Antonio Caldeira Pires Movies

In a melancholy and well-photographed tale, a Portuguese family is in mourning over the loss of one of their sons, a young man who was killed in Mozambique. During the mid-1970s, Mozambique rebelled against 450 years of Portuguese colonial domination and after much bloodshed, independence was declared in June, 1975. Black-and-white footage dramatizes that conflict. Now ten years have gone by, and the mother still cannot forget her dead son, though the topic of the war has long been dropped from conversations. She and her husband go to visit their younger son in Lisbon, and as events unfold, it becomes apparent that all these issues have taken their toll on the mother's health and psyche. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Manoel de Oliveira wrote and directed this historical drama about the lives of some of his wife's ancestors who were active in the first half of the 19th century. In order to put across this slower-paced era before automobiles, planes, instant television and radio news, and computers, Oliveira uses a series of tableaus to emphasize the drama of each setting and the lifestyle of the protagonists. The feckless, wealthy Jose Augusto (Diogo Doria) and Fanny Owen (Teresa Meneses), a young English woman, are attracted to each other. A perennial love triangle is created when the author Camilo Castelo Branco (Mario Barroso) also falls in love with Fanny (Francisca), but is placed in a bind because he is a friend of Jose Augusto. In the end Fanny opts for the wealthy young man, and Camilo (who would eventually die by suicide) loses the love of his life. Now that the rich young man has succeeded in the chase, he has no interest in the result, and he and Fanny are married by proxy. Although she goes to live in his mansion, he does not stay with her and she is left alone -- and untouched. The triangle has come apart, and Fanny and Camilo have been separated, almost by the whim of the rich and disinterested Jose Augusto. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi