An interesting regard over Portugal Voyage to the beginning of the World is an interesting film to see nowadays Portugal, former conqueror of the seas and now a 3rd world country of the European Comunity, with all its social and cultural discrepancies ... It's interesting to note that Manoel de Oliveira was 90 year old when shot the film and that he is still active as a director, as film maker. Very beautiful and poetic movie.
It's a hard DVD to review Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira was 89 years old with a resume that would let him make any damn film he wanted. So what did he do? He went autobiographical. A fine cast of four, headlined by Marcello Mastroianni, drive from France to Portugal in search of one man's past. Introspective and subdued in both style and scenery.
It can be difficult to read subtitles in a dialogue-heavy film. But once we reach Portugal, most lines are between a French speaker and a Portuguese speaker, with a translator, and the luxury (for me) of seeing the same thing in English subtitles twice. Even so, with an awareness that these films are a bit expensive in the US, I can't really recommend it.
So what is it about? Beginnings and endings. What we remember, what we forget. Family relationships gone bad. Atonement. Unflinching realism. In that, it is brilliant. But hell, it might bore somebody, I don't know. So I respect it but I don't recommend it. Does that make any sense?
Endless voyage Please note that I am a huge fan of slow, talky flicks. "My Night at Maud's" and most other Eric Rohmer movies get 5 stars from me. They have something to say and take their sweet time saying it. The French have a knack for movies like that, and keep finding surprising new ways of making them. American movies in that vein include Kasdan's "The Big Chill" or Linklater's "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." I even went for Malle's "My Dinner with Andre" in big way.
Thus I had great expectations for this movie too, the first I had seen by Manoel de Oliveira. The theme spoke to me. I am planning to return to Portugal for a slow trip down memory lane myself, having left in 1964 to live in France and in the United States.
Oliveira's movie doesn't cut it for me. I found the trip the character Manoel takes down memory lane to be bumpy, crammed with unrelated digressions of little redeeming value. Because one of his companions (Afonso) has Portuguese roots but speaks only French, everything - and I do mean everything - the local people say has to be translated (and vice versa). Oliveira makes no concessions there, so you get a double dose of it all. Marcello Matroianni, as Manoel, is wonderful as usual. There are real nuggets of dialog and feeling in Manoel's reminiscing. That's all in French, no translation being necessary because no locals are involved.
Unfortunately, a good part of the movie isn't about Manoel's trip down memory lane but about Afonso's search for his roots. The main order of business is now between him and his Portuguese relatives. Jean Yves Gautier is competent enough as Afonso, but the Portuguese-French seesaw had me almost catatonic for the rest of the movie. To make matters worse, nuggets of the caliber found in Manoel's reminiscing are absent in Afonso's search.
I have since watched a few other Oliveira movies, and I give them all the same rating as this one. The exception is "Party," which is so absurd that I recommend it be avoided at all costs.
Swan song for Mastroianni This exquisite movie is a swan song for Marcello Mastroianni, who plays director Manoel de Oliveira's alter ego in this film. It is a voyage of introspection and self discovery that appeals to self reflexion and inner thoughts about the past, the present and the future.
An act of courage To release a DVD containig a portuguese movie in the american market is, in fact, an act of courage. Manoel de Oliveira is, probably, the best potuguese filmmaker of all time and this movie is a fabulous example of what he can do. It's a personal voyage to the depths of the memory of a man and to the family past of another. Slow paced, very well directed and with a great script, "Voyage to the beggining of the world" is a typical portuguese movie, filled with a sense of nostalgy that defines the portuguese people. Indeed a great movie by a great director, the oldest in the world.
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