Chilean director Raúl Ruiz's final film is a sprawling account of an episode in the Peninsular War, when Portuguese resistance forces joined with British troops under Arthur Wellesley—then Viscount Wellington—to oppose Napoleon's attempt to conquer Iberia. Ruiz was deep into pre-production when he died in 2011, and the project was taken over by his wife (and long-time editor) Valeria Sarmiento, who has the directing credit here. The story is set in 1810-11, when Wellesley defeated French Marshal Masséna at Buçaco and then repaired to the so-called Lines of Torres Vedras, a defensive system he'd secretly been constructing around Lisbon. After reaching the fortifications and finding them impregnable, Masséna was forced to withdraw. The military maneuvering here merely serves as backdrop to a host of vignettes about soldiers and refugees—British, Portuguese, and French—being buffeted about in the confusion. Romantic episodes are juxtaposed with others set in hospitals tending to the wounded, homes where families try to live normally during a time of crisis, and Wellington's camp, where the general—played as a snooty martinet by John Malkovich—berates a painter he has commissioned to record his battlefield exploits (at one point he also gives the artist the recipe for Beef Wellington). While some of the plot threads are mildly interesting, and the cinematography boasts lovely compositions, this is a rather slow tapestry of human suffering and bravery encumbered by heavy narration, and apart from the grandstanding Malkovich, even the best-known actors (including Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert) disappear in the muddle. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)
Lines of Wellington
Film Movement, 152 min., in English, Portuguese & French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Nov. 25 Volume 30, Issue 1
Lines of Wellington
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