'Non', ou A Vã Glória de Mandar

I had to see this film, it was about all I like: Portuguese History. It may be one of the richest, in battles, glory, drama, myth... a small country with the most amazing historical background (celts, Romans, sueves, Goths, Arabs, francs...), a nation that could and would rule over the entire world for about 200 years without any opposition (from 1384 to 1583), the so-called Portuguese Centuries! But Oliveira centers his movie around the Portuguese downfall, the way Portugal virtually disappeared from international political scene during the 20th century during the fascist regime, that destroyed the Portuguese place in the world while feeding the people with lies about their glorious past. And what more adequate episode of Portuguese recent History, than the Colonial Wars? From 1963 to 1975, thousands of Portuguese soldiers were killed, wounded, maimed, in the forests of former Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau), leaving a permanent scar in Portuguese society that's not healed even today... Oliveira joins everything, from the myths of the past to Alcacer-Quibir, to the Colonial Wars, attempting closure. It achieves none. The movie becomes too dull, too slow (although the photography is amazing), and the marriage of King John (Henry the Navigator's father, and the one that started the Portuguese Centuries after defeating the Castillans in Aljubarrota in 1384) shows exactly that (a priest reciting in Spanish with actors placed like cardboard cuts imitating a famous painting). The only scene with stamina belongs to the famous actor Ruy de Carvalho, a warrior ranting about the uselessness of war... A nice movie if you're an intellectual; a boring one if you're a passionate lover of History!

This is one of those movies that had potential to be good but was ruined by a poor plot, bad acting and directing flaws. Like so many others in Oliveira's career. Through stories from Portugal's military history and mithology, told by an officer in the middle of the Colonial War, the movie attempts to show a reflection over the role of wars and empires and, by extension, Portugal itself, as a country that once held an empire and is at the time sending its youth to die in Africa in a desperate attempt to keep possession over the colonies. It is an interesting setup but not only is the acting mediocre or even very bad, the way the story is told makes it uninteresting and boring. The scenes of war (as far as I know, the only scenes of war in a Portuguese movie) are so poorly done it seemed I was watching one of those historical re-enactments made by amateurs, where they just dance around hitting swords and randomly dying. The mythological scene, taken from the Lusíadas, is supposed to be an erotic dream but, as demonstrated in "Vale Abraão", Oliveira was really terrible at erotica. As for the scenes in the present, it's just badly acted cheap philosophy. I can't recommend the movie to anyone. As a historical movie, it does not hold as it mixes mythology with history and has little connection with historical facts. As a war movie, it attempts to be profound but fails to the point of becoming comical. I only give it more than 1* because occasionally Oliveira made some beautifully filmed scenes.

The movie starts in the beginning of the end the of Portuguese Colonial Empire, illustrating the discontent of Portugueses Arm Forces concerning the development of the war in the Portuguese Colonies. At the same time, it demonstrates, in the words of a young Portuguese soldier (as a way of explaining why they are there,in the war),the evolution of the existence of Portuguese State(as a concept or an idea of building independent State). Which shows from Viriato(considered the "first Portuguese" to fight for the independence of the Roman province of Lusitania which now constitutes currently part of Porugal) passing by D. Sebastião( that was a Portuguese king that had a dream of building a Christian empire in northern Africa; from there reconquer the holy land, and after that crowned himself Pope of all Christianity and then overthrown the Pope in Rome)... It's a very profund film, and I consider it a one of the greatest achievements of the Portuguese modern cinema.

I already had the opportunity to see, and review here, more than one film by Manoel de Oliveira, and after having seen this film, I keep my ideas. I have absolutely nothing against the director, I really appreciate his tenacity, his passion for cinematographic art, the way he devoted himself to cinema in a country that never saw in cinema anything but a "fait-diver", and that never led him to seriously or adequately supported it (lack of interest and support that does not apply only to cinema, but is something common to all cultural manifestations in Portugal). Oliveira would have been one of the greatest European filmmakers, one of the most appreciated and recognized, if he had not had the misfortune of being born in Portugal.

However, although I recognize Oliveira's intelligence, attentive eye, perfectionism, stubbornness and passion, this does not blind my discernment to another issue: his films are not commercially viable. As I have already said on other occasions, Portuguese filmmakers and directors tend to opt for unpalatable films, intellectual to the point of hermeticism, or cheesy, idiotic films, without any cultural value. And if some are the delight of festivals and that pseudo-intellectual bourgeoisie (mainly those who want to appear to understand cinema when in fact they know nothing about the subject), the others sell well, but are a national disgrace. We still haven't found that middle ground where art marries healthy entertainment.

Of all Oliveira's films I've seen, this one manages to be probably the least silly and the most enjoyable. Maybe because I'm a historian, and the film is essentially about the country's past and, mainly, the lost battles of history. Using these themes, Oliveira attempts an essay on the great military defeats suffered by the country, and the way in which this affected the course of the nation: the murder of Viriato (he was not Portuguese, not even in dreams, but is traditionally associated with Portuguese history), the Portuguese defeat at the Battle of Toro and the disastrous Battle of Alcácer-Quibir, not to mention the Colonial War, a fourteen-year conflict that Portugal won militarily until it was betrayed, in Lisbon, by the captains who wanted to make Portugal a Marxist-Leninist republic, on April 25, 1974. To say that it was all in vain, or that they were meaningless conflicts, would perhaps be the ultimate insult to those who died in these wars.

The film features several well-known actors, with Luís Miguel Cintra, Diogo Dória and Miguel Guilherme certainly being the best and those who develop the most interesting work. Both the scenes in the Overseas, and each of the historical recreations, are very well done, taking into account that, at the time of this film, we didn't have much practice with period reconstitutions. Cinematography is once again, as it happens in Oliveira's films, the filmmaker's signature feature, with impeccable framing, good camera work, the actors breaking the "fourth wall" (as if we were also part of the film). The worst part of this film turns out to be the mythological scene on Love Island. It just doesn't fit, plus a lot of the child nudity should have been cut. And the almost virtual absence of a soundtrack is also annoying (but not as annoying as the synthesizer that, in the mythological scenes, tried to emulate a piece of baroque music).