Cinema
Os flagelados do vento leste
António Faria · 1987
Synopsis
On the island of Santo Antão, the rain does not come and the east wind scorches what is left. A peasant family holds on to its plot: they sow all the same, sell the goat, go down to fetch water lower down, eat whatever can be gathered. The neighbours leave one after another for the port and for the contracts in São Tomé, and the father refuses to follow them as long as the land belongs to him.
Context
The film was shot twelve years after independence, in a country with no film industry, on the very island where the book it is drawn from is set, and with local inhabitants in most of the roles. It was produced by the Cape Verdean film institute, created after independence by the ruling party, which knew the islanders' taste for cinema. It adapts a novel published in 1960 about the drought of 1940, written by one of the three founders of the review Claridade, whose catalogue also includes another book.
Who it is for
A film in Cape Verdean Creole with subtitles. The story is that of the novel, with drought as its only driving force.
Prizes and reception
One of the few feature-length fiction films the country has produced, and the only one to have brought a classic of its literature to the screen.