Que Farei eu com Esta Espada? (1975) - full transcript
WHAT SHALL I DO
WITH THIS SWORD?
A Film By
Jo?o C?sar Monteiro
With the Co-Operation Of
Laboratories
Production
Out with NATO!
National independence!
Out with NATO!
National independence!
Long live the working class!
- It's my first time.
- Your first time?
Yes.
- Are you coming again?
- I don't know.
- Have you been ashore?
- Yes.
- Where are you from?
- Oklahoma.
Thank you!
- Do you believe in democracy?
- Democracy? I don't know.
You don't know? Right, thank you.
Our ship is the best ship
in the whole world.
In operation "Locked Gate"
we sank three English submarines
and we sank once.
But the operation
hadn't started yet.
I think Portugal
is a great country...
And that the revolution
is a good thing
because I'm totally against fascism.
What it's doing is making us spend a
bit more and also starve a bit more.
I used to buy, for instance, say...
... an orange for five cents,
and now it's gone up to 10 or 15.
And they get hold of all our fruit,
obviously and we...
The whole lot, eggs,
fishes, fruits, greens,
they take everything,
and we go hungry.
It's a lot of people, you see.
A lot of boats there, and a lot
of people, and they need stuff too.
But they also bring stuff,
but you see, they'll have to go to
sea from here, they're on the move,
in manoeuvres,
and of course they have to eat.
And if there's a port,
here or some other place,
they just stock themselves
with diesel oil, oil, water,
all the necessities.
Of course, the guys here...
Take me for instance. I go out there
fishing and then I come by the ships
and set the tow-lines,
the tow goes on the ship's prow,
I run the cables through the walls...
To let the ships enter...
Carry the cargo,
things like tin drums or supplies,
take them aboard
and serve the foreigners.
We have no choice, have we?
And other things like that, 'cause
we have bosses, you see, and so on.
- I've never been here.
- This is my first trip to Portugal.
Seems like a real nice country.
The thing that impresses me
is the age, that it's so old.
It's much older than anything
back in the States.
The States seems really new
compared to...
Looking at all the buildings
and sites in Portugal.
Well...
I was back home...
I was back home in September
a couple of days before...
before we left for here, for Europe,
and in the made area.
I think it's kind of Ionesome
every once in a while,
you get kind of Ionely
because moving here to countries
where most people speak
a different language.
In the United States
there isn't much use...
We don't speak...
They teach different languages,
but English is so well spoken
and everything like that,
that everybody just sticks to it.
You see, we always move about
so much...
Like... We've been to Italy, Turkey...
Spain, we go to Spain quite often.
Here... Then I think
we go to Morocco, don't we?
We come back to Spain...
No, we go from here to Spain,
to Morocco, back to Spain...
- If anything happens, we stay.
If anything... You know, troubles
in which our country
has some influence...
... as far as...
Well, I don't know
how to explain it but...
If anything comes up, then we usually
have to stay over here
until the little trouble
or whatever happens...
Can I take your photo?
Go to hell.
Do you want to come aboard
our ship tonight?
I don't think so.
- Why not?
- I haven't got time.
Are you from the NATO ships?
Yes. What do people say about us?
I don't know. I haven't a clue.
A lot of people in Portugal
criticise NATO.
Fair enough but it's our job. It's not
a nice one, but it can't be helped.
Don't think you'll get
a warmer welcome.
Why are you afraid to talk to us?
We're Portuguese,
we're not foreigners.
We're Portuguese.
We're Dutch.
From the submarines.
This one?
Why are you wearing that t-shirt
if you're at war?
Why not? I'm not at war now.
Open it up a bit more.
We hope for the best.
We'll see if it works out
that way or...
- It can only get better, right?
- If it gets worse, it's not worth it.
I walk up to the foreigners
and ask for a cigarette
straight away.
"One cigarette for me?"
And "Yes". They give me one.
Then, of course,
we ask them to buy us a drink.
"You pay a drink to me?",
"Yes, ok, you drink for you",
and I drink it. Then we dance.
We dance and whatnot, and you know,
we don't want to waste any time,
I'm the one that, we're the ones
that turn to them and...
Sometimes it's them that ask us
if we want to "focky-focky"...
Other times it's us that ask them
if they want to go out, you know,
if focky-focky.
"Yes. How much want?"
"500 escudos, you pay hotel."
"Ok, yes go."
Then we go out
and go to the boarding house.
If I came home and found 500 escudos
on my bedside table everyday,
it wouldn't bother me.
What I'd like is for the fella
to write down his name.
"I, so-and-so, came to your house."
It's all the same to me.
That's what you're saying now,
but if you knew about it,
you know darn well the woman
would get it in the neck...
No way, we all know
it's not the woman's fault.
There was this time
when I got out of the house,
I have to come up
with some sort of excuse.
I ran into this very posh gentleman.
He came up to me and asked...
...how much I charged
to go a few laps around the track.
And I said I wanted 50.
And he said: "OK, let's do it."
I followed him
and as soon as I got to the bedroom
I put down my handbag.
Imagine my surprise
when I noticed,
when he took off his hat
and dropped his suitcase,
that he had a rosary on him.
I was brought up
in a religious environment,
I felt embarrassed
and I grabbed my handbag to leave.
Then he begged me to stay
and asked why I wanted to leave.
And I said: "I'm leaving
because you're a priest."
And then he said:
"Well, I'm a priest
"and I have my religion
inside the church,
"outside I'm just like the next guy."
And then I, in that case, stayed.
