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.