The article analyzes Manoel de Oliveira's Non, or the vain glory of command (1990) and how it is built as a figuration of Portugal's history, from the inception of the Portuguese nation-state up to the Carnation Revolution, a long trajectory that the filmmaker condenses by means of a juxtaposition of historical periods seen as manifestations of a repeated refusal: a relentless principle of "Non" frustrates several versions of imperial aspirations and has as its emblematic scene the battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578. Taking its inspiration from a passage of Father Vieira's Sermons, the film offers a reflection on that trajectory by means of a poetics of disaster that gains a new inflection by the collating of D. Sebastião's spectre and the destiny of the film's protagonist, ensign Cabrita in the dawn of the colonial war in Africa.
Portuguese cinema; Manoel de Oliveira; Non, ou a vã glória de mandar; History of Portugal