We took off our clothes, you know,
and when I was naked,
he told me to lie down on the bed.
He told me to lie down sideways.
I do it and in a wink
he kneels on the carpet
and starts kissing me.
And it tickled really badly,
I break up laughing
and he, of course,
I'm going to say it,
he goes down on me.
So, that thing, it was the first time
anyone did it to me,
and because of it I couldn't have sex
at all for three months,
because when he was doing it,
he gave me a love bite so hard
I was in treatment for three months.
And during those three months
I was in treatment,
our doctor, Marcelo Chaves,
an acquaintance of mine,
even wanted to have me stay
at the Palhav? Hospital,
where I asked
for half a dozen more shots.
He gave them to me,
he prescribed them
and so I took that half a dozen shots
and it kind of got better.
And that's how I...
...got to know
sexual intercourse with a priest.
I think of this as a...
... an illness or something.
Because once I met this guy,
he asked me the same thing,
if I fancied getting into his car,
and I said yes.
As we went past a dairy,
he went in to buy an ice cream.
And of course,
since he didn't eat it on the way,
we got to the room,
I took off my clothes
and asked him, out of curiosity,
what was the ice cream for,
since he wouldn't eat it,
and he said: "Wait and see."
And so I lied down,
lied down on the bed,
and he puts the ice cream
down there...
He puts the ice cream down there,
and it started to melt
because of the heat,
and I got all fidgety,
and then he starts to lick it.
So, in any of these things,
I had to...
I didn't like that way of having sex.
All I know is that we need
to stick together,
and, before everybody, build up
the Portugal we all hope for.
Perhaps not for myself, but for
my children and everyone's children.
So they don't get to my age
oppressed like I was.
I lost my mother when I was seven,
and often - this is no lie,
people here can bear me out -
I had to join a queue at 3 a.m.
With a ticket worth half a kilo
of rice and half a kilo of sugar.
It got to a point we chimed the bell
to round up the people
and not let the corn be taken away,
not let the onions be taken away,
not let what we needed be taken away,
and I was just a kid, a child.
And that was because
of those, those...
And now that I'm beginning to see
the sun come up and go down,
those were the ones that tortured us,
our bones, and ribs,
and pulled out our fingernails.
Mine were taken out
from these two fingers,
but that was down there,
in front of Rossio, it was midnight.
But that was just my job.
They just got crushed.
Because I think any woman,
if she has the money,
if she works and earns enough
to feed herself and her children,
pay the rent, make ends meet,
she wouldn't need to get in the sack
with every Tom, Dick and Harry.
I think that maybe there wouldn't be
as many as there are,
and there's more by the day.
I've come to a conclusion,
and I'm still waiting, and I have
faith that it'll all come true,
for the good of us all,
myself and thousands of women,
that have to work the street
to make a living.
We won't stand by
while imperialism
gets its paws in our country
because we must, as workers,
fight for national independence,
and not remain dependent.
Because, if we were once
a colonising country,
now we are and continue to be
colonised by American imperialism.
American aggressions to our country,
like the aggression
against our comrades in Cergal...
We must put a definite end
to the presence of American
imperialism in our country.
It's an offence to genuine patriots,
it's an offence to those who fight
for real national independence.
American aggression to our country
is more than just
military aggression.
It's also carried out
through intellectual aggression,
moral aggression,
oppressive aggression,
which they impose
through their secret treaties,
which the Portuguese know nothing of,
which our ministers sign
without the workers' knowledge.
That is, they sign agreements behind
the backs of the working class.
The working class
has to give a united response
and to kick out for good and all
every form of imperialism,
whatever its colours.
Because in our own country
we can't let people go on allowing
that treaties, agreements,
that our military facilities
be later on used
for a military aggression
like the one our proletarian comrades
in Chile have witnessed,
and now the example of the issue
in Chile... in Peru.
Therefore, I think I'm expressing...
By expressing my opinion,
I'm expressing the feeling
of the working class towards
the permanence of NATO in Portugal
which had hostile intents,
intents to offend the true feelings
of the Portuguese working class.
The way I see it, the working class
aims at transforming society,
being as it is a revolutionary class.
And knowing, as we do,
that NATO is the corner stone
of a certain form of society
absolutely at odds with the interests
of the working class;
knowing, as we do,
that NATO is the corner stone
of the economic imperialism
that has ruled so many peoples around
the world, so many working classes,
we, workers, can't be indifferent
to the presence of that force
that has controlled
everything and everyone.
American capitalism, in particular,
is the one that has most exploited
our labour force.
NATO's presence in Portugal
is an aggression
to the revolutionary moment
that the working class is trying
to carry out in Portugal at present.
Workers must demand
that the government leave NATO.
Because, if up to now, the government
justified the permanence of NATO
as a way to better control
and exploit the African peoples
and workers in general,
now the workers' money can be put
to a lot of things in Portugal,
and should not go to NATO
and be used to exploit brother peoples
and the working class.
"American Cultural Center"
First of all,
I'd like to salute the gentlemen
and the ladies here present.
Secondly, I salute
the military youth.
And thirdly, I salute my 72 years.
And hurray for communism!
Hurray for communism!
Hurray for youth!
Down with fascism!
Hurray!
I was one of the men
persecuted by fascism.
In 1940, I came close
to being imprisoned.
In 1941, I came close
to being imprisoned.
And a man has to react!
A man has to react!
I saw, clear as day,
what they did to us, we can't
back out, we have to push on.
Hurray for youth,
down with that fascism!
Hurray for working people,
because I've always worked...
...earnestly.
