Our Father – The Last Days of a Dictator

In José Filipe Costa’s potent, occasionally satirical character study, António de Oliveira Salazar’s political life has reached its end, after four decades as the head of Portugal’s military regime. It’s a fact known and acknowledged by everyone, except the dictator himself…

Portugal, 1968. António de Oliveira Salazar, the world’s longest-serving fascist dictator, has ruled for 36 years over his country and its sprawling colonies. But after a fall leaves him frail and incapacitated, Salazar is sent to the Palacete de São Bento, his official residence, to recover. Unbeknownst to him, power has already slipped from his grasp, and his rule has ended. Yet those around him – his devoted maid, a cast of loyal servants, and the occasional visiting doctor – continue to uphold the illusion of his authority. As Salazar drifts from room to room, still convinced he controls his empire, he becomes a tragic figure lost in time and trapped in the confines of his own deteriorating mind.

José Filipe Costa’s Our Father – The Last Days of a Dictator transforms a remarkable true story into a compelling drama that deftly navigates politics, upper society, and the fragile illusions that sustain power. Moments of absurdity and satirical edge punctuate this portrait of a man clinging to illusions of power in a world that no longer answers to him. Jorge Mota delivers a commanding central performance, capturing Salazar’s arrogance, insecurity, and vulnerability, crafting a portrait at once pathetic, comical, and unsettling. Costa offers a richly atmospheric and incisive meditation on the precariousness of power and the inevitable decline of those who wield it.

– Vanja Kaludjercic

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