O Apelo

A short film developed by the University of Lisbon, possibly a film thesis from the makers and as stars there several noticeable actors from the Portuguese cultural industry - the one who got me here was Ricardo Pereira, a very popular figure here in Brazil in many soap operas and films (too bad he's only in one brief cameo). They had a good story that gets weakly translated as a whole, with minimal dialogue and restrained with its emotions. "O Apelo!" ("The Appeal") has a nice drama attached to it revolving around crucial dilemmas of life, death and what's the most important things in life.

Bernardo Mendonça has a commendable performance as the conflicted lead suffering with two family members on a hospital (his own father and his young son, two different generations), and Joaquina Santos as the doctor is very good. It's a nice film that makes you question things and perspectives about those issues and more - better not reveal what's the real situation, even though the film didn't make much clear as well but you'll get what it is - and with those thoughts you're either thinking not just about your own life but also the lives of other people, situations and scenarios where you can envision one living and how to solve it.

I liked the movie a lot, though it just didn't get my full attention as it could with a great story to tell but with some weaknesses in its presentation, both visually as written. I believe that when we face difficult moments when we might everything's all lost or coming to an end we have a deep desire of letting all out, to speak the world about ones we love or either the ones who are about to leave demonstrate a lot more. Then I would believe more in this tale. 6/10