Pátria
What if, at the end of World War II, an economic crisis had spread to every nation, including those that had not directly taken part in hostilities?
Such is the basis of this accomplished political thriller from the multiple-award-winning Portuguese director Bruno Gascon.
It is set in the 1980s in an unnamed country where the protagonist, Rocky, is under constant surveillance by the secret police. His assertion of basic human rights leads him and a small group of clandestine freedom fighters into conflict with thugs from the extreme right. The consequences are grim. This tense film’s epigraph is from Victor Hugo: “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”
Director Statement
“I knew that even though I was creating a dystopia, the basis of reality was there. It wasn't at all impossible for something like this to happen.” - Bruno Gascon
