Director: Victor Lopes
Writer(s): Victor Lopes, Ulysses Nadruz
Actor(s): José Saramago, Martinho da Vila, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Madredeus, Mia Couto
Production Co.: Paris Filmes
Country: Brazil
Year: 2002
Language and subtitle information: In Portuguese; optional Portuguese and English subtitles
Format: DVD
[ratings]
Summary: Documentary about the Portuguese language and people who speak it around the world, focusing on 6 countries: Portugal, Mozambique, India, Brazil, France, and Japan.
Supplemental Materials:
“Língua – Vidas em Português”, translated to “Language: Lives in Portuguese” in English, is an intriguing interview-based documentary exploring the lives of portuguese -speaking individuals across the globe. The film focuses on Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Goa (India), Macau (China) and Japan among others. These are all places where believe it or not the Portuguese language continues to thrive today. The stories of singers, vendors, teachers, students, aspiring rap artists and many more show the vast differences between these nations as well as the tight link they share through the shared language of Portuguese. While cultures are ever-changing and multiculturalism grows rapidly in a fast-booming nation like Brazil, the Portuguese language ties people in Macau and Japan and India together with those in Brazil and Portugal and Mozambique. I highly recommend this documentary as it carries significance not just to the few countries it speaks about directly, but it captures the beauty and power of language.
This documentary is about more than just the various countries that speak the Portuguese language. Through watching the documentary you also get to experience the diverse cultures and histories that encompasses these ex-colonial territories. The documentary introduces you to diverse people who have heterogenous backgrounds. By the end of the documentary you will have realized that the people around the world who speak Portuguese are a conglomeration of peoples, ideas, and beliefs.
I would recommend this documentary for anyone interested in the Portuguese language. The documentary follows different people in different places (Goa, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Cabo Verde to name a few) and through their stories illustrates the attachment one can have to a language as well as the colonial legacies of the Portuguese language. It is especially interesting to see the language weaved into the current cultures of the ex-colonies and the attachment to Portuguese as a ‘mother tongue’ for some.
Línguas: vidas em português is a fascinating documentary focusing on the cultural differences and similarities between the various groups of Portuguese speakers around the world. Examining such places as Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Japan, Goa, and Macao, the documentary focuses on the aspect of identity brought about by a shared language. Despite their differences culturally, members of the varying locations find that they are all unified by their love and practice of the Portuguese language.
“Línguas: vidas em português” is a documentary that explores the expansive network of Portuguese speaking countries (i.e Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Japan, Goa, and Macao). It presents the Portuguese world as a mosaic of different cultures from all over the world with almost nothing in common but one thing: language. By using a very diverse set of individuals from each country (singers, vendors, teachers, students) the documentary was able to demonstrate the living power of language to all. Furthermore, the documentary also narrates the colonial history of Portugal by providing a context wherever the portuguese language still lives. I would recommend this documentary to anyone interested in Portuguese colonial history and the presence of the Portuguese language.