Great Restorations

Aniki-Bóbó

Credits

Country :

Portugal

Year :

1942

Director :

Manoel de Oliveira

Version :

vostEN

Duration :

72 minutes

Format :

digital | 4K Restoration

Actors :

Nascimento Fernandes, Horácio Silva, António Santos, Fernanda Matos

Awards :

Venezia Classici, Biennale di Venezia 2025

📚 Based on the novel "Meninos Milionários" by Rodrigues de Freitas

🗣️ 18:15 : Introduction to the film (in English) | 18:30 : start of the film

synopsis

A group of children gathers to play along the banks of the river in Porto. Among them is the shy Carlitos, who falls in love with Terezinha and soon grows jealous of his rival, Eduardo, the gang's charismatic leader. When Carlitos steals a doll in the hope of winning the young girl's affection, he is unjustly suspected of a far more serious crime. The ordeal forces him to confront the burdens of adulthood: guilt, fear, and the moral courage to do what is right.

With a cast consisting almost entirely of children, the action seems to take place in a republic of childhood, in which a version of courtly love is played out on the streets by day, and on its rooftops at night. There's an archaic coyness about "Aniki-Bobó", but its mix of innocence and Vigo-esque mischief is still winning.

Sight & Sound

The first feature-length film of Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira ("I’m Going Home") is a hard-edged, unsentimental look into the world of children that anticipated many of the techniques of Italian neorealism.

Chicago Reader