Letters from War

Cartas da Guerra

Ivo M. Ferreira, Portugal, 2016

105 mins

6.6 / 10 (214)

Drama War

Synopsis

1971. The life of young doctor António is interrupted when he is drafted into the Portuguese Army for the Colonial War in the East of Angola. At his side, everyone struggles and despairs to return home. Increasingly at conflict with the violence, only the letters to his wife can make him survive.

MUBI's take

Adapted from the letters sent between famous novelist António Lobo Antunes and his wife during the Portuguese Colonial War, this black-and-white debut views combat in a different light—full of loneliness and ennui. Evocative yet unsentimental, the film also reckons with Portugal’s colonial history.