Page 57 - Metropolis Megazine nº118

characters (50 actors), “there is no inten- get close. As if they couldn't change. That Vicente dreams of films that leave peo-
tion to choose one story or one person. makes everything sound... I won't say fal- ple disoriented. That makes them think:
We are talking about a country,” he adds. se, but ‘puppet-like’. And we Portuguese “What am I doing with my life?” In his
really like those puppets." opinion, these are the films that should
In this exercise in “relay film”, in which be made now. “But unfortunately they
one character passes the baton to ano- Vicente Alves do Ó believes that, at a aren't. We are sick as human beings.
ther and so they tell the story, it is not the time when the country is about to go to Perhaps we have never been so discon-
story of each individual that matters. "The the polls, people do not like to think for nected from each other. And how can we
story belongs to everyone. It's like a choir themselves and that few take a stand or move on to another level if we don't cure
that is speaking or singing. It speaks to take responsibility for their opinions. In this ‘disease’ first?” he asks.
their hardships and victories. And so we this sense, he wants his film to be “provo-
really have to mix all those people toge- cative, an intervention”, as well as a little once upon a time...
ther,“ he explains, adding that he did not controversial, so that people will discuss In “Portugueses”, Vicente Alves do Ó
want a film of archetypes. ”What the film the issue. “I'm tired of hearing people lea- brought together the work of fifty actors.
tries to do is dismantle that. Numerous ve the cinema saying, ‘I really liked it. How A challenging task at first, but one that,
actions have already taken place in rela- beautiful. ‘What a punch in the stomach,’ according to the director, proved surpri-
tion to April 25, and this trend will per- and then they go on with their lives. Tho- singly fluid thanks to meticulous prepa-
sist. But people are often put in a trench, se expressions no longer mean anything ration and an unconventional narrative
surrounded by a moat, as if no one could to me.” structure. “I think a film is made largely