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Set in the 24 hours of Christmas Eve 1969 in a Portuguese Army Camp in a remote part of Mozambique where for some reason (that I sure I should remember from my history lessons) they are involved in a civil war. As night-time falls the ‘rebels’ attack the camp and as the soldiers lives are under threat they also rapidly fall apart under a mix of both sexual …. and colonial oppression.
With more imponderables than any Francois Ozon movie, the whole camp seem to play host to so many secrets and innuendos that involve them all on some level or another. Its highly homoerotic, brimming full of issues of morality with a great deal of Bible-bashing too, and its shows a tad too much of the horrors of war. It’s also a murder mystery. Not easy to watch, and the first time I started to view this movie I fell asleep, but I am so glad I persevered and went back and saw it again and to the end, and discovered also ‘who did it’.
Totally fascinating ….. even more so when I discovered that it is based on a true story, but this on that will not appeal to anyone who cannot deal with some confusion.
