Episodes from entire military history of Portugal are told through flashbacks as a professorish soldier recounts them while marching through a Portuguese African colony in 1973.
Director: Manoel de Oliveira. AKA No, or the Vain Glory of Command
Writers: Manoel de Oliveira (dialogue), P. João Marques (historical text).
Stars: Luís Miguel Cintra, Diogo Dória, Miguel Guilherme, Luís Lucas, Carlos Gomes, António S. Lopes, Mateus Lorena, Lola Forner, Raúl Freire, Ruy de Carvalho, Teresa Menezes, Leonor Silveira.
Cinematographer: Elso Roque.
Composer: Alejandro Massó.
Manoel de Oliveira film-wow. forever thank you
A strong, naturalistic anti-war film with great performances and a stirring ending. Thank you Jon Rarefillmm!
A very deep message. It was interesting how they compared much earlier times with their present situation. The bright spot of the film was when early explorers came upon that island. Wonderful nudity, and beautiful music in that segment of the movie. But back to the main point of the movie….war usually has many losers.
In a country with a war history as old as the national origins, this movie profoundly demonstrates that history does repeat itself and that war only benefits the warlords, leaving behind a trail of death, misery and opression.
It’s profoundly allegoric to Portuguese folklore, myths and nationalist propaganda, with characters using common phrases and propaganda ideals.