each vowing to fight for the cause most noble? Isn't it a comedy how a military strongmen strive to protect the nation's freedom by crushing a rebellion?
Of course, war and anarchy is gruesome, and the novel does not hide it – some moments are gut-wrenching, shocking, scalding. But aside of it, there are equally eloquent fragments describing love and political debates, bright festivals and edifying toil. The general depiction of life in Brazilian backcountry is vivid and authentic, offering a veritable frescoe of the inhabitants of sertoes – a micro-Universe in its own right.
As always in great books of large magnitude, there is a solid cast of characters – common and uncommon. Some of them are merely dragged back and forth by the winds of sertoes. The old chiché – random people captured in the midst of a war – works here very well. The narrator illustrates the state of mind of both fighting camps and of the various observers.
As mentioned in the title, all of this is loosely based on a set of tragic events known as Canudos War (1896-1898) – a mostly unknown, but nevertheless captivating story. Vargas Llosa turned it into an epic tale of large proportions. Well… if you love long reads, than this book will probably suit you.
by ArthRol