THE STORY – An environmental engineer accepts a position in West Africa, where he develops complex relationships with two locals while uncovering details about his predecessor’s unexplained disappearance.
THE CAST – Sérgio Coragem, Cleo Diára & Jonathan Guilherme
THE TEAM – Pedro Pinho (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 211 Minutes
Shifting away from the automated interiors of his worker-solidarity musical “The Nothing Factory,” Pedro Pinho’s second narrative feature begins in the sweltering heat of a West African desert. Drifting along a dusty road, the curly-haired Portuguese protagonist, Sérgio, drives aimlessly at the wheel. Commissioned to conduct an urgent impact assessment report that was abruptly abandoned by his predecessor, Sérgio arrives in the capital of Guinea-Bissau after a prolonged journey. His white skin sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the populace. Within his colossal three-hour and thirty-minute runtime, Pinho explores the polarities of power within Sérgio’s Bissau-based community. Conversations regarding Sérgio’s presence dictate the thematic insights of the film. If anything, the assessment side-plot is a mere MacGuffin to accelerate the film’s primary thematic interests.
Pinho’s latest feature deviates from the subject of blue-collar rights with a refreshing premise centered on neo-colonialism. In “I Only Rest in the Storm,” Pinho purposefully shelters his protagonist’s past from the viewer. His distinct visage cautiously interests the townspeople as he gradually makes new friendships within the foreign land. Regardless, Pinho makes it clear that the wounds of Europe’s turbulent colonization efforts are ever-present. The caretakers of the present exercise caution amidst the globalization of their country. Aware of his place within the tight-knit community, Pinho restlessly comments on Sérgio’s assimilation as both a settler and a neutral mediator. His character’s ambivalence drives the film’s thematic questioning, as supporting characters audibly criticize his presence at parties and other social events.
There’s a frankness to the conversations in “I Only Rest in the Storm,” where Pinho employs an expository dimension to his screenwriting. Unfortunately, the blunt social criticism leaves little room for subtlety or additional interpretation. As the film continuously spotlights Sérgio’s white-guilt story, the panoramic intensity of Pinho’s world-building largely depends on the implementation of redundant exposition. The grandeur of its duration isn’t enough to satisfy its thematic contemplations. The constant verbalization and dead air within the aforementioned conversations weaken the impact of Pinho’s observational mise-en-scène. Visually and thematically, the film’s glacial conclusions reiterate the obvious. Even as a protagonist, Sérgio’s arc rarely compels, as the friends he meets along his journey are arguably more interesting and dynamic in contrast with his saviorism.
There’s a strong tapestry of rich ideas mixed within its aimless chronology that only reaches the surface level. For example, the queerness of its supporting cast is barely touched upon, even though the presence and economic dependency of colonial infrastructure go hand-in-hand with the social acceptance of Queer people within the Bissau community. Once more, the surface-level exploits that drive the conversation-dependent storytelling reduce the effectiveness of its shallow methodology. There are glimmers of subtext that are haphazardly displaced within Sérgio’s unpredictable journey. A memorable three-some scene perfectly represents Pinho’s thematic preoccupations, utilizing the fetishization of Sérgio’s racial autonomy to visually depict his assimilation.
