In 1496, King D. Manuel prohibited Judaism. 400 years later, Barros Basto, a Portuguese army captain converted to Judaism, and about twenty Jewish merchants founded the Jewish Community of Oporto, in the north of Portugal.
Acting
Rodrigo Santos carries the weight of generational trauma.
Costume
Period details that whisper rather than shout.
Direction
Ismael treats silence as its own language.
Director
Luís Ismael
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Barros Basto was a real figure nicknamed 'the Portuguese Dreyfus'—he was actually expelled from the army in 1937 for 'immoral conduct,' code for his Jewish activism.
The Oporto synagogue shown still stands today, largely thanks to this same community—making the film both memorial and living document.
PT
