BRUMAS
director
LIST
OF DIALOGS
MARIA
JOSÉ
Do you still remember me?
PROTAGONIST
Yes, very well!
PROTAGONIST
One day, on Twelfth Night of Christmas, you
told me a story. Three Wise Men were approaching, riding on camels, wearing
beautiful tunics and turbans. I was delighted by your story. The hours passed,
the night fell, and eventually I understood that no wise men would come. I got
very angry. And what did I do? We were in my parents’ kitchen; I caught a black
cat and tossed it in the air. The cat fell into a frying pan full of boiling
oil on the stove. The pan tipped over and the cat, seriously burnt, ran out
like crazy and vanished for several days. Your legs were sprinkled with oil.
My legs were sprinkled with oil and your mother, who was talking with
your uncle Joaquim in the living room, rushed into
the kitchen because of the noise asking: “What happened?” “I lied to your son,
I promised to take him out to see the Wise Men arriving, but no wise men came!”
PROTAGONIST
More than fifty years passed.
Time! A long time went by!
MARIA JOSÉ
Time goes by! I had children, grandchildren and so on …
PROTAGONIST
You have...
MARIA
JOSÉ
I have seven grandchildren and two great-grandsons.
PROTAGONIST
And children?
MARIA JOSÉ
Four. Two sons and two daughters!
SCENE
5: Maria José feeds Rudolfo and David in her
kitchen.
MARIA
JOSÉ
Look, André is crying!
DAVID
Is he?
MARIA
JOSÉ
Quite a good boy apart from annoying his parents all the time!
RUDOLFO
David is thirsty, granny!
MARIA
JOSÉ
DAVID
Playing football with Rudolfo!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Which club? Benfica or Sporting?
DAVID
Sporting!
RUDOLFO
Benfica! I´d never play for
Sporting! No chance!
DAVID
Ok, Benfica!
RUDOLFO
That’s much better! .
MARIA JOSÉ
You’d earn a lot playing for Benfica!
RUDOLFO
Sporting has no money to pay their players!
You’d grow up and be broke!
MARIA JOSÉ
Does Benfica?
RUDOLFO
It does!
DAVID
Listen!
One day my father played for Sporting and scored a goal!
DAVID
Just like this! The ball flew in the air!
RUDOLFO
What are you saying? Your father is king of the
fat men! He’s a fireman, how can he kick a ball? With his
hose?
DAVID
No, with his boot!
RUDOLFO
He can’t play! He fumbles the ball!
DAVID
No, he takes out his money and pays!
RUDOLFO
Your father pays nothing at all, boy! He
doesn’t work to pay other people!
MARIA JOSÉ
Hey! David, what’s your name?
MARIA
JOSÈ
Let him say his name!
RUDOLFO
What is it? Slowly! Out loud! Not like that,
louder! Sit down and tell us your name. Tell Granny your name! Don’t sit there!
David! ! David Teodoro Moreira. Say it!
DAVID
David Teodoro Moreira!
MARIA JOSÉ
And
Rudolfo? What’s
his name?
DAVID
Rudolfo!
MARIA JOSÈ
Rudolfo what?
RUDOLFO
Centre forward!
MARIA J0SÉ
Louder!
DAVID
Centre forward!
MARIA JOSÉ
Centre
back!
RUDOLFO
What’s that,
Granny? Fire?
MARIA
JOSÉ
The horn? That’s fog!
DAVID
It’s fire!
RUDOLFO
It’s fog!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Enough, boys! Shut up!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Do you want me to make your fingers crack?
DAVID
No!
MARIA JOSÉ
Well, Joana likes me to do that!
DAVID
(shooting a plastic machine-gun)
Die. Fall on the ground, OK?
MARIA JOSÉ
He’s dead! Aren’t you sorry?
DAVID
On the ground!
RUDOLFO
I’m going
to sleep!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Come here, listen! Don’t move your hand! Does it hurt? It doesn’t!
RUDOLFO
Eat! It’s ham! It’s not hot! It’s good!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Pig-headed!
MARIA JOSÉ
Hey boys! If you don’t behave yourselves, I’ll whack you!
Well, Granny threatens, but never raises her hand. They need it sometimes, just
a smack, it’s fine. They’re naughty boys …
MARIA
JOSÉ
Do you want some grapes, David?
DAVID
You’re supposed to be dead!!
MARIA JOSÉ
Me, dead? Right. I’m
dead. I’ve just died...
DAVID
He is dead! He doesn’t have his gun anymore!
MARIA
JOSÉ
I
told him so many stories that both of us fell asleep on mum’s bed, didn’t we?
