ganhar a vida

So I finally watched it. Weekend lazy sunday took the time to watch that movie on DVD - Ganhar a Vida, in english it would be something like Earn a Living.
By Joao Canijo and with Rita Blanco as the magnificent Cidalia, a Portuguese emigrant in a suburb in France, whose life changes when her son is shot in an incident that involves the Police.



I've become acquainted with the reality of the movie since I left Portugal. It doesn't affect me directly, but I know it is the way the movie shows it. The people who fled the country in search of a better life 20-30-40 years ago, escaping the dictatorship we were living under and a life of more than probable poverty.

In the movie, we see that community being quiet and going on with their lives, by not making too much fuss and not drawing any attention towards them. They still live by old-fashioned rules like in some small country village, minding what anyone might think or say about them, and if we want to go to an extreme it's like they are still living under the Salazar regime.
They are afraid of causing any trouble in the country they consider having invaded - it's not theirs, so they have no right in interfere in the lives of the people who, so kindly, let them in.
Scary and indeed claustrophobic.

The (so-called) Portuguese culture you'll always get in a foreign country is the rubbish we always rejected when we were living back there. It is the melancholic feeling that we all have taken to an extreme and liking everything just because it is Portuguese.

Maybe my friends ad I don't need to rely as much on our Portuguese roots to get by - we have always been raised as European citizens and have always assimilated (especially) the English culture since we were little kids.

In my case, I'm taking advantage of both worlds.
London is the musical and arts centre of the Universe - and only if you don't want to see it you can escape from that, it's an everyday in-your-face experience. And my previous city experience - Barcelona - was a bit of the same but with a bit more presumptuousness (don't know if this word exists and I don't care).

On the other hand, I am still indeed in touch with my cultural roots, as I keep "importing" a whole new concept of Portuguese culture that is going on there. It's not as prolific as here, but there are some good artists, who at the end of the day do make a difference - it's a great feeling knowing that things are actually happening in your country.
More than a flag or a national anthem, I can be proud of my country's way to express itself through art.

Does this ending sound too pompous?