And one time
there was this employer...
We must never back down
because employers...
Just look at me, what they did to me.
After I had an accident,
I couldn't work anymore,
they promised me a wage
of 250 escudos a month.
Then he cut down 150
and gave me 100 escudos.
I told him to buy a rod
with these 100 escudos
and it would be the end of it.
So down with fascism!
We have to... No need to look
any further, just look at me!
Look at me!
A man that worked earnestly his whole
life, I raised six children.
I raised six children earnestly!
And only to be persecuted by those...
I can't say anymore,
although I wanted to.
In 1958, at the time
of the Salgado elections,
I'd cut my lip shaving.
A certain fascist man approached me,
he's still around these days,
and said to me: "You kept your
moustache because that fellow lost."
No way!
I kept my moustache because I have
a calamity here, here on my lip.
And I never bowed,
I never bowed to fascism,
down with fascism!
Hurray for youth,
they're the future men of tomorrow!
And for those that work
for the progress of the nation!
And even today, I'm an old man,
and people still value me
because I still work.
And so we all have to respond,
so that we can defend ourselves
against that bunch of parasites
walking about,
they're a bunch of parasites!
There's no other name for it.
We need to have what all men
should have, to beat them every time.
We are... They walk up to us
these days and lift their hats.
I still remember the days when they
made us walk around almost barefoot,
and seeing my children
cutting furze barefoot,
that's what made them happy,
that made them happy.
But, thanks to the military youth,
now we can defend ourselves
from all that!
Hurray for youth!
And hurray for the Communist Party!
Victory comes hard, but it's ours,
every day, every day!
And hurray for the working youth!
But you mustn't sell yourselves
for a beer,
don't sell yourselves
for a pile of timber,
don't sell yourselves for a fat pig!
We need to push this thing forward!
Take me, for instance.
I was a servant for 30... 29 years,
65 days, 4 hours in a company...
Or rather 39 years,
65 days and 4 hours in a company,
and when I had an accident
and couldn't work anymore
they threw me a big party.
You can't work anymore, so get lost.
Nice.
Now, thanks to the military youth,
we stand where we stand.
Hurray for master Antonio!
Hurray!
We've got our response ready
to finish of that bunch
of scoundrels, take them all down.
Hurray!
I had a lot to say,
I've got a lot to say.
But...
We all have a lot to say!
I only wish that all youngsters,
all workers,
be friends, and realise
that they have to stick together.
That all of them stick together,
together with the military forces,
so that we can all
deal with these fellows.
Don't back down, don't back down!
Just a few days ago I saw the torment
many had to go through.
They set out from here,
walked 10 miles
with a saddlebag on their backs.
On their backs, a load
weighing 11 pounds on their backs.
They'd get there 10 minutes too late
and they wouldn't get work,
they'd lose a whole day.
It wasn't fair to do that
to humanity.
It wasn't fair to do that
to humanity.
It was bad enough they had
to go through all that torment.
So we, as young people... You as
young people and me as an old man,
we're about to give up,
but to give up on them.
Just because they carry a hat
on their heads and ride cars,
I've walked all my life...
I've walked all my life
and I'm as much of a man as they are.
So you ride a bike, or a motorcycle,
and go about your lives,
if they ride a car, we just
ignore them, we abandon them,
we repudiate them!
It's our right, to repudiate!
And hurray for communism!
We confirm that culture is the basis
for the liberation movement,
and that only societies capable
of preserving their culture
can mobilise and organise themselves
and fight against foreign rule.
Whatever the ideological or
idealistic traits of its expression,
culture is an essential factor
in the historical process
of the oppressed society.
Inevitably, it is also
the negation of its cultural process.
Therefore...
Therefore, and because all societies
that truly liberate themselves
from foreign rule
will follow the routes intrinsic
to their own culture,
the fight for liberation is,
above all, a cultural act.
The former fascist government,
what did it teach us
by saying that some of us
are worth more than the others.
And in fact we're not.
But they were trying to divide men,
who allowed the government, more
and more, to live of exploitation.
That's why now,
after the 25th of April,
we should also, as best we can,
bring down these fascists.
What have they done?
What have they given
to the people in the colonies,
particularly in Cape Verde
and Guinea?
For a while,
I was over there working, man,
and all I could see was people
out there filling their pockets, man.
I didn't see any development,
and the people there were...
We were the ones
who did all the work, man.
I worked for almost a month, man,
a guy would work for a month, man,
with a sack on his back,
working with your hands, man,
and when at the end of the month,
you know what the wages were?
Guess what were the wages
any of us got.
I can't guess, but I can,
how can I...
But go ahead, in your mind,
how much were the wages
a worker could get there.
4 escudos a month, or a day...
No, it wasn't 4 escudos a day.
We had a salary
of 50 escudos a month.
But I don't know
how much that is by day...
I worked for seven years
over there, man.
And when you got back, how much
did you have in your pockets?
Me? I worked for seven years
and when I went back home,
when I joined my parents,
I had 2.100 escudos.
- For seven years?
- For seven years.
And what about the black men there,
living there?
On the contrary, man,
a white man went there from Portugal,
he got there and I was already there.
I'd already... I could do any job
a lot better than that white man.
I was out in the woods working,
you know,
I'd even use an axe to cut off
a crocodile's tail, or a plant,
I taught him, I taught him
how to do the work.
And at the end of the month, man,
the guy got 4.500 escudos
and I got a 50 escudos note, man.
That guy worked in S. Tom?
for three years.
