O Pão (1959) User Reviews

Instead of a vulgar industrial documentary, a work of art.

[Artemis-9 · 8/10 · 15 May 2003]

FNIM was investing a lot of money in industrial mills, to get even more money out of the Portuguese Government subsidies to grow corn and produce bread. They wanted to give the authorities and the public at large some satisfaction, and make their work look pretty. So they asked a good film director to produce an industrial documentary, like other European countries were doing in the late 1950s. Manoel de Oliveira accepted the job, and did so well that FNIM - and the Government censors - were baffled. They couldn't actually reject the final work, as it corresponded to what they had ordered; yet, the humanist content, the implied social criticism was such, that they were not happy to distribute it. I never saw the 1st version. The 2nd version, seen in 1966 or 1967, impressed me so much by its imagery, wonderful landscapes, deep human feelings about what is the production of bread - that I still recall them now vividly. Don't forget that producing bread is a common denominator of all humanity, as different as corn types may be... To people interested in good cinema: RECOMMENDED. To the young generation and film critics who only know the master Manoel de Oliveira from his fiction films: do yourselves a favour and try to get someone interested in producing this in VHS or DVD.

BREAD (Manoel De Oliveira, 1959) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 20 November 2008]

This 'celebration of the working people' documentary short evokes memories of films in this vein made by the great Soviet film-makers some thirty years before. It's a thorough, strikingly-directed and, hence, absorbing look at the myriad processes which go into the making of 'our daily bread' – from the sowing of seeds by farmers to the growth of wheat, its grounding via machinery to produce flour, the mixing with water to form dough and, finally shaped in round shapes and baked, is made ready for mass consumption.

While clearly the film's main concern is the harmonious collaboration between man and machine towards the nourishment of one's body, the fact that bread is similarly employed (via the consecrated host) to symbolize the sustenance of one's soul doesn't entirely escape Oliveira. Incidentally, the version I watched (recorded off late-night Italian TV) runs for a mere 24 minutes – whereas it's listed as being 51 minutes (itself cut down from an original of 58) on the IMDb!