Crazy clowns, smashed red noses! He laughed and laughed and fell asleep like an
angel! He even got a pain in his stomach from laughing so much!
RUDOLFO
Kissing Granny? She wants to know if you love
her!
MARIA
JOSÉ
He kissed me. And you?
RUDOLFO
What!
Ever so many kisses!
I gave her another!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Hey, give me that picture, of Nuno and Carla!
RUDOLFO.
What?
MARIA JOSÉ
That picture on the wall! Bring it to me.
RUDOLFO
David, look, that’s mummy!
MARIA JOSÉ
That’s his mum when she was a girl! And her
brother, Nuno,his uncle!
MARIA JOSÉ
The children of my daughter Isabel!
RUDOLFO
Go over there!
RUDOLFO
Are you afraid of the dog?
RUDOLFO
Shoot! Put your game on the bench!
SILVINA
BETA
That’s fine! It matches the colours of your dress wonderfully!
SILVINA
So beautiful! This yellow black shine!
BETA
Gold
gets darker near the sea. Maritime air causes gold to darken. Gold pieces must
be polished every now and then.
SCENE
9: Maria José with her friends
MARIA
JOSÉ
My cousin Esmeralda had servants but never allowed them to bleach a
single piece of cloth. The servants washed all the clothes outside with soap. They
laid them on the grass to dry. Not a single one bleached!
ANTÒNIA
VELHA
Tell her
to bring the clothes to me. Tell her that Antónia Velha has lots of soap!
Anyway, please bring me some next week! I want you to bring me the soap!
MARIA
JOSÉ
The cloths were snow-white! No bleach, nothing!
RUDOLFO
(Looking
through glasses)
Everything is closer!
ANTÒNIA
VELHA
We made bread dummies
with sugar for the babies! Ants found them all the time!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Ants came and bit the babies’ mouths! ...
ANTÒNIA VELHA
We
worked a lot to nurse our children!
MARIA JOSÈ
Look
at how things are today! Gummy dummies and paper nappies! What’s the name of
those nappies?
ANTÒNIA VELHA
I don’t know!
MARIA JOSÉ
What’s
the name of the nappies? Rudolfo, what’s the name of
David’s nappies? Dodots, isn’t it? Dodots! In our day they were made of cloth. Washing that!
Cleaning such a present!
MARIA
JOSÉ
(She
winds Antónia’s necklace around her fist)
I don’t like to look at myself wearing gold pieces!
ANTÒNIA VELHA
Of course, you don’t!
MARIA
JOSÉ
But I do like to see them on other people.
MARIA
JOSÉ
I gave my daughters two thick gold necklaces, one each!
Scene 1 Continued :
MARIA JOSÉ
Every day was fun! I was mad about playing and joking! And I still am today. I love amusing myself;
I enjoy a good joke, I like laughing and talking. My daughter says: “Mum, you never stop
talking! You never get tired of so much talking!” And me: “Let me talk! When I
die I’ll talk no longer! Talking will be over, everything will be over!”
SCENE
10: Circus Trailer
RINGMASTER
Lions, tigers and bears from
Scene 2: A group of men and women repairing a fishing
net.
FIRST
MAN
(to Rudolfo)
Are you listening? Do you understand what I told you?
RUDOLFO
What’s that?
MAN
Do you want to work on the tears in the net?
RUDOLFO’S
FRIEND
No!
RUDOLFO
As players!
RUDOLFO’S
FRIEND
I want to be a football player!
MAN
For which team?
RUDOLFO
Benfica!
MAN
Dear God!
RUDOLFO’S
FRIEND
I’ll play
for Sporting!
MAN
Jesus Christ!
SECOND
MAN
Benfica?
Benfica signs players up but never pays them!
RUDOLFO’S
FRIEND
Sure!
Halfway through the championship they will have no more money to pay!
WOMAN
That’s it!
FIRST
MAN
Well payed!
SECOND
MAN
Jacinto, in just half an hour we’ll be cheating Mr Wooden Leg!
SCENE 13: In the old photographer’s house
PHOTOGRAPHER
The first resident prisoners arrived in Peniche in 1922. They had to go into the fort at least once
a day. An army officer ordered them to present themselves everyday. Shortly
afterwards, the fort became a political prison.
PROTAGONIST
When Salazar was Prime Minister!
PHOTOGRAPHER
Unfortunately, under Salazar, the fort became a
political prison. And
so it remained until the 25th of April 1974.
This is an aerial photo where we can see the harbour full of ships. The harbour and the fort.
We can see the round tower and the whole building as well. Here’s something
funny: on the beach there was a coffee bar called
PROTAGONIST
All this has vanished! The beach ... The sea...
