Synopsis
A Portuguese film director hires a French actor. The film is a Franco-Portuguese co-production.The French actor's father was originally Portuguese, though his mother was French and the father died very young. During the shoot the actor starts thinking about his dead father. He decides to visit his father's village, hoping to meet a surviving aunt.
The director and two other actors suggest they accompany the French actor. They can interpret for him as he speaks no Portuguese. During the trip the director (Manoel) reminisces about his childhood in this particular part of Portugal. He mentions a character called Pedro Macao whose statue is discovered by the side of the road. This isolated statue seems to embody man's fate on earth: a lonely and difficult fate.
When they reach the village, the French actor's aunt is cold and suspicious. She is wary of this long-lost nephew who does not speak the same language as she does. She won’t accept the film director and the two Portuguese actors as interpreters and fetches her daughter-in-law instead. She is so stubbornly taciturn that, in his irritation, the French actor rolls up his sleeve and points to his veins, saying they share the same blood. At this point. Emma - the old aunt - melts and they start remembering everything they can about the actor’s long-lost father. They also discuss the hardships of village life and the staggering changes that modernity is bringing. In the end, the nephew says he would like to visit his grandparent’s grave in the local cemetery.
