Les lignes de Wellington

A historical drama co-produced by Portugal and France. The plot takes place post Battle of Bussaco (27-09-1810) while the population and the Anglo-Portuguese troops make the strategic withdrawal for the Lines of Torres Vedras, erected by order of General Wellington, in an attempt to make a final decisive stand against the advance of the Napoleonic Army lead by Marechal Massena.

A film that had everything to be extraordinary and perhaps even a striking epic of the Portuguese cinema, with a budget around 5 million Euros, it is revolting that it does not contain a single battle scene, just two brief skirmishes. It follows too many characters none of them of consequence on the grand scheme of the theme portrayed (except Wellington and Massena), so the audience does not empathize with any of them, even with a length time of 151 minutes (2h:31m). I guess all the money went to scenery, costumes and some 'big name' actors that hardly show for a maximum of 5 minutes to quickly disappear and never be seen again. I know that the focus of this movie is on the common folks, their plights and efforts during such a terrible event, but the movie is called "Lines of Wellington", not "Evacuation to Torres Vedras"! Therefore the title is misleading, being more a soap-opera with a thematic backdrop then properly a movie about the title's theme.

So I assumed the plot would revolve around the two most influential personalities related to the event: Massena (Melvil Poupaud) and Wellington (John Malkovich). But Massena hardly has any screen time, and when he does, he rarely talks! He also should have been played by someone at least ten years older, just as the real Massena was during that time. And Wellington, who also should have been played by someone at least twenty years younger like the real Wellington was during that time, just comes out as a pompous ass, which really annoys me: sure he was pompous due to his historical, social and upbringing context, but I doubt he was an ass even more amidst a military campaign as portrayed by Malkovich! And then when comes that scene where he recites the Beef Wellington recipe, I swear I never before in my entire life felt so compelled to punch the screen! There is no proof that the two are related! John Malkovich, you are a nice actor, but I will never forgive you for making an ass out of one of the greatest European heroes, the man who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte! And your hair is ridiculous: Wellington was ahead of his time and already wore it short.

I really have no clue to what was the producers' idea behind this grotesque travesty. Have they made any minimal research? The majority of characters are purely fictional. The acting is just ordinary, except Victoria Guerra that really uplifts the scene when on screen. The soundtrack is nice but nothing epic and a bit monotonous. And don't even tell me about the 'not so' outstanding technical aspects because nowadays it is no hardship to get outstanding settings and costumes for period movies, so that does not count! - I know it should, but I won't.

For those who want to have a true historical perspective of this event and its most outstanding characters, please buy a book on the subject or consult Wikipedia because from this movie you learn nothing. The only payoff is 2 or 3 interesting dialogues and to see Soraia Chaves and Victoria Guerra naked, but not even that is sufficient to save this movie from being on my (short) list of the most hated ones.

If you think about the French Invasions of the 19th Century, you think about a time of war, tragedy, heroism, violence and excesses. It is the perfect plot for an epic movie. Unfortunately, in the case of "Linhas de Wellington", the movie is Portuguese. Don't get me wrong, I am Portuguese too. What I mean is that we, as a nation, have a very hard time dealing with our own heritage and heroes. I don't know, perhaps deep inside each of us knows how short we fell of living up to our forefathers extraordinary legacy. Anyway, regardless of the reason why, the fact is that we do not give enough praise to the best among us, and that reflects on our modern art in general and in this movie in particular. That being said, instead of all the drama, heroism and war, this movie shows the story of simple people, ordinary anonymous folks, leaving their land as the French Army advances. Unfortunately, there are too many characters, not shown long enough for the viewer too actually identify himself with any of them. That turns the movie into a tale about people you don't really care for. As for the Duque of Wellington, the way he is portrayed is nothing short of revolting... As you would expect from a Portuguese movie because of all I said above. As a conclusion, "Linhas de Wellington" is a big disappointment. It is watchable, but nothing more than that.

Set in a very hard period of Portuguese history, the French invasions (It was the last time Portugal was invaded by a foreign army), LINHAS DE WELLINGTON is a movie that essentially worth for that: history!

It's not a history lesson or something, but in my point of view the strong features of this film are just characterization and production. I mean the settings, the costumes, the all ambiance created portraying this period of history (beginning of the XIX century) are very good, and above the normal standards of Portuguese films/productions; but all the rest is not that good and it's even a bit disappointing I must say!

In my opinion the movie is too long extended (it wasn't needed over two hours and half to a plot like that! At parts it even seems to have all those minutes just to be more similar to the epic movie that tries to be, but it's not! The musical score also falls in this fallacy…) and it's very slow paced (even a bit boring at parts).

There're no action scenes (absolutely needed to a movie that aspires to be connected to the epic genre, I think…) and the plot is divided for so many characters that (as some other IMDb users said) we almost don't even know who are the most important to this movie! The Duke of Wellington is terribly portrayed by John Malkovich, not because of his fault (he's a great actor by the way), but because the way it was chosen to portray such important figure… Not to mention the roles of Catherine Deneuve or Chiara Mastroianni (among others) which just appear in the movie just to make a presence and put their names in the cast…

So, for too many reasons, I think this movie tries to be something bigger than it really is… It's missing here a lot of things to make it a really epic and remarkable film! Before I watch it I was expecting one of the best Portuguese movies ever but after 30 minutes of watching it my illusion vanished… It's one of the best in production though (very nice costumes and sets).

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.

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