Linhas de Wellington

A superb piece of Portugal cinema. Somewhat slow, however, if you love history you will be enthralled.

I watched this film, all 150 minutes of it, from a DVD I received from FilmMovement. Apparently this film, a European production, is hardly known in North American.

At 150 minutes this is one long film, and if you expect to see epic battle scenes you will be disappointed. The story centres around the English and Portuguese armies retreating, with many civilians, from the advent of the Napoleonic army. There are many characters involved in several sub-plots, and three languages (English, French and Portuguese) are used in the dialogues. One can get confused easily.

Despite its flaws, I find the film watchable for the settings, for the costume, and for certain portions of the human dramas depicted. And forget about the presence of the two big-name French actresses referenced in the credit. Both Isabelle Hupert and Catherine Deneuve appeared in an inconsequential scene for less than two minutes.

Had everything to work...good cast, beautiful landscapes, and a very good story... Unfortunately, there's no movie director in this god forsaken country, that knows what "action"means...to do a movie like this, without any battle scenes, in absurd, at least... So, don't bother... it's very very boring...

Back to the napoleon invasions the Portuguese people try to refuge ,along with the Portuguese and english army, on the wellington lines, designe by general wellington to prevent the french army to invade Portugal. The movie doesn't have one linear story. The story is divided until in some points of the storyline they all come together. The movie has some moments of tension, the photography is very beautiful despite not being very ambitious but it fits and helps the movie to tell the story. I think the big mistake of this picture is the division of the storyline. I get it that maybe the writers and directors want to give the perspective that there wasn't only one hero, but multiple hero's. The second mistake is the lack of danger, the only time that we get to experience fear for the life of the characters the problem is very easily solved. There's some characters that dont bring nothing to the movie, and the ones who make the difference are badly developed because we I already mention the division of the storyline. Despite all of that the movie as a overall good story, great performances , great shooting. I just feel sorry for the great build up of some situation so at the end as a pretty easy resolution. This movie is a 7 maybe a 7.5.

I rent the DVD in hope of getting a movie on Napoleonic warfare and the Portuguese campaign. Actually, this is a collection of soap opera sketches set against the grim background of the general evacuation brought about by the French advance.

This bleak background provides the contrasting point to the light, humorous, often implausible and generally unhistorical approach that characterizes the sketches. They are centered on different individuals involved in the evacuation and they bear an unmistakable (and irritating to me) feminine touch. The character of Wellington is not made an exception and the filmmakers make no attempt to portray his personality or his military abilities.

Another annoying touch is that the French are portrayed as involved in all kinds of base butchery. These acts of cruelty are partly exaggerated; for the part that they are true, no attempt is made to explain that this was the normal trend in this era and that the English and the Portuguese behaved in exactly the same way. Historical exactness plays no part in the movie; since all characters are English or Portuguese and they are presented sympathetically, the director needed some bad guys on the other side of the pond.

In conclusion: a successful attempt at duplicating American soap operas set against a historical background. Go to the box office if you are interested in comedy; don't go if you have any serious penchant for history.