Dissent in the Historical Narrative: The Carnation Revolution in Colossal Youth (Juventude em marcha, 2006) and the Coup of 11 March 1975 in Horse Money (Cavalo dinheiro, 2014)

Abstract

In this article, I intend to analyze the way in which the dominant discourses about recent events in Portuguese history, specifically the 25 April 1974 and the 11 March 1975, are questioned in two films by Pedro Costa: Colossal Youth (2006) and Horse Money (2014), respectively. In addition to the discursive elements, the essay also proposes an analysis of the formal procedures in Costa's two films through which the consensual narrative of the 25 April and the Revolutionary Process in Course (PREC), as well as their emancipatory discourse, are questioned. It is concluded that both films suggest that other stories are yet to be actualised, calling into question the consensus of the historical narrative and, in this way, generating dissent; thus preventing the crystallization of the emancipatory narrative of the historical event and the subsequent revolutionary period.