No, or the Vain Glory of Command

No, or the Vain Glory of Command

1990 · 107 min · ★ 6.4 · War, Drama, History

Episodes from throughout the entire military history of Portugal are told through flashbacks as a conscripted student of history recounts them to his fellow soldiers while they march through an African colony in revolt during 1973.

Directed by Manoel de Oliveira · Written by P. Joao Marques

Your Rating

Cast

Make it a double feature

5h 11m together

No, or the Vain Glory of Command

Abraham's Valley

Both from Manoel de Oliveira.

More from Manoel de OliveiraSee all →

Fátima MilagrosaFátima Milagrosa · 1928
Fátima Milagrosa
8.01928
MovieFamilyDrama
Aninhas (Aida Lupo), a paralyzed girl, asks for a miracle from the saint of her devotion, Our Lady of Lourdes, at the chapel of Penha (Guimarães), but her prayer is not heard - She turns her devotion to the Blessed Virgin directly, and joins the multitude that goes on a pilgrimage to the village where, ten years before, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three child sheepherders.
Zona+Zona+ · 1994
Zona+
8.01994
SeriesTalk
Aniki-BóbóAniki-Bóbó · 1942
Aniki-Bóbó
7.61942
MovieDramaFamily
Two schoolboys, Carlitos and Eduardo, fight for the affection of a girl, Teresinha.
FamalicãoFamalicão · 1941
Famalicão
7.41941
MovieDocumentary
Short documentary about the town of Famalicão, in the North of Portugal.
Abraham's ValleyAbraham's Valley · 1993
Abraham's Valley
7.41993
MovieDrama
Ema is a very attractive but innocent girl, so pretty that cars crash in her presence. In her youth she marries Dr. Carlos Paiva, her father's friend, to whom she is not attracted. They move to the valley of Abraham. Carlos loves her, but decides to sleep in a separate room to avoid waking Ema when he has to return late at night. As time goes by she begins to feel unhappy about her marriage, so she finds a new lover.
Doomed LoveDoomed Love · 1979
Doomed Love
7.11979
MovieRomanceDrama
A story about doomed love between two people from different worlds and the impact in their lives.
The Green YearsThe Green Years · 1963
The Green Years
7.01963
MovieDrama
Nineteen-year-old Julio heads to Lisbon from the provinces and gets a job as a shoemaker for his uncle Raul. But when he meets Ilda, a confident young housemaid who becomes a regular shop visitor, his working-class values collide with the bourgeois trappings of modern life.
I’m Going HomeI’m Going Home · 2001
I’m Going Home
6.82001
MovieDrama
The comfortable daily routines of aging Parisian actor Gilbert Valence, 76, are suddenly shaken when he learns that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car crash. Having to take care of his now-orphaned grandson, he struggles to go on with his lifelong acting career like he's used to. But the roles he is offered -- a flashy TV show and a hectic last-minute replacement in an English-language film of Joyce's Ulysses -- finally convince him that it's time to retire.
Doomed LoveDoomed Love · 1978
Doomed Love
6.81978
SeriesDrama
A story about doomed love between two people from different worlds and the impact in their lives. Based on the novel of the same name by Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco.
Voyage to the Beginning of the WorldVoyage to the Beginning of the World · 1997
Voyage to the Beginning of the World
6.71997
MovieDrama
Manoel is an aging film director who travels with the film crew through Portugal in search of the origins of Afonso, a famous French actor whose father emigrated from Portugal to France and in process remembers his own youth.
A Talking PictureA Talking Picture · 2003
A Talking Picture
6.72003
MovieDramaHistory
A meditation on civilization. July, 2001: friends wave as a cruise ship departs Lisbon for Mediterranean ports and the Indian Ocean. On board and on day trips in Marseilles, Pompeii, Athens, Istanbul, and Cairo, a professor tells her young daughter about myth, history, religion, and wars. Men approach her; she's cool, on her way to her husband in Bombay. After Cairo, for two evenings divided by a stop in Aden, the captain charms three successful, famous (and childless) women, who talk with wit and intellect, each understanding the others' native tongue, a European union. The captain asks mother and child to join them. He gives the girl a gift. Helena sings. Life can be sweet.
Gebo and the ShadowGebo and the Shadow · 2012
Gebo and the Shadow
6.62012
MovieDrama
Despite his age and general weariness, Gebo keeps on working as an accountant to provide for his family. He lives with his wife, Doroteia, and his daughter-in-law, Sofia, but it is the absence of João, son and husband, that worries them.Gebo seems to be hiding something, especially to Doroteia, who is anxiously waiting to see her son again. Sofia is also waiting for her husband to come home, and yet she fears him. All of a sudden, João arrives and everything changes.
The Divine ComedyThe Divine Comedy · 1991
The Divine Comedy
6.61991
MovieDrama
In a mental institution the patients see themselves as people like Jesus, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Adam, Eve, Sonia, Raskolnikov, Aliosha e Ivan Karamasov, a Philosopher, a Profet, Santa Teresa d'Avila, reciting the Divine Comedy.
Magic MirrorMagic Mirror · 2006
Magic Mirror
6.62006
MovieDrama
Luciano, fresh out of jail, was taken by his brother, Flórido, to serve in the home of wealthy Alfreda. He was surprised when she told him that her greatest desire was to see the Virgin Mary. Now comes this rich land owner with her sublime pretensions. Isn't it enough for her to have an Aston Martin and a Jaguar in the garage and ten different dresses per season? It was all professor Heschel's fault. Or someone else's. Anyway, to go beyond the promise is heresy. Alfreda said that she wouldn't rest until she saw the Virgin and made her some questions. Filipe Quinta, the Forger, says he has a solution. Meanwhile, Bahia, her husband, listens do music.
The Uncertainty PrincipleThe Uncertainty Principle · 2002
The Uncertainty Principle
6.52002
MovieDrama
Having lost her place among the social elite, a widow remarries and starts a family.
PartyParty · 1996
Party
6.51996
MovieDramaComedy
The battle of the sexes? The forces of despair and seduction? On S. Miguel in the Azores, Rogério, a young man with old money, and his enigmatic wife Leonor host a garden party at their villa. The intriguing guests are an older unmarried couple, the philosophical and observant Irene, and Michel, a roué. While Rogério and Irene talk, Michel and Leonor go down to the sea. The conversations upset Rogério and capture Leonor's imagination. Five years later, the four dine at the villa. Michel and Leonor again leave the other two. Intentions and undercurrents are subtle. One of the four proves strong, one weak, and two must choose. Wind and rain bring down the curtain on both acts.

