Arquivo

An old Mercedes, with a nickname, Rinoceronte. The driver is filmmaker Daniel Blaufuks, accompanied by the photography director, João Ribeiro. The objective: to make a road movie about Portugal, a country "that can be crossed in six hours from north to south, and in one and a half hours, from east to west", in the words of Daniel himself. The scene is Portugal post-Euro 2004 and on the eve of the Santana Lopes provisional government - a country resembling the image of "our land" that has always existed, but that no longer corresponds to reality and is almost unrecognizable in postcards. Portugal is a country undergoing deep transformation. The auto-roads have literally torn the country apart, generating a false idea of speed. The landscape is adulterated by all, both politicians and builders, with passive acceptance on the part of the civil population. Farming is in extinction. In the field of civil construction, giant commercial areas, copied from the United States, are built between a village and a country town. Public space is ill dealt with. Private areas are surrounded by walls and railings. Individual and collective memories lie hidden beneath this landscape. Violence, accidents, death. Daniel has, in fact, met with chaos. That is what he wanted for his film, but he has discovered that this is not what he wanted, necessarily, for his country.