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Cartas da + Guerra + + (Letters + from War) BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 2016
Cartas da Guerra (Letters from War) Certificate 15TH FEBRUARY 2016
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OLIVER JOHNSTON
In theory, anyone can be
hypnotised.
entirely whether
depends the
It on
subject
allows it to happen. The
lyrical
language
and glamourous blackand-white photography
of
director
Ferreira’s
Cartas
Ivo
M.
magnificent
da
(Letters
Guerra
from
War)
evoke a sensation of being hypnotised, and it’s
best
to
simply
succumb. Opening in 1971,
young
doctor
António (Miguel Nunes) has been sent to the Portuguese War
in
Colonial
Angola.
He
writes a never-ending succession of letters home to his pregnant wife,
and
it’s
these
letters that narrate and guide
the
story
as
they’re read out in her lilting voiceover. The letters manage to be both poetic and occasionally depending
on
while it’s not a film António’s
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prosaic,
António’s mood, and without
POPULAR
dialogue, actual
spoken words are very
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far and few between. He’s not introverted or stilted by any stretch, but it’s in his letters where his sharp mind and his tenderness are overt. Nunes does an excellent job given the
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fact that he is rarely able to communicate with dialogue. Ferreira initially shoots his handsome young military
men
like
matinee idols, with the crispness of the black and white making their gradual decay all the more obvious. While there’s no colour to be seen, it feels as though the palate changes as the war drags on, and as
António’s
sympathies
swing
slowly towards the left. While it was a place of wartime horrors in the 1960s and 70s, Angola (where the film was shot)
still
looks
beautiful, albeit in a rather stark manner. A black-and-white film where
any
defined
clearly
thought
is
communicated by an almost unseen female reader could easily be consigned
to
the
always-vague label of arthouse cinema. But once the method of delivery the
is
accepted,
movie
elegantly
immerses its audience
in a nuanced world that depicts a largely forgotten war. Cartas
da Guerra is a rich and haunting triumph. Verdict:
Oliver Johnston Cartas
da
(Letters
Guerra
from
War)
does not have a UK release date yet. Read
more
of
our
reviews and interviews from the festival here. For further information about the Berlin Film Festival 2016 visit here. Watch the trailer for Cartas da Guerra here:
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