He got rich, he had bikes, Hondas,
worth more than 20.000 escudos,
28.000 or something, man,
after three years.
And I worked for seven years and got
back home with only 2.000 escudos.
And you couldn't buy a Honda,
like he did?
With what?
If all my work went to him,
I couldn't buy a thing, I ran out of
money and had to scrape by, you know.
Because I did the working
and he did the earning,
because he practically didn't move
a finger, he just bossed us around.
Of the people living there,
the black men from S. Tom?
also lived like the Cape Verdians?
- They were worse-off, worse-off.
- What were their monthly wages?
- Their monthly wages?
They got...
They used to get 30 escudos, man,
depending on how much they could pay,
they gave them
as much as they wanted to.
How was your nourishment
back in S. Tom??
- Our nourishment?
- Yes.
Yes, your food,
what you ate over there.
- I can't say that on TV.
- You can say it, man.
Now that we've been
through the 25th of April, things...
We must let the world know
how we used to live,
how we used to live back then,
for many centuries,
from the 60s till now or...
How we lived,
especially in S. Tom? and Angola.
How they used to beat the black
people in Angola and S. Tom?.
They forced them to dig the earth
against their will,
and they built a place and brought
it down if they felt like it,
because they were the bosses,
they had all the power,
they called the shots, man. You can
clarify what you used to eat there.
That's another story...
But now I want to know
what you ate, man.
- If it was dried fish or bananas...
- Well, you're guessing right, man,
that's exactly what it was...
- So you ate dried fish?
- It wasn't dried, it was rotten.
- Rotten fish, was it?
It'd be nice if it was dried,
because codfish is a dried fish.
- Yes, codfish is a dried fish.
- Right.
But ours was not only dried
but also rotten.
Right.
They'd give us the worse fish
they'd caught.
- What about olive oil?
- Olive oil?
- You didn't have any of that?
- All we had was palm tree oil.
Was it as good
as the oil here in Portugal?
- I don't know.
- And in Cape Verde?
I don't know either,
because I came back here, man.
I can't describe it,
but I can describe
how our ancient people, until 1947,
what they ate
was dried corn and manioc.
And when that crisis broke in 1947,
they dug holes 40 metres deep,
and sometimes
they buried people alive in them.
And those who could save them
went to the audience in search
of something to eat instead.
And they sometimes
buried the invalids alive.
And I don't know any more
about Cape Verde.
Because I hadn't been born yet.
Yes, man. All I have to say is
that the people who keep a distance,
who don't believe
in the independence...
Those guys...
Of course,
they are not well informed,
but since the 25th of April
a lot of action has taken place.
Because we know perfectly well
that our comrade Am?lcar Cabral
went to war for the liberation
of his people.
Both the people of Guinea
and of Cape Verde.
And he lost his life in the war
against the oppression of the people.
And Am?lcar Cabral, in fact,
had no need for it,
because he earned enough
to get along with his life.
But, realising
that men can't live alone...
Because all men, once they're born,
have a right to live.
He earned enough,
but he saw that his peoples
were slaved and slaughtered
at that moment.
They didn't earn enough to eat, or
to put some clothes on, or anything,
they had just enough for some bread
and wine, to grease down, that's all.
They could barely feed themselves
and all that,
and so he decided to launch
that struggle against exploitation
and against those colonialists
that were there just to exploit us
and did nothing for the progress...
- Of our country.
Of our country, yes.
And so we all know
that he lost his life
fighting for the liberation
of his peoples.
This is enough, more than enough
for us to look inside our conscience,
just on account of the life
lost by our comrade Am?lcar Cabral.
You don't need to...
Nobody asked for anything else.
Just thinking about that man's death
for the liberation
of the people of his country,
that was enough for a man to wonder
what did Am?lcar Cabral die for.
Why did Am?lcar Cabral found a party
and launch a struggle?
For what? He had no need for it,
but his peoples did.
Because he didn't want
to live on his own.
Fascism was the opposite,
they wanted to live by themselves.
He founded the party, not only
to liberate the African peoples,
but even for the liberation
of all peoples.
Because he always said,
before he died,
that the struggle...
... that the struggle for liberation
served not only the African peoples,
but also the Portuguese people.
And, above all, quite the opposite,
he didn't fight
against the Portuguese people.
He fought against the colonialists
and against the exploitation
of man by man.
What shall I do with this sword?
Fascists, the people is up in arms!
Because this land,
it hasn't been worked on
for 12 or 13 years,
and we're working on it
to get bread for our Portugal.
A property like this one... With only
one man, more than 1500 acres...
Now we're 30 something men
and we still can't handle it.
So this land belongs
to those who work it,
and the fascists will eat straw.
And that's all there is to it.
How old are you, Mr. Francisco?
- How old are you?
- Fifty-nine.
Fifty-nine. And how many
vacation days have you had?
The first one's yet to come.
I don't know what vacations are.
I don't know what that is.
I've had them,
but that's when I'm out of work,
but then I don't have any money
to eat or to travel.
I've had plenty of vacations,
but no money to go along with them,
nothing to eat or drink.
I've been through that,
and it's no picnic.
We do it in the bees' fashion:
When you can't put the bees
in one place, we get them another.
And with properties
we do the same thing,
because a lot of them are covered
in wild growth, uncultivated,
and we're keen on working.
Workers, peasants,
united we shall overcome!
Workers, peasants,
united we shall overcome!
We must stick together in our fight
until we obtain victory.
If we're not together,
we won't obtain victory.
"Proletarians of all countries,
unite!"
"Unite!"
