Never mind the historical documentary or political education we are offered along the ride, this is an example of the craziest film-making in history. If this had been a one-man show of a 96-year old I would not criticise it however, hundreds of people (of supposed quality) worked on this production and it seems no-one dared speak to the man to question his view. I'm sorry but having made 16 movies since 1990 at his age, you cannot expect much to come out if no-one is prepared to be honest. There are some worthy things but on the whole this really is the worst movie I have ever seen (and I was not alone - my wife, three Portuguese friends including one fan, and one film critic totally agree) and my only 86 year old musician grandmother would too and believe me we are all open to all kinds of films. If the 7-8 ratings gets justified just because it is a script showing "reality" then it must be by people who have never seen any other films about reality, try Iranian cinema to start with, you will not see anything as bad as this and if you're lucky even some really good stuff. Every person was fake and corny except the girl and the priest (who still ended up speaking as if he was rehearsing for a Guide du Routard film. The famous actor's all behaved as if they were about to die, the dialogue about languages in Europe was childish and there was no conviction in the texts. The mother seemed more to be educating a pupil not talking to her daughter. There were some more subtle parts, the importance of the husband (don't touch me I'm married and I have Portuguese pride)was very original. The french subtitles translated the reason for not diffusing the bomb being that no-one could read the instruction manual (think the translator knew he had to do something to help this film) The gossip of whether the famous actors we're talking about their own lives. If this had been on TV no-one would watch. Unfortunately he has never again done something as good as Aniki Bobo, his first real film, and now that he's at the "reverting back to a child" age he probably never will, still he deserves respect. There is one other person who has never recovered from a good start - Luc Besson, who has a good chance of turning into the world's worst famous film-maker.
Review of Um Filme Falado
