Portrayals of Trauma in Film as a Tool for Analyzing Imperial Residues of the New State in Portugal Público
Namen, Eliana (Spring 2022)
Abstract
From nineteen thirty-three to nineteen seventy-four, Portugal was under the Salazar regime, also known as the New State. During this time, the secret military police, the PVDE/PIDE/DGS (Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado/ Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado/ Direcção-Geral de Segurança) took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner and worked to repress political and social retaliation as well as control immigration. The unchecked powers of the PVDE/PIDE/DGS infringed upon the civil and human rights of the people, which had devastating effects on mental health, familial structures, basic human freedoms, and social attitudes of nationalism and conservatism. Therefore, trauma induced by the New State is the mode for which I have chosen to analyze the rejection of the imperial narrative the regime so greatly desired. The goal of this work is to analyze the ways in which two contemporary, co- produced films, The Night Train to Lisbon and O Julgamento discuss the breakdown of the Portuguese social fabric left by imperial residues. The lingering fragments of imperialism are explored through the depictions of torture, silence, repressed memory, and how differing perspectives critique the societal implications of these residues. My research is divided into the following three chapters: the history and foundational core of the New State and its main pillars of nationalism and conservatism, a glimpse into Portuguese film produced during the dictatorship, and finally, films made after the fall of the regime that work to counter these imperial narratives.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Burying the Past 1
Chapter 1: The New State’s Battle for Order 7
Pillars of the Portuguese New State 8
Conservatism 9
Nationalism 11
Censorship of the Media for the “Common Good” 13
To Be or Not to Be: A Fascist Regime 16
Antônio de Oliveira Salazar: The Face of an Ideology 19
Marcelo Caetano: The Show Must Go On 22
State-Sanctioned Violence in the Form of PVDE/PIDE/DGS 24
Chapter 2: A Glimpse into Portuguese Cinema 28
History of Portuguese Film 29
Film as Propaganda during the Portuguese New State 32
Propaganda: The Imperial Fetish and its Residues 37
Goals of Portuguese Films after the Fall of the New State 39
Chapter 3: Films Made After April 25, 1974 45
Imperialistic Residues within The Night Train to Lisbon 45
The Sound of the Empire 49
Peering into the Past Through Mise-en-scène 52
The Use of Editing to Link Lives 55
Finally Speaking the Truth: Dialogue 56
Final Thoughts and Reactions to The Night Train to Lisbon 61
A Trial by the People: O Julgamento 65
Close-ups, Long Shots, and Editing for The Trial 68
Dialogue and Mise-en-scène in Finding the Truth 74
Comparing Residues: The Night Train to Lisbon and O Julgamento 85
Conclusion: Final Thoughts on How Art Confronts Ghosts 90
Works Cited 98
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