Subtitles
Ana Rita Matos / CRISTBET, Lda.
WITH THIS SWORD?
A Film By
Jo?o C?sar Monteiro
With the Co-Operation Of
Laboratories
Production
Out with NATO!
National independence!
Out with NATO!
National independence!
Long live the working class!
- It's my first time.
- Your first time?
Yes.
- Are you coming again?
- I don't know.
- Have you been ashore?
- Yes.
- Where are you from?
- Oklahoma.
Thank you!
- Do you believe in democracy?
- Democracy? I don't know.
You don't know? Right, thank you.
Our ship is the best ship
in the whole world.
In operation "Locked Gate"
we sank three English submarines
and we sank once.
But the operation
hadn't started yet.
I think Portugal
is a great country...
And that the revolution
is a good thing
because I'm totally against fascism.
What it's doing is making us spend a
bit more and also starve a bit more.
I used to buy, for instance, say...
... an orange for five cents,
and now it's gone up to 10 or 15.
And they get hold of all our fruit,
obviously and we...
The whole lot, eggs,
fishes, fruits, greens,
they take everything,
and we go hungry.
It's a lot of people, you see.
A lot of boats there, and a lot
of people, and they need stuff too.
But they also bring stuff,
but you see, they'll have to go to
sea from here, they're on the move,
in manoeuvres,
and of course they have to eat.
And if there's a port,
here or some other place,
they just stock themselves
with diesel oil, oil, water,
all the necessities.
Of course, the guys here...
Take me for instance. I go out there
fishing and then I come by the ships
and set the tow-lines,
the tow goes on the ship's prow,
I run the cables through the walls...
To let the ships enter...
Carry the cargo,
things like tin drums or supplies,
take them aboard
and serve the foreigners.
We have no choice, have we?
And other things like that, 'cause
we have bosses, you see, and so on.
- I've never been here.
- This is my first trip to Portugal.
Seems like a real nice country.
The thing that impresses me
is the age, that it's so old.
It's much older than anything
back in the States.
The States seems really new
compared to...
Looking at all the buildings
and sites in Portugal.
Well...
I was back home...
I was back home in September
a couple of days before...
before we left for here, for Europe,
and in the made area.
I think it's kind of Ionesome
every once in a while,
you get kind of Ionely
because moving here to countries
where most people speak
a different language.
In the United States
there isn't much use...
We don't speak...
They teach different languages,
but English is so well spoken
and everything like that,
that everybody just sticks to it.
You see, we always move about
so much...
Like... We've been to Italy, Turkey...
Spain, we go to Spain quite often.
Here... Then I think
we go to Morocco, don't we?
We come back to Spain...
No, we go from here to Spain,
to Morocco, back to Spain...
- If anything happens, we stay.
If anything... You know, troubles
in which our country
has some influence...
... as far as...
Well, I don't know
how to explain it but...
If anything comes up, then we usually
have to stay over here
until the little trouble
or whatever happens...
Can I take your photo?
Go to hell.
Do you want to come aboard
our ship tonight?
I don't think so.
- Why not?
- I haven't got time.
Are you from the NATO ships?
Yes. What do people say about us?
I don't know. I haven't a clue.
A lot of people in Portugal
criticise NATO.
Fair enough but it's our job. It's not
a nice one, but it can't be helped.
Don't think you'll get
a warmer welcome.
Why are you afraid to talk to us?
We're Portuguese,
we're not foreigners.
We're Portuguese.
We're Dutch.
From the submarines.
This one?
Why are you wearing that t-shirt
if you're at war?
Why not? I'm not at war now.
Open it up a bit more.
We hope for the best.
We'll see if it works out
that way or...
- It can only get better, right?
- If it gets worse, it's not worth it.
I walk up to the foreigners
and ask for a cigarette
straight away.
"One cigarette for me?"
And "Yes". They give me one.
Then, of course,
we ask them to buy us a drink.
"You pay a drink to me?",
"Yes, ok, you drink for you",
and I drink it. Then we dance.
We dance and whatnot, and you know,
we don't want to waste any time,
I'm the one that, we're the ones
that turn to them and...
Sometimes it's them that ask us
if we want to "focky-focky"...
Other times it's us that ask them
if they want to go out, you know,
if focky-focky.
"Yes. How much want?"
"500 escudos, you pay hotel."
"Ok, yes go."
Then we go out
and go to the boarding house.
If I came home and found 500 escudos
on my bedside table everyday,
it wouldn't bother me.
What I'd like is for the fella
to write down his name.
"I, so-and-so, came to your house."
It's all the same to me.
That's what you're saying now,
but if you knew about it,
you know darn well the woman
would get it in the neck...
No way, we all know
it's not the woman's fault.
There was this time
when I got out of the house,
I have to come up
with some sort of excuse.
I ran into this very posh gentleman.
He came up to me and asked...
...how much I charged
to go a few laps around the track.
And I said I wanted 50.
And he said: "OK, let's do it."
I followed him
and as soon as I got to the bedroom
I put down my handbag.
Imagine my surprise
when I noticed,
when he took off his hat
and dropped his suitcase,
that he had a rosary on him.
I was brought up
in a religious environment,
I felt embarrassed
and I grabbed my handbag to leave.
Then he begged me to stay
and asked why I wanted to leave.
And I said: "I'm leaving
because you're a priest."
And then he said:
"Well, I'm a priest
"and I have my religion
inside the church,
"outside I'm just like the next guy."
And then I, in that case, stayed.
We took off our clothes, you know,
and when I was naked,
he told me to lie down on the bed.
