The whole story revolves around Dias, a family that "goes mad with the crisis". One foggy morning, one of the family members, journalist Sebastião, discovers that there is a plan to sell Portugal. Jessica Fatinha, the messiah prime minister, is behind the idea, but even promises to save the country. “Portugal is not for sale” is the new comedy by the Algarve director André Badalo, which opens in cinemas on the 27th of September and promises to make «laughs with laughter, but also cry with emotion».
The young but award-winning filmmaker has long wanted to make a comedy. Taking what were also his personal experiences during the time of the crisis, he discovered a theme that «touches us all»… and light came to light.
“A lot of people ask me if this is a political film. It is not. It's a comedy about a family, but the message touches us all. We all went crazy with the crisis, in some way. To me, it happened to me seeing my friends having to emigrate to get a job or seeing families being left homeless», he says, in an interview with Sul Informação.
Hence “Portugal is not for sale”, “a film based on 10 million real or almost surreal stories”.
“There is everything, from a journalist posing as a rooster mascot from Barcelos at a football game, to aunts who are given up for dead or hairdressing cousins posing as duchesses. The provocation has a surreal side, but we took real stories, giving them a touch of exaggeration», he explains.
This extrapolation of reality, guarantees André Badalo, will make “everyone laugh”. «Everyone will cry with laughter, but they will also cry with emotion, I assure you. It's easy to identify with situations in the film that also affected us», he says.
Basically, the comedy also wants to satirize what were the years of the crisis in Portugal, with all its annoyances. The movie doesn't have a defeatist message, though.
“They made us mad to the point that we are capable of anything. No longer deceive us. These stories are ridiculous, but they are true and we cannot let this happen to us again, because that, yes, is what would be ridiculous», says the director.
And what are these stories? Well, there is, for example, an undertaker who receives a letter from the National Health Service warning that the medicine he needs to survive will end up in the country. Or a journalist who finds himself grappling with a story that there are Angolans interested in buying a television station.
«Where have we seen all this before?», asks André Badalo, without hiding the irony.
The film was almost entirely shot in the Algarve, a choice made by the director and two other members of the team: the Algarvians Vera Casaca and João Raposo.
The sites were chosen “in detail”, with the plot going through Olhão, Fuzeta, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, Tavira or Sagres. «You have both the more mountain side, as well as a more fishing, romantic or luxurious side. The Algarve is still not a very used place for filming and I thought it was important to do it here, also making the region known», he explains.
«It was fantastic to be able to have the support of the Municipalities. They helped us with our stay, food and even logistical terms. There were very nice cases. We had actors like Dalila Carmo and São José Correia training at a hairdressing salon in Olhão, and they themselves became Olhão people», says André Badalo, laughing.
The cast is, moreover, one of the attractions of this film. In comedy, actors like Pedro Teixeira, Rita Pereira, Ana Zanatti, Maria Vieira, Dalila Carmo, São José Correia, Isabel Ruth and even Diogo Piçarra, Luís Represas and the Ala dos Namorados participate.
Bringing together so many (and renowned) people may seem difficult at first, but André Badalo guarantees that it wasn't. “The script attracted the actors. There is a lot of potential in the audience's reception of the film and the actors realized that. All of them identified with the story», explains the director.
As for the cast, he guarantees, "it's the biggest we've ever had in a Portuguese comedy." «They are actors of various styles and languages. It's funny to have, for example, Rita Pereira, well known by the general public, with Isabel Ruth, a diva who participated in Paulo Rocha's “Verdes Anos”, he says.
But not only big names are made this film. André Badalo was also looking for volunteers from the Algarve and gave them prominent roles in the film. «What matters to me is the quality. I didn't just give extra roles. I discovered an Algarvian woman in a theater group in Messines, for example, who is going to be the maid in a hotel where Dalila do Carmo and São José Correia pretend to be duchesses», she explains.
As for the premiere, it is already scheduled for the 27th of September in cinemas. The preview will be two or three days before, in Lisbon, but the idea is also to hold special sessions in the Algarve.
Distribution will be by NOS/Lusomundo, something that helps the film reach many movie theaters across the country. The film's budget was, in turn, around 1 million euros… all without support (with the exception of the municipalities where the film was shot).
«I could make a complaining statement in this regard, but I think that, suddenly, there are new directors and there are new synergies, as well as a desire to change things», comments André Badalo.
Looking back at the two-year work involved in preparing this film, the Algarvian director does not hide his enthusiasm for the film to finally be released in theaters.
«Was it difficult? We practically did World War III to get the film made. It took a long time to bring the team, the cast and all the conditions together. We have a great project and this will be, for sure, the comedy of the year», he concludes. Now all that's left is the premiere, so that the public can get to know this new Portuguese film.
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