A Film from the sixties in the XXI century. Obvious and endless...

The Domain (A Herdade) is a movie about a rich landowner that lives in south bank of river Tagus, in the Alentejo region. This movie depicts the portuguese contemporany history from before 25 April Revolution, during the dictatoship government of Marcelo Caetano until 1991 in a democratic time. This movie centers in the character of João Fernandes played by Albano Jeronimo in one of his great performances and his relations with workers and relatives. The photograghy is also very well done with great landscapes, beutifully filmed.

This movie has great setting, amazing photography, production value, and a few good ideas. It also has the insight of not trying to provide too much historical context. Even if you are not Portuguese (which I am) you can easily follow the tropes of dictatorship-to-democracy transition, class relations-struggles, and the typical "protective" macho pose of the main character. The problem is that, despite an interesting premise and loads of potential, there is not much in between, and the plot seems to think its more sophisticated than it is. Everything that seems to matter to the family story is obvious (things that are important, but accessory to this- like political and economical issues- are not),and the viewer is treated as though it isn't, as if there is much explaining to do. Some great movies also have obvious plots, but the craft makes you almost forget about that, which is unfortunately not the case here. This is also because the characters are not as complex as the filmmakers seem to think they are, and the family relations, again, are unsurprising, verging on caricature. The fact that, for some reason, lighting cigarettes/smoking, pouring drinks and looking broodingly into the horizon seem to have been the major acting directions to create all sorts of different tensions does not help (although the lighting is great). You can use those crutches a few times, but when its done all the time it doesn't work. I do not mind excruciatingly slow or long movies, but there is no reason for this film to be either of those things, it might actually benefit from a re-edit.