Western universalism likes to present itself as a viewpoint that is none: neutral, objective, valid everywhere, a panoramic view from nowhere. But behind this elevated tone hides a simpler operation: a local perspective that of Western Europe elevated to the status of reference norm.

Rocha proclaims an “aesthetics of hunger”: rather than hiding the poverty of the Nordeste, he places it at the centre, turning it into raw material.​

For a long time, cinema had to admit something shameful: it didn't know how to look at Black skin. Official history has relegated this observation to the realm of technical problems, gamma curves, and capricious emulsions, but the way lighting is configured always reveals something about how we hierarchize bodies.