João Carlos Gorjão

Alentejo 1975. The Police associate a group of traveling players with a strike of agricultural workers. The action takes place in the open space and harsh heat of the Alentejo. With the connivance of Lianor, the troupe enters the palace of Don Gonzalo an old aristocrat. The gentleman is obsessed by visions of great past deeds in a universe of ghosts. This was the first example of militant cinema in Portugal after the end of the Estado Novo dictatorship, exploring the world after the Carnation Revolution and its contradictions.

Part of the medium-length films for TV Lisboa Sociedade Anónima, O Banqueiro Anarquista is a fine example of what a fabulous script (by Pessoa), exuberant set design, attentive camera work, and an actor (Santos Manuel) at his most daring and accomplished can achieve. The result is a cynically entertaining film, markedly representative of the First Republic, where for almost an hour the viewer is delighted (and unsettled, of course) by the fallacies of a script to which Santos Manuel gives the weight of a body and a voice, that is, he brings it to life. The Anarchist Banker is a brilliant satire on political discourse, of unfailing intelligence and ferocity.