The Gilded Cage

Not as funny as I was hoping but it's a great portrait of portuguese emmigrants in France. At least I did recognize some of the traits in some of my family and people I know have emmigrated not only to France but also to Germany. The Cayenne had me laughing so much, I mean I haven't seen anyone driving one from France to Portugal, but if it had been a BMW or a Mercedes it would be perfection. :D

Everyone around here was talking about A Gaiola Dourada. A portuguese film that was placed in Paris that tells the story of two portuguese immigrants, Maria and José. They are in France for 30 years they have a daughter and a son that already born in Paris, they lived all of their lifes trying to have a decent life always looking forward to the day of their return to Portugal. They received the news that a relative in Portugal had left them a huge heritage but with the condition that they may return to live in Portugal. That's when all of the mess starts! It's funny but also touching and emotional. It was so great to see how the director, Ruben Alves, didn't forget one single portuguese symbol, all of the details were there, the way of talking, our expressions, some behaviors, the traditional dishes, our traditional music Fado, well everything! He made me feel so proud of being Portuguese! Rita Blanco e Joaquim De Almeida are great actors! Joaquim is already known in the US and has already done a lot of Hollywood films but it's good to see how Rita is shining abroad too - this was released in France before it was in here and has been a huge success - she had a little participation in Michael Haneke's Amour last year too and I hope she continues like that, little by little. All the rest of the supporting cast was very good also, the portuguese and the french. This film exceded all of my expectations! And has a portuguese I'm so proud of it I'm so glad that I went to see it! I'm not used to see the cinema of my country beeing good as this. Finally the cinema of our country is getting better and better! This film was released a month ago and it's already the most seen film of the year! I had my doubts I thought that people wanted to see it because they thought it was not a portuguese film but a french one with portuguese actors (yeah around here we have a big trouble about watching the films of our own country, I hope this film helps in that aspect) but after all everyone was right. Ruben Alves did a great job directing this, portraying what Portugal is and how lovely and hard working our people can be. The sweetest thing of all is that he dedicates this film to his parents, two portuguese immigrants just like Maria and José. If any one of you would see this one day, I would be very glad to hear what you think of it.