Os Imortais

"Os Imortais" is without a doubt one of the best, or probably, the best Portuguese film ever made. It certainly is a landmark on the Portuguese cinema's scene; this movie his worth every minute.

Every year, four ex-soldiers that call themselves "Os Imortais" (translated "The Immortals"), get together with four women to celebrate war deeds and to remember the old days, back in the war. On the summer of 1985, tired of their monotonous lives they decide to rob a bank. Joaquim Malarranha, a chief inspector from the local police about to retire, crosses their path and will spend his last days of duty trying to solve the robbery. But has he carries on with his investigation, he discovers more than he could ever think of.

A movie that focuses on strange and disturbing actions of ex-soldiers on their attempt to fit in the modern society and to mend errors committed in the past, and on a veteran cop who's about to leave his working-life behind.

João Pedro de Vasconcelos managed to assemble a cast with vast qualities; it's a pleasure to watch Nicolau Breyner's performance. The story is very solid and can really catch the viewer's attention; it keeps the anxiety of knowing what really happened during the robbery and the days that followed it.

"A bandit always forgets that there is, at least, another bandit smarter than him."

I love the movies by the Cohen, and this great portuguese movie just reminded me of them. Why? You know that amazing feature of the Cohen's movies... to pick up or write a story, create a "carpet" (not Dude's one...!) and then put all sort of characters in it, each one unique, each one amazing... In "Os Imortais" that also happens and it's great how all those unique characters deal with each other. Very nice movie, indeed.

Normally when you see a movie of which you had read the book you get disappointed, because the movie cannot contain everything that the book has, although in this case that doesn't happen cause the movie is not just an attempt of put into a movie the story of the book, it really is more than just that, if you read the book you'll see that there are many many different changes from the story of the book to the movie, its almost like you've read a book that contains the same characters but in a somehow different story, so that's the first reason why I think this is a really good movie, but there are others, like the great screen play, the really good cast and others, although I think that the adaptation of the story is really good.

Well, this is just an excellent movie from Vasconcellos. The characters are very well worked out, the actors are very good, especially Unas and Breyner. Towards the middle the film seems to become a little slow, but drama soon picks up again until the end.

The exorcism of the African colonial war, where about one million Portuguese fought in the sixties and early seventies, is yet to be completed, but no doubt this film is an important contribution to the process. It depicts whit dark humor, disenchantment and a strange sadness the difficult lives that virtually all Portuguese had in the years after the war: those who fought in Africa; their relatives and friends in Europe; and those who lived in the colonies and had to return.

Hi.

"Os Imortais", a masterpiece from Vasconcelos, places him as one of the most brilliant portuguese film directors. Rui Unas performs a nice surprise on this movie. A not-so-young all-in-one actor, is "Vitor Pratas", the last imortal. And another actor, Nicolau Breyner, plays perhaps the best cinema paper on his career.

A "must see"!