The casket, a caixa, from the title is the official instrument needed in Portugal by a blind beggar to make a living. The beggar in lives and works in an alleyway – a staircase winding upwards through a poor neighbourhood. His daughter does the housekeeping and also works as washerwoman. Her unemployed husband lives from her money and from his father- in-law’s begging casket. When the casket is stolen for the second time, events take a dramatic turn. The film is based on a play by Prista Monteiro and has a theatrical mood; the action remains limited to that one alleyway that functions as a stage set. De Oliveira himself described the film as a portrait of humanity, introduced via a group of poor and marginal – not to say forgotten – people.