PHOTOGRAPHER
And also this whole area. Now it’s all concrete!
PROTAGONIST
How much everything has changed!
PHOTOGRAPHER
And here’s where the first pier was built. On the eastern side the new
one was constructed.
PROTAGONIST
The new harbour covered all this!
PHOTOGRAPHER
Now this is a street of restaurants selling grilled sardines
PROTAGONIST
All this has changed completely! No more sea to be found here!
PHOTOGRAPHER
No more sea! Just cement! This square next to us was joined to the old
harbour by a slope. When I was a boy, there was a shipyard here, on the square.
I saw many ships being built here.
PROTAGONIST
And this one...
PHOTOGRAPHER
This one is people carrying a shallow water
fishing-net, here on the square.
PROTAGONIST
A sardine net!
PHOTOGRAPHER
Yes, a net for catching sardines, mackerel, bonitos, any kind of fish
swimming around. Here on the square fish were dried in the sun and nets were
repaired.
PROTAGONIST
This is one of the photos shown in the first
exhibition we organised in the fort.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Yes, it’s also printed on the cover of the book I published about Peniche
PROTAGONIST
I brought two pictures of Maria José. Do you remember her?
PHOTOGRAPHER
Oh, they are very old!
PROTAGONIST
She was quite young!
PHOTOGRAPHER
Many years have gone by, but it appears I can still remember.
PHOTOGRAPHER
PROTAGONIST
Of course!
SCENE
14 : Scene 1 Continued
MARIA
JOSÉ
One day there was a rebellion. A serious rebellion, on
the square, in front of the garden. Captains were arrested. One of them
was killed.
PROTAGONIST
But why captains?
MARIA
JOSÉ
I guess because merchants refused to buy sardines! Maybe because they
didn’t want to pay so much for the fish and the captains wouldn’t agree to sell
at such a low price.
PROTAGONIST
Fishermen and captains were fighting for the same cause?
MARIA
JOSÉ
The fishermen started squashing the sardines with their feet.
MARIA
JOSÉ
They squashed the sardines because they were not paid a fair price. They
were starving. The price the merchants wanted to pay was unacceptable. So the
men started to squash the fish, they were fearless. That’s why soldiers came
from the fort on horseback.
PROTAGONIST
The GNR, the Guarda Republicana!
MARIA JOSÉ
They came on horseback: clip-clop, clip-clop. I
was so scared! Everybody was scared. I was looking out the window of my
cousin’s house. And what came to my
mind? “His son is at school!” The son of my cousin Carlos! There were no more
than two or three small houses on the way to school. I rushed across those
fields until I found my boy. I took him by the hand and ran back home across
all those fields, fearing that something bad might happen to him! That was bad!
Circus:
RINGMASTER
High up in the air this young lady will perform
beautiful and complicated routines. There she is, Sheila! Faster! Faster!
SCENE
15: The protagonist offers Rudolfo a knife on the 11th
September
RUDOLFO
(broadcasting news on a portable radio set)
This is Paulo de Carvalho with the latest
update from the national radio station news program. Today Palestinian
terrorists attacked
RUDOLFO
A knife !
RUDOLFO
This is Paulo de Carvalho continuing with our
news update. In
DIAS LOURENÇO
(ancient prisoner)
When I was brought here, they put me there.
Soon we started to dig a tunnel to escape. But the tunnel led to some rock and
we couldn’t break through it.
DIAS
LOURENÇO
Over there is a yard where prisoners had
recreation. One hour per day. During recreation it was strictly forbidden for
others to look out of the windows. Barred windows! If they came to the windows,
they would be punished.
DIAS
LOURENÇO
This is the round tower, the primitive fort.
DIAS
LOURENÇO
Life was terrible here!
DIAS
LOURENÇO
Then I managed to pull the door off its hinges
and put it here. Carefully, I moved outside and planed how to escape.
DIAS LOURENÇO
Look! A
damned hole! Then I moved this way and walked upwards. I had rolled my clothes
into a ball. Meanwhile, the guards wouldn’t come later than
DIAS
LOURENÇO
The sea wasn’t too rough, but not very calm
either...
DIAS
LOURENÇO
I moved out this way, one, two, three steps. The guard noticed nothing
and kept still. If he had shouted, I’d have come back inside. He’d have shot
me! He kept silent and so I hurried this way.
