An empty room and a chair. In this no-man’s land, José Paulo Sobral de Figueiredo describes his life as a commando, mercenary and homeless man. The post-apocalypse, according to Salomé Lamas, is called “Terra de Ninguém” [No Man’s Land] and collects the testimony of a former Portuguese commando turned mercenary, whose veracity cannot be reliably proven. The film was therefore set in limbo, in a “no man’s land” between reality and fiction. It’s a story of violence that begins with the Portuguese colonial war, a film that won four awards at DocLisboa 2012.

Paulo offers sublimated portraits of the cruelties and paradoxes of power, as well as the revolutions that overthrew it, only to erect new bureaucracies, new cruelties and paradoxes. His work as a mercenary lies on the fringes of these two worlds. As soon as there is a political reversal, he is no longer protected and is arrested. “Deep down, we realise that he’s just a small piece in a much bigger game of power. We realise that politics and the justice system are not two separate things and that justice is not blind. He ends up living on the margins of society,” concludes Lamas.

The presentation of this powerful film by Salomé Lamas at the Church of São Pedro de Alcântara offers a new look at this artistic object and at Paulo, who is interviewed, who confesses to the public eye and who seeks his redemption in this sacred space. What will he be condemned to, according to his words, in the light of the sacred?