I Only Rest in the Storm Review: Beguiling Postcolonial Melancholy in the West African Nation.
Within Pedro Pinho's latest film, an expatriate Portuguese engineer called Sérgio works in Guinea-Bissau, confronting the complex power structures of a postcolonial setting. A local woman declares, "What repulses me the most are men of supposed goodness," a line that gets to the center of the movie's central inquiry into European condescension and double standards.
An Instrument for Eavesdropping
The protagonist's uncommitted position makes him the ideal spectator of postcolonial relations. The plot centers on a divisive development initiative, with residents divided over whether it signifies development or an environmental blight. These arguments are intensified by issues of destitution, graft, and violence, suggested by the unexplained vanishing of Sérgio's predecessor.
"Ethical concerns are a privilege," a character reminds Sérgio, highlighting the pragmatic realities that define life in a complex socio-economic context.
Fluid Identities and The Political Personal
His encounters involve a LGBTQ+ posse based at a local bar, a space presented as a inclusive haven. Yet, his dalliances is interpreted as paralleling a deeper noncommittal approach to life and his position within these groups. He exists in multiple spaces, belonging to none.
The movie's extended, conversational scenes may lack the visual concision of other filmmakers, but they create a organic and deeply human feeling. Through these meandering discussions, Pinho probes not just the setting, but also his own implication as an onlooker.
A Striking Ending
The narrative continually fumbles for its stance on pressing socio-economic and racial matters. This quest reaches its peak in a closing intimate scene where Sérgio finds himself stuck in the middle, embodying his perpetual condition of indecision. Despite this ambiguity, the film's core message remains: individual experience is profoundly linked to power.
