Capitães de Abril

Being half-portuguese doesn't render me half-blind (nor half-prejudiced) when discussing portuguese films. Not that I get to do that very often anyway. But this film was such a rush of adrenaline! Yes, that's right - it was mostly accurate as far as history went/goes - but it pulled no punches on venturing beyond usual portuguese-film territory: things like using real locations in the middle of traffic-congested Lisbon and recruiting a real crowd to stand in for the real crowd of almost 30 years ago. And by God did they get it right! OK, to sum it up: very emotional if you've lived through it, but you'll spot minor improvements that could have been made as well as plot necessities that were. If you're just watching it randomly, you're in for a good historical romp, only of the very recent History kind and a bit more thought-proving than usual. Even by European standards, yes.

9/7 8:45 pm APRIL CAPTAINS (**** out of a possible 5)

Excellent, if slightly overlong film about the Portuguese coup d'etat in 1974. Best Line: "Coup d'etat. Can we come in?" The humor was a welcome surprise. Spoke with writer/director Maria de Medeiros afterwards. She was very sweet and lovely and asked me to "salute my mother" for her since they met recently in Avingnon.

For her feature directing debut, Maria de Medeiros ("Pulp Fiction", "Henry and June") has certainly taken on a big story: the Portuguese Revolution of the 25th of April 1974. However, the film isn't a history lesson; rather a fictional story that introduces fictional characters and situations into the actual historical facts and places of the day, alongside some of its real protagonists. It's basically a schoolboy comic-book adventure, full of naive heroics and larger-than-life moments, quite well played and adroitly directed; the script is the weakest link, fanning out into a number of parallel stories some of which are rather pointless. The film exudes the contagious energy and juvenile joy of actually living out an adventure (although one might point out that no, the actual Revolution was not an adventure!), and it's precisely that schoolboy-adventure side that, along with its no-nonsense storytelling which adheres relatively faithfully to the actual run of events, is enough to recommend it. .

I never understood why an Italian actor is the lead actor here.

Not enough Portuguese actors in the age group or trying to capitalise on a more international recognition of Stefano?

Sorry but for such an important event in PT history you should stay with Portuguese actors or it does not look authentic at all... Would a known English actor play George Washington? It would look fake.. As I said too bad.

Too bad because the story is worth knowing and in particular the character Salgueiro Maia which became the face of the revolution and by the way went to school in my Ribatejo village (Coruche).

You know? Our spirit is based on that revolution, it's asleep... I can explain, I think!! Well... Until that happen on 25th April 1974, our freedom was limited, we didn't had liberty of speech, but when we got it at the revolution, it seems that Portuguese People lost his opinion, we don't use our liberty of speech! That's all a consequence of the revolution! I think that's clear!... About the movie... I think that it has a few mistakes on some character's acting, but by the way I use to watch on Portuguese movies it's quite good!! I like it very much!