The second instalment of Miguel Gomes’s sprawling state of the Portuguese nation address continues with an allegorical, fantastical journey through a country in crisis. Gomes adds a dreamlike dimension: several strands are viewed through the eyes of animals. A wounded cow gives testimony to a judge who weeps from the cumulative suffering and evil that she witnesses. And a stray dog called Dixie is our entry point to the lives of the impoverished residents of a tower block.
Like the first volume, the film requires an investment on the part of the audience. But the cinematic language in which Gomes is working is immersive rather than strictly narrative. And as such, the occasional lapse of concentration hardly matters.
