Balas & Bolinhos

I heard a lot about this film when I was a teenager, but what I heard made me lose any desire to watch it until today: after all, I was a teenager at a public school at the time, and the biggest praise for the film came from my most problematic and delinquent classmates, which I had learned to despise in my heart. Not exactly the best publicity.

This year, I decided to watch the film, without high expectations, and thankfully: the worst-case scenarios were confirmed. It is truly worthy of being thrown in a trash can. It should be noted that it is one of those works that was carried out on a whim and improvisation basis, and that those involved survived on small support (the Portuguese Youth Institute and some local authorities), managing to bring the project to a successful conclusion despite the bad weather. It's a regrettable film, both for its poor technical execution and for the ridiculous plot it offers us. Could they have done anything better? Honestly, with the little they had at their disposal, I have my doubts: a more exquisite final result would involve professional film material and editing, formal contracts for locations, bureaucracy and other expenses that the small group of producers could not afford. They did what they could with the little they had, driven more by will than by any economic reason... after all, trying to make a Portuguese film has always been, and will continue to be, a safe and effective way of wasting a fortune almost uselessly.

Therefore, I give my praise to the courage, tenacity and stubborn persistence of Luís Ismael and his team of good-hearted amateurs. Taking Fernando Pessoa's words into practice, they proved to us that everything is worth it when the soul is not small, and left us with a regrettably shameful film that they can rightly be proud of. Even though it is an absolute stain on national cinema, which cannot be shown to any foreign citizen without leaving Portugal in a humiliating situation, it is the film that they fought to create, nurtured like a baby and managed to gave birth.

Godawful movie, even for amateurs.

Story about a group of inept criminals trying to do the job of their lives. Swearing is expected, no problems there, but would it hurt to write a good story before trying to film it?

The problems have nothing to do with the very small budget - it's just that the story and the acting are absolutely childish. If you enjoy badly acted predictable humor based on a stereotype of human misery, go for it.

Don't waste your time if you are searching for an alternative intelligent funny movie.

If you think that a low cost movie must be bad, forgot that idea. This movie is a dramatic cruise of the Portuguese underground high school of movie lovers. Portuguese Jon carpenter's like movie.

I'm highly biased and giving random stars from 0 to 10 is way too subjective. But I loved this film despite not being able to understand much of what they say - even if my mother language is Portuguese (from Brazil).

The scenes and photography are well chosen, despite the limited crew. They had nobody dedicated for this (or any off screen job, on the credits) and, yet, did a superb job as a side job there.

The camera movement and rhythm is just in time. It does get slow sometimes, but it is apparently all on purpose because the slowness is spread in moments across all the movie.

I heard their budget was around €1500. Now, that's even more amazing. It means every actor there were doing it for free. Sure, all amateurs, but enjoyable and entertaining never the less. Have you tried gathering people for filming? Just try it.

I never thought it was possible to achieve a long film with such a low budget in such a country with no culture for it. Amazing. And really well accomplished feat.

I sure enjoyed watching it, and I may even watch again eventually. Yes, I think it has enough value for re-watching.

True, the film doesn't stand too good by itself, as a story telling. But, again, it's still quite enjoyable. I also love how the dialogs don't really matter, as the images speak for themselves. That's how movies should be done, in my humble opinion. Not soundless, but the video must always speak for itself.

This movie is a true expression of amateur filmography that we can see in every aspect of the picture.

From the actors that are all amateurs, to the technical staff which are well intentioned persons that curiously ended up making a movie.

The script is basic, and exploits the Portuguese stereotypes of the small time burglars, in a gang of four, with narrow minded plans taken to the extreme.

The story of a disbanded gang of four intriguing characters, that when their leader gets out of jail after a 5 year stretch, comes up with a brilliant plan, that will take them all to retire in Brasil, by robbing a gas station.

This fab four gang is made of a drug dealer – Rato, an unemployed guy that liked to steal from his boss – Culatra, a drunk and dope-head – Bino, and the leader of the pack, the man with all the solutions – Tone.

This is a relatively bad movie with poor quality but is worth seeing because it represents the willpower of a group of guys that really wanted to make a movie, with very little means.

It is another great example of "where there's a will there's a way".

Good on you guys. We need people like them in the Portuguese movies.