A highly interesting collage of archive footage that covered the dark days of the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal which lasted several decades all the way until the
Revolução dos Cravos, when the people took over the power from the hands of Salazar's sucessor, Marcello Caetano. Through a series of images and audios from the period, the
documentary covers the drastic changes that happened in Portugal during the fascist regime and also the revolution that restaured freedom back to its citizens, and also some
good changes in the African territories commanded by the Portuguese.
During their life on exile due to the persecution from the military regime in Brazil, directors Celso Luccas and José Celso Martinez Corrêa made an elaborated piece which
uses of a metaphor for the rise of the Cravos revolution in 1974 the repeated image of a woman delivering her child. Not sure if the idea is highly appealing to most viewers, it
might sound awkward but that's their arm. As for me, I just don't like seeing those nauseating moments - a very natural act, certainly, but one particular visual I don't like.
Since there isn't much of a historian or some voice to explain the events before and after Salazarism, except for some texts that present a metaphor of elements, it's a little
hard to follow just the images without a higher context. For those familiar with the history and Portugal's social and political advancements it's an easier experience; for those
outside of such reality, it's engaging but it's the kind of thing you'll have to research plenty of sources, other videos in order to get a full scope.
Like a labor, it was a very enduring and long process but one needed in order to overcome tyranny and give hope to the majority of people rather than just the elite. And it's
a more special project considering the two men behind it, since they could perceive the change of times and how democracy found its way back and both men could dream of this
happening back in their homeland...but it'd take 10 more years after the movie's release to get to that reality. With that perspective, that optic, the movie gets a thousand times
more interesting. 8/10.