He told me to lie down sideways.
I do it and in a wink
he kneels on the carpet
and starts kissing me.
And it tickled really badly,
I break up laughing
and he, of course,
I'm going to say it,
he goes down on me.
So, that thing, it was the first time
anyone did it to me,
and because of it I couldn't have sex
at all for three months,
because when he was doing it,
he gave me a love bite so hard
I was in treatment for three months.
And during those three months
I was in treatment,
our doctor, Marcelo Chaves,
an acquaintance of mine,
even wanted to have me stay
at the Palhav? Hospital,
where I asked
for half a dozen more shots.
He gave them to me,
he prescribed them
and so I took that half a dozen shots
and it kind of got better.
And that's how I...
...got to know
sexual intercourse with a priest.
I think of this as a...
... an illness or something.
Because once I met this guy,
he asked me the same thing,
if I fancied getting into his car,
and I said yes.
As we went past a dairy,
he went in to buy an ice cream.
And of course,
since he didn't eat it on the way,
we got to the room,
I took off my clothes
and asked him, out of curiosity,
what was the ice cream for,
since he wouldn't eat it,
and he said: "Wait and see."
And so I lied down,
lied down on the bed,
and he puts the ice cream
down there...
He puts the ice cream down there,
and it started to melt
because of the heat,
and I got all fidgety,
and then he starts to lick it.
So, in any of these things,
I had to...
I didn't like that way of having sex.
All I know is that we need
to stick together,
and, before everybody, build up
the Portugal we all hope for.
Perhaps not for myself, but for
my children and everyone's children.
So they don't get to my age
oppressed like I was.
I lost my mother when I was seven,
and often - this is no lie,
people here can bear me out -
I had to join a queue at 3 a.m.
With a ticket worth half a kilo
of rice and half a kilo of sugar.
It got to a point we chimed the bell
to round up the people
and not let the corn be taken away,
not let the onions be taken away,
not let what we needed be taken away,
and I was just a kid, a child.
And that was because
of those, those...
And now that I'm beginning to see
the sun come up and go down,
those were the ones that tortured us,
our bones, and ribs,
and pulled out our fingernails.
Mine were taken out
from these two fingers,
but that was down there,
in front of Rossio, it was midnight.
But that was just my job.
They just got crushed.
Because I think any woman,
if she has the money,
if she works and earns enough
to feed herself and her children,
pay the rent, make ends meet,
she wouldn't need to get in the sack
with every Tom, Dick and Harry.
I think that maybe there wouldn't be
as many as there are,
and there's more by the day.
I've come to a conclusion,
and I'm still waiting, and I have
faith that it'll all come true,
for the good of us all,
myself and thousands of women,
that have to work the street
to make a living.
We won't stand by
while imperialism
gets its paws in our country
because we must, as workers,
fight for national independence,
and not remain dependent.
Because, if we were once
a colonising country,
now we are and continue to be
colonised by American imperialism.
American aggressions to our country,
like the aggression
against our comrades in Cergal...
We must put a definite end
to the presence of American
imperialism in our country.
It's an offence to genuine patriots,
it's an offence to those who fight
for real national independence.
American aggression to our country
is more than just
military aggression.
It's also carried out
through intellectual aggression,
moral aggression,
oppressive aggression,
which they impose
through their secret treaties,
which the Portuguese know nothing of,
which our ministers sign
without the workers' knowledge.
That is, they sign agreements behind
the backs of the working class.
The working class
has to give a united response
and to kick out for good and all
every form of imperialism,
whatever its colours.
Because in our own country
we can't let people go on allowing
that treaties, agreements,
that our military facilities
be later on used
for a military aggression
like the one our proletarian comrades
in Chile have witnessed,
and now the example of the issue
in Chile... in Peru.
Therefore, I think I'm expressing...
By expressing my opinion,
I'm expressing the feeling
of the working class towards
the permanence of NATO in Portugal
which had hostile intents,
intents to offend the true feelings
of the Portuguese working class.
The way I see it, the working class
aims at transforming society,
being as it is a revolutionary class.
And knowing, as we do,
that NATO is the corner stone
of a certain form of society
absolutely at odds with the interests
of the working class;
knowing, as we do,
that NATO is the corner stone
of the economic imperialism
that has ruled so many peoples around
the world, so many working classes,
we, workers, can't be indifferent
to the presence of that force
that has controlled
everything and everyone.
American capitalism, in particular,
is the one that has most exploited
our labour force.
NATO's presence in Portugal
is an aggression
to the revolutionary moment
that the working class is trying
to carry out in Portugal at present.
Workers must demand
that the government leave NATO.
Because, if up to now, the government
justified the permanence of NATO
as a way to better control
and exploit the African peoples
and workers in general,
now the workers' money can be put
to a lot of things in Portugal,
and should not go to NATO
and be used to exploit brother peoples
and the working class.
"American Cultural Center"
First of all,
I'd like to salute the gentlemen
and the ladies here present.
Secondly, I salute
the military youth.
And thirdly, I salute my 72 years.
And hurray for communism!
Hurray for communism!
Hurray for youth!
Down with fascism!
Hurray!
I was one of the men
persecuted by fascism.
In 1940, I came close
to being imprisoned.
In 1941, I came close
to being imprisoned.
And a man has to react!
A man has to react!
I saw, clear as day,
what they did to us, we can't
back out, we have to push on.
Hurray for youth,
down with that fascism!
Hurray for working people,
because I've always worked...
...earnestly.
And one time
there was this employer...
We must never back down
because employers...
