A PORTUGUESE GOODBYE

Portuguese Africa, 1973. A land mine exploding on the pathway; a patrol lost in the jungle; the death of a soldier; shots ringing out in the night. Involved in a war in which the enemy is never seen, the mud-splattered soldiers methodically carry out their duty, without bitterness or glory, bidding the gentle farewell of a generation to five centuries of Portuguese presence in Africa: a story of war. Portugal, 1985. Raul and Piedade, small farmers from the region of Minho, travel to Lisbon. They meet Alexandre, their second son, and visit Laura, the widow of their first-born killed twelve years before in the war in Africa. The family is reunited, but is merely a shadow of what it once was. That's life, they say. They are not bitter, but accept things as they are and smile. Raul and Piedade return to their home in the north, but Laura and Alexandre have nowhere to go back to: a story of peace.