Trails

1978 [PORTUGUESE]

Drama / Fantasy

IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 279 279

baptism satan birth

Director

João César Monteiro Photo
João César Monteiro

Top cast

João César Monteiro Photo
João César Monteiro as Frade
Manuela de Freitas Photo
Manuela de Freitas as Atena
João Guedes Photo
João Guedes as Senhor das Terras
Luís de Sousa Costa Photo
Luís de Sousa Costa as Padre

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by filmreviewradical 3 / 10

Painterly images traversing history, memory and the imagination

Landscape, nature, poetry, history, mythology and folklore are fused in this Portuguese experimental art house feature film 'fabricated' (directed) by João Cesar Monteiro. Symbolic, allegorical, evocative, at times discombobulating, it's painterly images were photographed between September 1975 and July 1977 by Acacio de Almeida in locations like Montalegre, Rio Lima, Serra da Estrella and Monte da Ravasqueira (some of it's landscapes look rather English), in an episodic film which traverses history, memory and imagination with tales of Moors, three daughters, Branca-Flor (Carmen Duarte), and a fascistic landowner who "respects death more than life".
Reviewed by souvikmeetszeus 9 / 10

If there is one word that could describe this movie, it is transcendental. Beautiful could be another good word but it does not feel enough. I am not sure I have understood the entire depth of the insane dialogue, but there is an universal tug every viewer will feel while watching this and that is because this is such an universal story. I believe Portugal has never been shot with such elegance, with such passion and with such poetry(a belief that needs testing, though). You can just stare at the landscapes for two hours and then come out of this with a satisfied and profound state of mind. It does have two stories separated by a fable, the first a folklore about an escaping couple set in the older times and the other, much ahead in time, about another similar couple running from a feudal lord. But this wasn't about the people, this was about the trails, the land, the earth, the culture, the oral tradition, the music and all things that binds one to the land. And all of it was so transcendental in the execution that I cannot put this movie experience into words. You have to experience it. I will not not say 'You will love it' or 'It has become one of my most favorite movies', but this was definitely different. A combination of unique ideas and perhaps too literal a poem, a poem embedded in both visuals and dialogue, hence quite difficult to resolve and very different from the usual. In its own rhythm and in its own strangeness, Veredas is an experience that has opened up a new type of film cognition in me.
Reviewed by souvikmeetszeus 9 / 10

Unique!

If there is one word that could describe this movie, it is transcendental. Beautiful could be another good word but it does not feel enough. I am not sure I have understood the entire depth of the insane dialogue, but there is an universal tug every viewer will feel while watching this and that is because this is such an universal story. I believe Portugal has never been shot with such elegance, with such passion and with such poetry(a belief that needs testing, though). You can just stare at the landscapes for two hours and then come out of this with a satisfied and profound state of mind. It does have two stories separated by a fable, the first a folklore about an escaping couple set in the older times and the other, much ahead in time, about another similar couple running from a feudal lord. But this wasn't about the people, this was about the trails, the land, the earth, the culture, the oral tradition, the music and all things that binds one to the land. And all of it was so transcendental in the execution that I cannot put this movie experience into words. You have to experience it. I will not not say 'You will love it' or 'It has become one of my most favorite movies', but this was definitely different. A combination of unique ideas and perhaps too literal a poem, a poem embedded in both visuals and dialogue, hence quite difficult to resolve and very different from the usual. In its own rhythm and in its own strangeness, Veredas is an experience that has opened up a new type of film cognition in me.
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