Quem Espera por Sapatos de Defunto Morre Descalço (He Who Awaits Dead Men's Shoes Dies Barefoot). 1970. Portugal. Written and directed by João César Monteiro. With Luis Miguel Cintra, Carlos Ferreiro, Paula Bobone. 4K digital restoration by Cinemateca Portuguesa. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 34 min.
Que Farei Eu com Esta Espada? (What Shall I Do with This Sword?). 1975. Portugal. Directed by João César Monteiro. Screenplay by Monteiro, Maria Velho da Costa. With Margarida Gil. 4K digital restoration by Cinemateca Portuguesa. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 65 min.
Monteiro’s first fiction film—and masterpiece—He Who Awaits Dead Men’s Shoes Dies Barefoot shows an auteur inspired by the French New Wave (specifically Jean-Luc Godard) and introduces an alter-ego who would reappear in Monteiro’s João de Deus trilogy: Lívio, a young, broken-hearted aspiring artist (and beggar) whose dreams and innocence are violated by a country “that is a bottomless pit, an asshole one can’t escape from.” This poetic yet pessimistic letter to a nation suffocated by a decades-old fascist regime was banned, and remained unseen until Portugal’s 1974 Carnation Revolution. In What Shall I Do with This Sword?, Monteiro shows NATO forces and US aircraft carriers in Lisbon and compares them to the awakening of Nosferatu, a new villain hungry for fresh blood, while intertwining footage of US Navy sailors cruising Lisbon’s decadent nightlife (one of its prostitutes offers Monteiro an account of her routine), workers protesting pro-capitalist maneuvers, and statements from anticolonial African activists with a satirical restaging of a medieval Lusitanian hero (director Margarida Gil) who defended the country’s soul against foreign invaders.