Non or The ephemeral glory of domination
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Non or The ephemeral glory of domination |
| Original title | 'Non', or A Vã Glória de Mandar |
| Country of production | Portugal , Spain , France |
| original language | Portuguese |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 110 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Manoel de Oliveira |
| script | Manoel de Oliveira |
| production | Paulo Branco |
| music | Alejandro Massó |
| camera | Elso Roque |
| cut | Manoel de Oliveira Sabine Franel |
| occupation | |
| |
Non or The Ephemeral Glory of Dominion ( Non ', ou A Vã Glória de Mandar , TV title The Ephemeral Glory of Dominion ) is a Portuguese period film from 1990 and premiered out of competition on September 26, 1990 at the Cannes Film Festival. Filming locations were u. a. Spain , France and Senegal . Director Manoel de Oliveira (1908–2015) dedicated the film to his grandchildren . The film is characterized by a complex dramaturgy , in which the main actors of the general plot in April 1974 also play the main roles in the five historical flashbacks from approx. Occupy until 1578.
content
Opening credits:
Non is a terrible word
The framework story takes place in April 1974 in a Portuguese colony in Africa . It remains to be seen whether it is Portuguese Guinea , Angola or Mozambique . A group of soldiers led by Lieutenant Cabrita drives to a base in a truck in the jungle to fight against the guerrillas of a liberation movement .
The soldiers are undecided about why they are still fighting in this war (“I wonder what we are supposed to do here”). Corporal Brito and soldier Manoel are particularly critical . Everyone has a fatalistic attitude. You know that Portugal has "the rest of the world" as an opponent; not only the liberation movements, but also other African countries, the US-Americans , Russians , Chinese and Europeans , all of whom criticize the Portuguese colonial war and support the liberation movements more or less openly. But they also take the situation with a certain gallows humor ("The soldier is always at war by mistake", "We are sitting here innocently in the wasp's nest". "We are not in Vietnam here").
Finally, Lieutenant Cabrita joins the conversation. Before entering the military, he studied history and tried to explain their situation based on Portuguese national history. Therefore, he describes key events from Portuguese history, which are shown as flashbacks.
In the first flashback, Cabrita reports on the battle of Viriathus against the Roman invaders who want to conquer Lusitania . Viriathus, the leader of the Lusitanians, was a successful guerrilla leader , but at the same time a tragic figure. He did not see the positive in Roman civilization and therefore did not create a kingdom to use this knowledge further.
In the second flashback, Cabrita reports on the Portuguese goal of forming a common Iberian power with Spain. But the gods have set a limit to this goal. In the War of the Castilian Succession from 1475 to 1479, King Alfonso failed in the Battle of Toro against the Castilians in 1476, so that a unification of the two kingdoms was not possible.
In the third flashback, a peaceful attempt to reach an agreement fails. The Castilian princess Isabella marries a Portuguese prince, but the latter dies in a riding accident and can therefore not take the Castilian throne.
In a field camp, Cabrita, Brito and Manoel sit down together and Cabrita continues his story. The lieutenant considers territorial conquests of little value to humanity . What is decisive is what one gives to humanity and what one does not take. Only shadows and ruins remained of the world empires , but also light for civilization. The story is full of puzzles. The Portuguese would have discovered new worlds, new seas and new skies.
Cabrita quotes as an example in a fourth flashback The Lusiads by Luís de Camões . Thanks to the help of Venus , the navigator and explorer Vasco da Gama lands on the mythical island of love , where the navigators are rewarded by nymphs for their deeds. The lieutenant tells an episode of the Lusiads in which da Gama is led by the goddess Thetis to the highest point of the island, where she shows him the machine of the world , the law of cosmic harmony .
The group arrives at the base camp, from where they are supposed to fight the rebels the next day. In the evening, Cabrita reports on Antonio Vieira's idea to establish the 5th Reich ; a Catholic world empire in which Christians as well as converted Muslims and Jews would live together in harmony. This idea was taken up by King Dom Sebastião , who tried to erect it by force against the Moroccans in the Battle of Alcácer-Quibir in 1578 .
The battle is portrayed by Cabrita in a fifth flashback. In this sequence, there is a transition time levels: Cabrita, Brito and Manoel sit as members of the expedition of the king together as in the present in the tent of the base camp and talk in 1578 about the expedition from the perspective of the present out. Some of the king's followers consider him insane (“The expedition of an enchanted prince”).
The king leads a heterogeneous army made up of Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians , Germans and a group of adventurers who, together with Moroccan allies, fight against the Moroccan king. But Dom Sebastião is confused and gives no order to attack, although the troops of the Moroccan king are already attacking them and the first losses occur. Eventually the captain of adventurers takes the initiative and attacks alone with his group. The battle ends in slaughter for the Portuguese and their allies; the corpse of the king will never be found and he himself will become an icon of Sebastianism .
The next morning, Cabrita's group moves into the bush. They are caught in an ambush by the guerrillas, which begins with a booby trap , then the soldiers are shot at. Cabrita shoots a tree shooter and is badly hit himself. The group must withdraw. Cabrita is flown out and taken to a military hospital . Suddenly he finds himself back on the battlefield of Alcácer-Quibir as Don João of Portugal, accompanied by Brito and Manoel as Portuguese warriors. An injured Portuguese knight appears and gives a monologue on the word Non . It is a terrible word that reads from left to right: "It always means Non!". It destroys all hope. He kills himself with his sword .
Cabrita is given morphine at the hospital . The missing King Dom Sebastião appears from the fog and is seen by Cabrita. The king takes his sword by the blade in both hands and squeezes firmly. His blood drips from the tip of the sword into the void. Blood drips into an IV container that apparently belongs to Cabrita. Cabrita dies. A doctor injects adrenaline , but for nothing.
Cabrita's death is observed by another patient. His whole head is connected, he can only see with his left eye, hear nothing and say nothing. The doctor makes an entry in the diary about Cabrita's death: April 25, 1974. The film ends with the credits and a song from the Lusiads.
Dramaturgical structure
The framework of the present 1974 is staged realistically, but the historical flashbacks are strongly stylized; the buildings are reminiscent of theatrical decorations . The sequence of the Lusiaden is completely surrealistic ; Camões text is sung by a background choir; In the German synchronization , the text is translated and subtitled.
In order to brace the present and the past, Oliveira used the main actors both in the roles of the framework story and in the flashbacks . The anniversary of Cabrita's death, April 25, 1974, marks the beginning of the Carnation Revolution , which ended the dictatorship that had existed since 1926 and the colonial war that had been going on since 1961.
Historical context
Non is one of Portugal's first cinematic attempts to historically come to terms with the colonial wars. For non-Portuguese, the film plot is difficult to understand due to the complex narrative structure and the specifically Portuguese historical events.
criticism
The lexicon of international films described the film as a “complex, deeply thought-out film of inaccessible poetry” . The production is "masterful in [its] stubborn narrative structure" . However, the “visual means” could not always convince. In general, the film is more aimed at “an intellectual minority audience” .
See also
Web links
- Non perishable or the glory of the rule in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Complete original version of the film with English subtitles on youtube.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Non or The Ephemeral Glory of the Dominion. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed May 28, 2013 .