Lume
This recent six episode Portuguese drama presents a bit of a conundrum for me.
On the one hand there is the relatively straightforward if complex story. A journalist returns to her small home town, ostensibly to cover the latest fire, but really to investigate the fire which was supposedly lit by her father and which resulted in her leaving the town for the big city as a child. Parallels are drawn between the old fire and the new one, there’s a murder, secrets and hidden motivations are revealed, mostly in a satisfying manner.
But then there is the other side of Lume. When we first meet the journalism, much is made of her burn-scarred hands, but it is never mentioned again, I couldn’t even tell you if her hands were still scarred in the later scenes. Then there is the fact that although the village is supposedly menaced by a wildfire, there is never any smoke in the air. And for a few episodes, every 30 seconds or so we suddenly hear the sound of sirens, maybe even the same sound bite being repeated. At times I was left wondering what the heck was going on, and why.
A possible clue came when I though about the lead character Lucia. She has red hair, drives a red car, and smokes like a chimney, all of which I take to be symbolic (though again oddly, the smoking disappears from the last few episodes). This could all be errors and/or self-indulgence by the writer and directors, but I went on to think about my favourite Portuguese film directors, in particular João César Monteiro. His films, even when addressing realistic subjects, are always full of symbolism and fantastical events and conversations, so maybe this side of Lume is a homage to Montiro.
Or maybe it’s just sloppiness or whimsy. In any case, Lume did get a high rating in IMDB, if that helps.
imdb.com
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