Just look at me, what they did to me.
After I had an accident,
I couldn't work anymore,
they promised me a wage
of 250 escudos a month.
Then he cut down 150
and gave me 100 escudos.
I told him to buy a rod
with these 100 escudos
and it would be the end of it.
So down with fascism!
We have to... No need to look
any further, just look at me!
Look at me!
A man that worked earnestly his whole
life, I raised six children.
I raised six children earnestly!
And only to be persecuted by those...
I can't say anymore,
although I wanted to.
In 1958, at the time
of the Salgado elections,
I'd cut my lip shaving.
A certain fascist man approached me,
he's still around these days,
and said to me: "You kept your
moustache because that fellow lost."
No way!
I kept my moustache because I have
a calamity here, here on my lip.
And I never bowed,
I never bowed to fascism,
down with fascism!
Hurray for youth,
they're the future men of tomorrow!
And for those that work
for the progress of the nation!
And even today, I'm an old man,
and people still value me
because I still work.
And so we all have to respond,
so that we can defend ourselves
against that bunch of parasites
walking about,
they're a bunch of parasites!
There's no other name for it.
We need to have what all men
should have, to beat them every time.
We are... They walk up to us
these days and lift their hats.
I still remember the days when they
made us walk around almost barefoot,
and seeing my children
cutting furze barefoot,
that's what made them happy,
that made them happy.
But, thanks to the military youth,
now we can defend ourselves
from all that!
Hurray for youth!
And hurray for the Communist Party!
Victory comes hard, but it's ours,
every day, every day!
And hurray for the working youth!
But you mustn't sell yourselves
for a beer,
don't sell yourselves
for a pile of timber,
don't sell yourselves for a fat pig!
We need to push this thing forward!
Take me, for instance.
I was a servant for 30... 29 years,
65 days, 4 hours in a company...
Or rather 39 years,
65 days and 4 hours in a company,
and when I had an accident
and couldn't work anymore
they threw me a big party.
You can't work anymore, so get lost.
Nice.
Now, thanks to the military youth,
we stand where we stand.
Hurray for master Antonio!
Hurray!
We've got our response ready
to finish of that bunch
of scoundrels, take them all down.
Hurray!
I had a lot to say,
I've got a lot to say.
But...
We all have a lot to say!
I only wish that all youngsters,
all workers,
be friends, and realise
that they have to stick together.
That all of them stick together,
together with the military forces,
so that we can all
deal with these fellows.
Don't back down, don't back down!
Just a few days ago I saw the torment
many had to go through.
They set out from here,
walked 10 miles
with a saddlebag on their backs.
On their backs, a load
weighing 11 pounds on their backs.
They'd get there 10 minutes too late
and they wouldn't get work,
they'd lose a whole day.
It wasn't fair to do that
to humanity.
It wasn't fair to do that
to humanity.
It was bad enough they had
to go through all that torment.
So we, as young people... You as
young people and me as an old man,
we're about to give up,
but to give up on them.
Just because they carry a hat
on their heads and ride cars,
I've walked all my life...
I've walked all my life
and I'm as much of a man as they are.
So you ride a bike, or a motorcycle,
and go about your lives,
if they ride a car, we just
ignore them, we abandon them,
we repudiate them!
It's our right, to repudiate!
And hurray for communism!
We confirm that culture is the basis
for the liberation movement,
and that only societies capable
of preserving their culture
can mobilise and organise themselves
and fight against foreign rule.
Whatever the ideological or
idealistic traits of its expression,
culture is an essential factor
in the historical process
of the oppressed society.
Inevitably, it is also
the negation of its cultural process.
Therefore...
Therefore, and because all societies
that truly liberate themselves
from foreign rule
will follow the routes intrinsic
to their own culture,
the fight for liberation is,
above all, a cultural act.
The former fascist government,
what did it teach us
by saying that some of us
are worth more than the others.
And in fact we're not.
But they were trying to divide men,
who allowed the government, more
and more, to live of exploitation.
That's why now,
after the 25th of April,
we should also, as best we can,
bring down these fascists.
What have they done?
What have they given
to the people in the colonies,
particularly in Cape Verde
and Guinea?
For a while,
I was over there working, man,
and all I could see was people
out there filling their pockets, man.
I didn't see any development,
and the people there were...
We were the ones
who did all the work, man.
I worked for almost a month, man,
a guy would work for a month, man,
with a sack on his back,
working with your hands, man,
and when at the end of the month,
you know what the wages were?
Guess what were the wages
any of us got.
I can't guess, but I can,
how can I...
But go ahead, in your mind,
how much were the wages
a worker could get there.
4 escudos a month, or a day...
No, it wasn't 4 escudos a day.
We had a salary
of 50 escudos a month.
But I don't know
how much that is by day...
I worked for seven years
over there, man.
And when you got back, how much
did you have in your pockets?
Me? I worked for seven years
and when I went back home,
when I joined my parents,
I had 2.100 escudos.
- For seven years?
- For seven years.
And what about the black men there,
living there?
On the contrary, man,
a white man went there from Portugal,
he got there and I was already there.
I'd already... I could do any job
a lot better than that white man.
I was out in the woods working,
you know,
I'd even use an axe to cut off
a crocodile's tail, or a plant,
I taught him, I taught him
how to do the work.
And at the end of the month, man,
the guy got 4.500 escudos
and I got a 50 escudos note, man.
That guy worked in S. Tom?
for three years.
He got rich, he had bikes, Hondas,
worth more than 20.000 escudos,
28.000 or something, man,
after three years.
