Fintar O Destino (Dribbling Fate)/O Testamento Do Senhor Napumoceno (Napumoceno's Will)
2004; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 47; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1555-2462
Autores Tópico(s)Physical Education and Sports Studies
ResumoFintar O Destino (Dribbling Fate). Portugal/Cape Verde, 1998. California Newsreel, Library of African Cinema, 149 Ninth St./Suite 420, San Francisco, Calif., 94103. 77 min. Directed by Fernando Vendrell. In Portuguese and Criolo with English subtitles. $195.00 O Testamente Do Senhor Napumoceno (Napumoceno's Will). Portugal/Cape Verde, 1998. California Newsreel, Library of African Cinema, 149 Ninth St./420, San Francisco, Calif., 94103. 110 min. Produced and directed by Francisco Manso. In Portuguese with English subtitles. $195.00 Fintar O Destino (Dribbling Fate) and O Testamente Do Senhor Napumoceno (Napumoceno's Will) are two Cape Verdean films that demonstrate the diverse nature of the nation's cinema, as well as its peculiarly outward-looking character. In both, the fortunes of inhabitants of the archipelago-imagined and real-lie across the sea, in Portugal or the Americas. Fintar O Destino is a sports film, but like many (most?) sports films, it is about far more than rivalry, persistence, teamwork, sportsmanship, or any number of themes associated with the genre; it is about hopes and dreams, both realized and dashed; it is about possibilities. Mane is the middle-aged proprietor of a bar in Mindelo, the only deep-water port on the island of Sâo Vicente. He and his customers, an assortment of ne'er-do-wells, while away the hours reminiscing about the glory days of the past, when Mane was a young soccer star invited to play for Benfica, a Portuguese team and local favorite. Mane's friend, Americo, was also invited to join Benfica. Unlike Americo, however, Mane declined this opportunity in favor of marrying a local girl. Americo, Mane believes, went on to great fame and fortune as a player for Benfica. Like other professional sports, soccer represents a way out of poverty for many young athletes, a means of escaping an existence of little promise. Mane coaches a local boys' soccer team and has a star prospect in Kalu. Mane takes it into his head to go to Lisbon to watch Benfica play in the championship and to win an opportunity for Kalu to join the team. He takes the family savings out of the jar in which his wife had stowed them for the air ticket to Lisbon, where he stays with his upwardly mobile son, Alberto, and his family. While there, Mane visits Benfica's headquarters and persuades them to give KaIu a try-out. He also searches for his old friend, Americo, finally finding him living in a shack. As it turns out, Americo had not been a star for Benfica-he was never willing to work hard enough to make the squad and played, instead, for numerous smaller clubs, squandering his opportunity in a sea of apathy and alcohol. Mane tells his old friend that he should return home, and leaves him some money to help him get by. For Americo, Mane is the lucky man, the one with a family and business. For Cape Verdeans, it is common to seek employment abroad, particularly in Portugal. As a result, many families are scattered, and certainly the loneliness accompanying social mobility is ever-present in this film. Mane's wife, upon finding out her husband's intention to go alone to Lisbon, decries his selfishness-she hasn't seen her son in ten years. Mane and his son have an uneasy reunion, Alberto eventually revealing that he has always resented his father for so neglecting his family in favor of his one passion, soccer. While Mane regrets that his son doubted his father's love or concern, he is unrepentant over his obsession with the game. Still, hoping to make up for his absence as a father, Mane attends his grandson's birthday instead of the championship game. …
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