lelia-agostinho

Just forget all about globalization. Portugal and Portuguese movies are unique: you can see it in "Aquele querido mês de Agosto" (That dearest August month). In August those who live in big towns and the emigrants come back to their little villages, some foreigners appear as well and all this people join together with the (polyglote) locals. Little familiar bands play and sing for others to dance in the summer festivals and this popular songs become lovely when sang by the wonderful leading role actress. This film includes it's "making of" and plays with the idea of "how a Portuguese movie is made". It is funny, it is poignant, it is innocent and it is intelligent just like anyone. In this movie you can find all except bad taste. And Portuguese people can feel proud of being Portuguese!

I'm sorry I've seen this movie doubled in Spanish and not subtitled in Portuguese but, even so, I found it lovely. It is all about how children live in the adult's world and how they perceive and deal with them. It is also about how children can understand each other and help each other to survive the power and rules of adults. It is filmed very closely to the children which means we see the adults, houses, streets and landscapes from their point of view. The story is very well written, playing very wisely with our expectations. It is an almost timeless and universal story but the where and when it happens is brilliant.

I loved it because it's about the spirit, it's beautiful and never boring. We like to believe we live in a very open-minded time but Teresa, today, would probably be a psychiatric patient. This film is not a biography, and it's not really a story that is being told. This is about spirit. Teresa is dealing with the spirit through her life and this is strange enough when we must believe in matter and stories are about events chained in a logical way to look real. Real and unreal are no important matters here. The same spirit can divide or not divide concepts as life and death. Teresa knows the whole. Watching this movie can really open our mind.