And I worked for seven years and got
back home with only 2.000 escudos.
And you couldn't buy a Honda,
like he did?
With what?
If all my work went to him,
I couldn't buy a thing, I ran out of
money and had to scrape by, you know.
Because I did the working
and he did the earning,
because he practically didn't move
a finger, he just bossed us around.
Of the people living there,
the black men from S. Tom?
also lived like the Cape Verdians?
- They were worse-off, worse-off.
- What were their monthly wages?
- Their monthly wages?
They got...
They used to get 30 escudos, man,
depending on how much they could pay,
they gave them
as much as they wanted to.
How was your nourishment
back in S. Tom??
- Our nourishment?
- Yes.
Yes, your food,
what you ate over there.
- I can't say that on TV.
- You can say it, man.
Now that we've been
through the 25th of April, things...
We must let the world know
how we used to live,
how we used to live back then,
for many centuries,
from the 60s till now or...
How we lived,
especially in S. Tom? and Angola.
How they used to beat the black
people in Angola and S. Tom?.
They forced them to dig the earth
against their will,
and they built a place and brought
it down if they felt like it,
because they were the bosses,
they had all the power,
they called the shots, man. You can
clarify what you used to eat there.
That's another story...
But now I want to know
what you ate, man.
- If it was dried fish or bananas...
- Well, you're guessing right, man,
that's exactly what it was...
- So you ate dried fish?
- It wasn't dried, it was rotten.
- Rotten fish, was it?
It'd be nice if it was dried,
because codfish is a dried fish.
- Yes, codfish is a dried fish.
- Right.
But ours was not only dried
but also rotten.
Right.
They'd give us the worse fish
they'd caught.
- What about olive oil?
- Olive oil?
- You didn't have any of that?
- All we had was palm tree oil.
Was it as good
as the oil here in Portugal?
- I don't know.
- And in Cape Verde?
I don't know either,
because I came back here, man.
I can't describe it,
but I can describe
how our ancient people, until 1947,
what they ate
was dried corn and manioc.
And when that crisis broke in 1947,
they dug holes 40 metres deep,
and sometimes
they buried people alive in them.
And those who could save them
went to the audience in search
of something to eat instead.
And they sometimes
buried the invalids alive.
And I don't know any more
about Cape Verde.
Because I hadn't been born yet.
Yes, man. All I have to say is
that the people who keep a distance,
who don't believe
in the independence...
Those guys...
Of course,
they are not well informed,
but since the 25th of April
a lot of action has taken place.
Because we know perfectly well
that our comrade Am?lcar Cabral
went to war for the liberation
of his people.
Both the people of Guinea
and of Cape Verde.
And he lost his life in the war
against the oppression of the people.
And Am?lcar Cabral, in fact,
had no need for it,
because he earned enough
to get along with his life.
But, realising
that men can't live alone...
Because all men, once they're born,
have a right to live.
He earned enough,
but he saw that his peoples
were slaved and slaughtered
at that moment.
They didn't earn enough to eat, or
to put some clothes on, or anything,
they had just enough for some bread
and wine, to grease down, that's all.
They could barely feed themselves
and all that,
and so he decided to launch
that struggle against exploitation
and against those colonialists
that were there just to exploit us
and did nothing for the progress...
- Of our country.
Of our country, yes.
And so we all know
that he lost his life
fighting for the liberation
of his peoples.
This is enough, more than enough
for us to look inside our conscience,
just on account of the life
lost by our comrade Am?lcar Cabral.
You don't need to...
Nobody asked for anything else.
Just thinking about that man's death
for the liberation
of the people of his country,
that was enough for a man to wonder
what did Am?lcar Cabral die for.
Why did Am?lcar Cabral found a party
and launch a struggle?
For what? He had no need for it,
but his peoples did.
Because he didn't want
to live on his own.
Fascism was the opposite,
they wanted to live by themselves.
He founded the party, not only
to liberate the African peoples,
but even for the liberation
of all peoples.
Because he always said,
before he died,
that the struggle...
... that the struggle for liberation
served not only the African peoples,
but also the Portuguese people.
And, above all, quite the opposite,
he didn't fight
against the Portuguese people.
He fought against the colonialists
and against the exploitation
of man by man.
What shall I do with this sword?
Fascists, the people is up in arms!
Because this land,
it hasn't been worked on
for 12 or 13 years,
and we're working on it
to get bread for our Portugal.
A property like this one... With only
one man, more than 1500 acres...
Now we're 30 something men
and we still can't handle it.
So this land belongs
to those who work it,
and the fascists will eat straw.
And that's all there is to it.
How old are you, Mr. Francisco?
- How old are you?
- Fifty-nine.
Fifty-nine. And how many
vacation days have you had?
The first one's yet to come.
I don't know what vacations are.
I don't know what that is.
I've had them,
but that's when I'm out of work,
but then I don't have any money
to eat or to travel.
I've had plenty of vacations,
but no money to go along with them,
nothing to eat or drink.
I've been through that,
and it's no picnic.
We do it in the bees' fashion:
When you can't put the bees
in one place, we get them another.
And with properties
we do the same thing,
because a lot of them are covered
in wild growth, uncultivated,
and we're keen on working.
Workers, peasants,
united we shall overcome!
Workers, peasants,
united we shall overcome!
We must stick together in our fight
until we obtain victory.
If we're not together,
we won't obtain victory.
"Proletarians of all countries,
unite!"
"Unite!"
Subtitles
Ana Rita Matos / CRISTBET, Lda.