More Like This

No EndNo End · 1985
No End
7.01985
MovieDrama
1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.
PersepolisPersepolis · 2007
Persepolis
7.92007
MovieAnimationDrama
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
SaviorSavior · 1998
Savior
7.11998
MovieHistoryDrama
A hardened mercenary in the Foreign Legion begins to find his own humanity when confronted with atrocities during the fighting in Bosnia.
AssemblyAssembly · 2007
Assembly
6.92007
MovieActionHistory
Follows a soldier trying to gain recognition for comrades who died in 1948, at a turning point in the civil war between the communists and the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang.
Closing the RingClosing the Ring · 2007
Closing the Ring
6.22007
MovieDramaRomance
During the 1940s, a group of young men go off to war, leaving behind Ethel Ann, who is in love with one of them, Teddy. In modern-day Belfast, a man named Jimmy endeavors to return a ring found in the wreckage of a crashed plane. He travels to Michigan, where the grown Ethel Ann, who married another man after Teddy was killed in battle, now lives. Ethel Ann must decide whether to go with Jimmy to meet the soldier who last saw Teddy alive.
Henry VHenry V · 1944
Henry V
6.71944
MovieHistoryDrama
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Destination TokyoDestination Tokyo · 1943
Destination Tokyo
6.91943
MovieWar
During World War II, Captain Cassidy and his crew of submariners are ordered into Tokyo Bay on a secret mission. They are to gather information in advance of the planned bombing of Tokyo. Along the way, the crew learn about each other as they face the enemy and some of them lose their lives.
Green ZoneGreen Zone · 2010
Green Zone
6.52010
MovieWarAction
During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors are dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.
The Admiral: Roaring CurrentsThe Admiral: Roaring Currents · 2014
The Admiral: Roaring Currents
7.02014
MovieWarAction
Admiral Yi Sun-sin faces a tough challenge when he is forced to defend his nation with just 13 battleships against 300 Japanese enemy ships in the Battle of Myeongryang.
All Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western Front · 1930
All Quiet on the Western Front
7.81930
MovieDramaWar
When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter