Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal
Philip Spinelli, Robert Kramer, US/PT 1977Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing: Philip Spinelli, Robert Kramer. 35mm, color and b/w, 90 min. English/Portuguese with English subtitles
After the success of Milestones at Cannes, Kramer travelled to Portugal with Philip Spinelli to witness the radical changes following the Carnation Revolution in April 1974. "Robert Kramer and his group came neither as tourists nor to teach anyone a lesson. They came to observe, to understand and to live here. And, most of all, to love" (Isabel do Carmo, co-founder of the Brigadas Revolucionárias). Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal shows the euphoria generated by the new era and gives mothers, farmers, workers and soldiers a chance to have their say. Completed in 1976, the film is followed by a disenchanted postscript from November 1978: the achievements of the revolution have been nullified, the land reform reversed, leftists are in prison. "A return to the language (mentality) of Salazar's fascism. But in 1974, Portugal was the freest country in the world." Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal marks the beginning of the second phase of Kramer's career, which also ended ten years later back in Portugal with Doc's Kingdom (1987). (V.P.)
Courtesy Cinemateca Portuguesa
Screening dates:
