In the mid-19th century, a group of survivors from a wrecked slave ship, both black and white, end up on a deserted island, lost somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The fight for survival and power will flip the moral and social values of those days. The Survivors tells the story of how masters and enslaved people may or may not coexist under extreme circumstances.
The Survivors is about a group of men and women [black and white] who survive the sinking of a slave ship in the middle of the Atlantic. What starts out as salvation and a celebration of life quickly turns into a nightmare in which hierarchies weigh heavily, money still counts and so does status. But a journey of reconnaissance around the island, after overcoming immeasurable obstacles, leads to a turning point. The island’s new society has created new hierarchies, new powers and many new ways of living together. The film, beautifully photographed in black and white by Hugo Azevedo, perhaps to avoid narrative distractions, places everyone in the same penumbra of (dis)integrity, leading us to question our history and its permanent lie. Now, finally, in Portugal, the debate seems to be emerging about what Portuguese colonisation was, the massacre of slaves and the horrendous crimes committed. The Survivors touches on this in a very sharp and fair way, putting its finger on the wound, finally moving away from black and white to look for a grey area with answers. The educated man turns out to be the weakest link in the balance. And with this power, Barahona brings to light the possible debate in the hope that the ‘reparation’ debate can follow. – Miguel Valverde
