TinaMarga

I liked it from the beginning to the end. Those three children, what a terrible ordeal for them to be born as children from a brute dad who has been building an empire and who has been on a crusade his entire life. Lots of developments are so similar to what happens in big companies. Bosses promise you a carrot and you go for it. But they only want you to go for it, 100 percent, and will not give you the carrot. Most likely, you will never get it. The best episode is the election evening when the three children several times say in one second that they love each other and in the next second show their selfishness and their ability to "kill" again (both) their siblings. The only very irritating about the whole series is this intro where they show these four children, that supposedly are Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Rome. But none of these kids has any ressemblance to the adults. It is a pity that the movie makers did not make an effort to find more suitable kids.

This movie has several story lines. It is easy to get confused and, honestly, I had to see it twice to understand it. If you want to learn about the history of Portugal under the dictatorship of Salazar, watch this. If your life is boring, watch it also. The life of the Swiss teacher is supposedly boring, but I personally would not like to change his life with that of Amadeu, who lived under a dictatorship. Jeremy Irons is excellent in his role. He fits in Bern, but also in Lisbon. He even makes me laugh from time to time. I also recommend you to read the book, which adds lots of elements that concern the languages (Portugese, French, Persian). Morover, there is letter from Amadeu to his father and his father to Amadeu. Intriguing and also showing the misunderstandings between father and son. Who dies first? This is different in the movie from the book. Nothing is boring about this, at all.