DIAS
LOURENÇO
I could only swim with this arm. The tide was getting low and pushing me
back. Then I stopped swimming to decide what to do. I started to feel tired and
had to make a decision. Then I remembered a well-known phenomenon: after every
seven waves, there is a big one and a small one just afterwards. So I used the
big waves to move forward. The small ones pushed me back. I had to swim for
about 800 meters and needed over an hour to get ashore. I had to cross the
tunnel you saw. And now, here I am with you.
DIAS LOURENÇO
It
was a great defeat of fascism. Álvaro Cunhal was no common prisoner! So they announced that a
Soviet submarine had been seen waiting for us in the bay. A good joke!
DIAS
LOURENÇO
Then,
I vanished. Only two comrades were involved in this operation, one controlling
cars and another leading us to safe houses.
MARIA
JOSÉ
Earlier, a small cat rushed outside that way. A
car came and killed it. Poor animal!
DAVID
Today?
MARIA JOSÉ
Yes, his name was Tareco!
MARIA JOSÉ
He leapt out of
there; the car came and hit him.
Dionysus’ cat!
MARIA JOSÉ
Nice boy, eating
everything!
MARIA JOSÉ
A little
more? Open your mouth!
DAVID
Water!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Wait! You’ll have some soon!
MARIA
JOSÉ
Rudolfo, please
bring some water!
SCENE
19: BOYS MAKING THE CARS
RUDOLFO
Her boyfriend!!
RUDOLFO
Rui, is she your girlfriend?
BOY
Stop, please!
RUDOLFO
I’ll be unable to cut!
RUDOLFO
You’re only going for the trip!
RUDOLFO
Another! Give me another!
BOY
He has a flea!
RUDOLFO
Take it away! That’s a flea!
BOY
You see? You said the dog had no fleas!
RUDOLFO
A flea! That’s a beast!
FIRST
BOY
Look! It has strange paws!
SCENE
1 Continued
MARIA
JOSÉ
In the small old harbour there were lots of
fish, like in the open sea. Shoals of oarfish moving, one after the other! One
day I was standing by the sea and said: “I’ll catch one!” The other women
answered:” You can’t!” “I can’t? You’ll see!” I moved a step forward into the
water, caught a big one by the tail and pulled it out! How they laughed!
SCENE 22 : Maria José
sees “Nosso Sonho”, her
sons’ boat approching
They are moving at full speed, close to the shore!
MARIA JOSÉ
You can
see the aerial, the radio antenna. The wheel-house just near the bow! The
boat’s white and blue!
WOMAN (off)
Your sons?
MARIA JOSÉ
Yes!
WOMAN off
Sure, they’re your sons!
SCENE
1 Continued
MARIA JOSÉ
Such is life for those working on the sea! Sometimes it’s calm, more
often rough! Some months ago I couldn’t stop crying. My sons’ boat is small.
They fish together. The sea was rough, very rough! Big, giant waves crashing!
Their boat was pushed forward and backwards, jumping up and down on the waves.
A bad storm! The coastguard couldn’t reach them! I was standing on the cliff,
watching. The poor boys wanted to enter the harbor, but they couldn’t. I cried
and cried!
SCENE 24: Isabel and Beta, Maria José’s
daughters, leave her house.
BETA
See you tomorrow!
ISABEL
I’ll be leaving too.
MARIA
JOSÉ
Go in peace!
PROTAGONIST
How long has it been since you were here?
ISAURA
In this house?
PROTAGONIST
Yes!
ISAURA
Over fifty years! Your mother used to visit
mine as well and buy her something or other.
PROTAGONIST
Tell me how you got your photo.
ISAURA
How I got it?
PROTAGONIST
Yes ... Where did you get it?
ISAURA
Your father gave it to me. Mine was lost.
PROTAGONIST
Lost?
ISAURA
I put it on the wall. We didn’t use a frame. It was nailed on the wall.
You can still see the stain it left. The four nails are still there. The photo
vanished. The lime ate away the image little by little. But I knew there was a
copy of the photo here and asked your father. He told me it was true and that I
could borrow it to make a copy. He lent me his photo
PROTAGONIST
Let me see!
ISAURA
He told me not to lose his photo because he
loved it very much, as much as he loved his son.
PROTAGONIST
You were barefoot!!
ISAURA
When I got my first pair of shoes I was about ten or twelve years old.
Everybody walked barefoot and nobody complained about it. That was life!
PROTAGONIST
What were you doing when I bumped into you a few days ago?
ISAURA
Trying to let a room.
PROTAGONIST
Do you let rooms in summer?
ISAURA
Yes! One tourist or another takes one from time to time.
Isaura and
one of her friends try to let a room to drivers on the street.
ISAURA
AND THE WOMAN
Rooms! Alô, chambres! ...Chambres!...