Stylish but barely mediocre overall

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

O Auto Compadecida no doubt is in the Top 3 of the best Brazilian film , based on a TV series with the same name , the film is fun and funny, the cast is very good, the protagonist duo has great chemistry , the jokes are good , and the film has participation of the Devil, Jesus is Mary, even it is interpreted by the great Fernanda Montenegro , the direction is good , the picture is beautiful , in my opinion O Auto Compadecida was the last Brazilian film that is really funny, because after only came movies bland, O Auto Compadecida has great humor, a good soundtrack , good performances , is certainly top three Brazilian films . Note 8.9

It's a fantastic movie. Really amazing. I laugh all the time during this movie and I consider it one of the best Brazilian comedies ever, by far. It's a must see movie!Now, if you're not Brazilian and want to watch this movie first you have to know: - It's not just a screwball comedy, it's much more than that. If you never read or heard about Shakespeare before watching an adaptation of one of his plays you would think that of some of his great works as well. It's much the same thing here, it's based on a play by Ariano Suassuana.The religious part is not, I repeat, not just pure mockery. And it's supposed to be taken seriously as an offense. It is simply something that we often see in the cordel literature because the Northeast Brazilians in general are Catholics and this is a way of expressing their faith. And yes, there is comedy in the middle of the religious display, because it is essentially a comedy.It is - as any other movie that, of course, is not based on real facts - something made up on the sole purpose of amusing people so please enjoy it.

This movie is a film adaptation of a very funny and traditional Brazilian story. The actors are very good and the director created the perfect ambiance for the scenes. It's a movie about a very particular Brazilian way of life. You will not find at this movie big cities like São Paulo or Rio, or big forests like Amazon, nothing. You will find the Sertão: a deserted area in Brazil where a lot of people lives with few resources and needs to use the creativity to survive. Maybe, for non-Brazilians, the language can be a problem, because most of the jokes have some linguistic aspect. But this is not a very big problem. The film is funny for everybody and have a good message at the end.

I must confess, I think O Auto da Compadecida is the only Brazilian movie I have seen. Nevertheless, I certainly hope this isn't the best the country has to offer. What you have here is a religious screwball comedy, and unfortunately, neither side of that equation works.As a screwball comedy, the movie is based simply on the characters shouting a lot and acting like complete idiots. That is supposed to create comedy, but there is nothing funny about the characters' complete turnovers on the weakest possible motivations. Some of the plot line is good, like the early introduction of the bandits, but most of it is just a detached mess to make the characters run all over their village with little reason.The religious part is even worse. The movie is firmly based on the Catholic interpretation of the Christian faith, including some of its more dubious folklore. When it comes to religion, the characters of the movie are at their most gullible, showing no sign of intellect at all. The bigger problem is that it's completely impossible to tell if the religious aspect of the movie should be taken seriously or as a mockery of the common beliefs. The second part of the movie is the worst offender here. It presents a surprising and somewhat imaginative plot twist based on the Catholic mythology. Unfortunately, the drawn-out scene drones on, ultimately becoming much too serious and overly long to keep the viewer's interest.The movie is not completely worthless, but its high points are much too few for a 100-minute movie. I shudder to think of the longer TV version. Many of those minutes are used to strech the movie by dull bickering and shouting, making the viewer again and again wish that the story would move on. On all accounts, O Auto da Compadecida is a severely underwhelming movie, even despite its flashy presentation and supposedly snappy script. As a short film of 30 minutes with a lot more editing, it might have worked, but not as a full-length film.