Change of Life (region-1 DVD)

Paulo Rocha’s haunting second feature, Change of Life, is the beautifully told story of a young man who, after a tour in the colonial war in Angola, returns to his small fishing village and discovers much has changed. Inspired by his work with Manoel de Oliveira, Rocha; casts local villagers as themselves, interspersing them with experienced actors ― led by the great Isabel Ruth, who would become an Oliveira regular and iconic presence in Pedro Costa's Ossos ― while the poetry of the local vernacular is captured in textured dialogue by fellow Portuguese filmmaker Antonio Reis. Though Change of Life was a critical and commercial success upon release, it would effectively be the last film Rocha made for nearly two decades. New digital restoration from the Portuguese Cinematheque supervised by Pedro Costa.